In New Mexico, a Pew Charitable Trusts report cited an example where a cost-benefit analysis revealed a program was not generating cost-savings. The report stated that the New Mexico Corrections Department program inventory, conducted in 2012, “found that fewer than 10 of the more than 40 programs studied were evidence-based.” Further, “the department’s drug abuse prevention programs, Therapeutic Communities, was not operating according to its evidence-based design and, as a result, was not achieving desired outcomes. The department subsequently replaced the program with an alternative, Residential Drug Abuse Treatment, that the Results First analysis showed would generate a return of $4 in benefits for every $1 invested.”
