Article The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles 1–28 Checkpoint: An innovative ª The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: Programme to navigate sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0032258X211018774 people away from the cycle journals.sagepub.com/home/pjx of reoffending – A randomised control trial evaluation Kevin Weir, Stephanie Kilili , John Cooper, Andrew Crowe and Gillian Routledge Durham Constabulary, Aykley Heads Durham, Durham, UK Abstract This study contributes to the evidence base of police deferred prosecution schemes aimed at reducing reoffending. Durham Constabulary, UK, introduced Checkpoint, an adult deferred prosecution scheme which targets offenders entering the Criminal Justice System by providing an alternative to a criminal prosecution. Applying theories of deterrence and desistance, this paper describes the randomised control trial findings of 521 offenders randomised between 1 August 2016 and 31 March 2018. The results indicate that the Checkpoint treatment cohort achieved a lower reoffending rate in comparison to the control cohort, on the basis of prevalence (10.3% reduction) and risk of reoffending (30% reduction). Keywords Reoffending, out of court disposals, evidence-based policing, offender desistance Introduction Out-of-Court Disposals (OOCD) have become a key policy and political area in the UK, with the removal in April 2013 of the previous requirement on the Crown Prosecution Service to decide on the suitability of cases for conditional cautions, devolving the decision to the custody officer in the police station (Neyroud and Slothower, 2013). Corresponding author: Stephanie Kilili, Durham Constabulary, Durham Police HQ, Aykley Heads, Durham DH1 5TT, UK. Email:
[email protected] 2 The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles XX(X) This created not only an increase in time spent on a disposal decision by the police but also a requirement on the police to set and manage conditions for offenders.