Abstract
The Court Referral and Evaluation for Drug Intervention and Treatment programme (CREDIT) was developed by a small group of magistrates at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court who wished to address the high rate of re-offending while on bail noted among illicit drug using offenders. An evaluation was conducted of the first 9 months' operation of the programme. The evaluation involved an analysis of key performance indicators (client uptake of CREDIT, retention in and satisfactory completion of treatment, the extent of re-offending while on bail) and interviews with 30 key informants and six programme participants. Despite a lack of conclusive evidence regarding the efficacy of the programme according to the identified key performance indicators, key informant interviews revealed a high level of support for the continuation of the programme.
