SACPA COST ANALYSIS REPORT (First and Second Years)

The California Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (SACPA) requires that an offender convicted of a nonviolent, drugrelated crime be offered probation and community-based drug treatment in lieu of jail or prison. UCLA conducted three studies assessing the cost implications and benefit/cost ratios of SACPA. Each showed that SACPA yielded cost savings to state and local governments.

Study 1, using a before SACPA comparison group and all first-year SACPA eligible offenders, found a net savings of $2,861 per offender (N=61,609), yielding a benefit/cost ratio of nearly 2.5 to 1 (i.e., $2.50 was saved for every $1 invested).

Study 2 determined that SACPA participants who completed the program achieved a benefit/cost ratio of approximately 4 to 1 (i.e., 'completers' saved $4 for every $1 allocated).

Study 3 found that cost savings for the second year of SACPA were similar to Study 1, with a benefit/cost ratio of 2.3 to 1.

Three conclusions result from the cost analyses:

• SACPA substantially reduced incarceration costs
  
   
• SACPA resulted in greater cost savings for some eligible offenders than for others
  
   
• SACPA can be improved