Impact and Economic Benefits Evaluation of a UK-Based Domestic Abuse Intervention: A Case for Public Savings

CAutioning and Relationship Abuse (CARA) is an innovative UK-based intervention for first-time low-level domestic abuse offenders with the aim of diverting them from the criminal justice system. This paper examines perpetrator recidivism data based on two separate UK police force areas for evidence of impact and economic benefit. Based on propensity score matching and a variety of control group sample specifications it is found that CARA significantly reduces recidivism and that for every £1 spent on CARA there is an economic benefit of £3.31 and £11.03 respectively for the two police force areas, annually, in 2024 prices. Extrapolating these findings to England and Wales, the intervention's yearly cost would be £2,176,438 while the savings, or net economic benefit, would be £18,372,615. The economic benefits are likely underestimates of the true benefits providing empirical support for the economic significance of CARA.