Exploring community-based options for reducing youth crime

BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based intervention designed to build capacity amongst 14–17-year-old high risk young people. The aim of the current study seeks to explore community value and preferences for reducing youth crime and improving community safety using BackTrack in a rural setting in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. The study design used discrete choice experiments (DCEs), designed in accordance with the 10-item checklist outlined by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. The DCE was pilot tested on 43 participants to test feasibility and comprehension. A revised version of the survey was subsequently completed by 282 people over a 12-day period between 30 May 2016 and 10 June 2016, representing a survey response rate of 35%. Ninety per cent of respondents were residents of Armidale, the local rural town where BackTrack was implemented. The DCE generated results that consistently demonstrated a preference for social programs to address youth crime and community safety in the Armidale area. Respondents chose BackTrack over Greater Police Presence 75% of the time with an annual benefit of Australian dollars (AUD) 150 per household, equivalent to a community benefit of AUD 2.04 million. This study estimates a strong community preference for BackTrack relative to more policing (a community willing to pay equivalent to AUD 2.04 million) highlighting the clear value of including community preferences when evaluating community-based programs for high-risk young people.