Successful parents know it as a tried-and-true strategy. Now the state Circuit Court has tried it, and it's true: Imposing meaningful consequences helps to keep wrongdoers on track, especially if it's done consistently.

Specifically, a pilot program launched last fall by Judge Steven Alm has reduced the number of "high-risk" offenders who violate the terms of their probation sentence. These are people assigned to Alm's court who are convicted of crimes known for a high rate of recidivism, including sex offenders and those who commit property crimes to feed their drug habit.

Alm was working with about 40 offenders under the program's stricter rules, and their behavior was charted against that of a control group of about 70 high-risk offenders not facing the heightened scrutiny.

Those who come up positive on the randomly scheduled drug tests, those who miss a probation appointment or commit other violations will be hit with a brief jail term — one week, to start — to scare them straight. After about eight months, it became apparent those facing measured penalties followed rules more closely than the others.

The best part of this approach is that these short stints in jail save many of the probationers from a revocation that lands them in prison for the full term of several years. In the case of drug offenders, incarceration rarely does anything to deter future crimes and accomplishes little for the public other than to get them off the street for a time.

Where treatment ultimately fails, Alm has said, the courts are willing to put offenders behind bars. But keeping the offender in the probation system for as long as possible furthers the prospects for working with them on their addiction. Substance-abuse treatment should be the state's first line of defense; public safety is best served in the long run by sending the drug user to a clinic, not a prison cell.

Alm said the judiciary will seek additional funds from the Legislature next year — and already is trying to scrape together money from the current budget — so that this program can be expanded.

That's a wise move. The increased levels of drug testing and supervision is labor-intensive, but the initial costs should be offset by a reduction in the numbers of inmates state prisons would accommodate. In any case, positive results like these surely are worth the investment of public funds.