Drug education as diversion: A mixed methods evaluation of the Avon & Somerset drug education programme

de Viggiani, Nick

Abstract

This evaluation was undertaken on behalf of the Office of the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner to evaluate Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s Drug Education Programme (DEP). The DEP is an education programme that has operated in South West England since 2016, initially in Bristol before it was extended across the Avon and Somerset Force area in 2019. The programme provides people caught in possession of illegal drugs with an alternative to criminal prosecution or conviction. It is a preventive education programme to which people caught in possession of illegal drugs are referred. Its overarching aim is to reduce drug-related offences in the Avon and Somerset Police Force area, to reduce the burden on the criminal justice system and to build improved relations between local communities and the Police. The aim of the DEP is to educate participants about the health, social and legal effects of drugs and to encourage attitude and behaviour change towards desisting from further drug misuse or drug-related offending. This report presents an evaluation of the DEP using mixed research methods and provides recommendations for its future development. The evaluation was undertaken between October 2020 and November 2021.

• Report Type: Research Report
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 30, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 30, 2022
• Keywords: drug; education; police; diversion
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10001361
• Related Public URLs: https://justiceinnovation.org/project/drugs-education-programme-dep; ; https://www.bdp.org.uk/the-drop/the-drug-education-programme-dep/; ; https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/news/2022/05/supporting-young-people-to-move-away-from-drugs-and-crime-in-bristol/