‘What are the costs involved for diversion & alternatives compared to detention?’ [Word 50kb]
Resource created for this toolkit.

‘Compilation of evidence showing positive cost benefits of diversion and alternatives compared to detention’ [Word 157kb]
Resource created for this toolkit.

‘Compilation of evidence showing reduced recidivism’ [Word 233kb]
Resource created for this toolkit.

DRAFT: ‘Deconstructing the Pipeline: Using Efficacy and Effectiveness Data and Cost-Benefit Analyses to Reduce Minority Youth Incarceration’, David Osher et al., American Institutes for Research and Arizona State University, 2003 [Word 139kb]
Academic meta-analyis of US research in relation to recidivism and cost effectiveness of prevention, early intervention, diversion and other programmes for children in conflict wtih the law. Provides good project summaries and hard data on recidivism and cost. Narrative focus on over-representation of ethnic minorities in the system. [Please note that this is a draft paper only]. [Note this document has been used as a key resource for the toolkit]

'Tough is not Enough: Getting Smart about Youth Crime - A review of research on what works to reduce offending by young people', Kaye L McLaren, New Zealand Ministry of Youth Affairs, 2000 [PDF 470kb]
Excellent meta-analysis of global research on children in conflict with the law to establish 'what works' and 'what doesn't work'. [Note this document has been used as a key resource for the toolkit].

'Formal System Processing of Juveniles: Effects on
Delinquency', Anthony Petrosino, Carolyn Turpin-Petrosino & Sarah Guckenburg, Campbell Systematic Reviews, The Campbell Collaboration, 2010 [Pdf, 751kb]
Meta-analysis of studies to explore whether juvenile system processing reduces subsequent delinquency. Studies included 7,304 children across 29 experiments reported over a 35-year period. “Based on the evidence presented in this report, juvenile system processing appears to not have a crime control effect, and across all measures appears to increase delinquency.” (p.6)

‘Reforming Child Law in South Africa: Budgeting and Implementation Planning’, Ann Skelton for UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, reprint 2009 [Pdf, 268kb]
Excellent documentation of the process of costing the South African Child Justice Bill and Children’s Bill plus additional information about law reform processes in general.

South Africa - 'Re-Costing the Child Justice Bill: Updating the original costing taking into consideration changes made to the bill', Conrad Barberton & John Stuart, AFReC, May 2001 [Pdf 449kb]
Detailed technical documentation of the costing of the South African Child Justice Bill.

The Effectiveness of Diversion Programmes - a Longitudinal Evaluation of Cases, L. M. Muntingh, National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders, South Africa, May 2001 [Pdf 494kb]
Longitudinal view of South African diversion programme participants from various parts of the country in both rural and urban settings.

'Estimating the Cost of Establishing a Probation Service in Albania - draft proposal', OSCE Presence in Albania, 2007 [Word 109kb]
Document which examines probation versus imprisonment costs and provides detailed examples of cost calculations and issues to consider in costing exercises. [Note that this is probation in general, not specific to children].

'Cost-Benefit Analysis of Child Protection Policies in Tajikistan', UNICEF Tajikistan & Government of Tajikistan - National Commission of Child Rights (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University), April 2009 [Word 903kb]

USA - 'Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency?', Richard E. Redding, USA Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Juvenile Justice Bulletin, August 2008
Provides an overview of research on the deterrent effects of transferring youth from juvenile to adult criminal courts, focusing on large-scale comprehensive OJJDP-funded studies on the effect of transfer laws on recidivism. Research shows that transfer to adult court has little deterence and results in increased recidivism rates.

Australia - 'The specific deterrent effect of custodial penalties on juvenile reoffending', Don Weatherburn, Sumitra Vignaendra & Andrew McGrath, Australian Institute of Criminology (Australian Government), 2009 [Pdf 1.3Mb]
Results of a study suggesting that, other things being equal, children given custodial orders are no less likely to reoffend than children given non-custodial orders. "The adverse effects of imprisonment on employment outcomes and the absence of strong evidence that custodial penalties act as a specific deterrent for juvenile offending suggest that custodial penalties ought to be used very sparingly with juvenile offenders."