In most cases, the earlier the intervention comes, the more effective it is.

That is a persuasive argument in support of a recent move to expand Project HOPE, the successful program steering many who were convicted of offenses away from the downward spiral into repeated incarceration.

Project HOPE (Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement) is a criminal-justice innovation introduced nine years ago by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Steven Alm and has been replicated in other jurisdictions. It was designed for convicted felons sentenced to probation, aimed largely at those with drug offenses.

The idea was to give these offenders treatment and close oversight, and any who used drugs again or otherwise violated the terms of their probation would be slapped quickly with a brief jail term. This, Alm has argued, makes the threat of a long prison sentence more credible and kept the offenders adhering more closely to the straight and narrow.

Now, with the help of a private grant amounting to $789,950, HOPE is piloting an effort to apply the same approach to drug offenders not yet convicted. The two-year grant, expected to cover 50 defendants the first year and 75 the second, is from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which funds reforms particularly in the areas of criminal justice and education.

The pilot project, called HOPE Pretrial, will apply to those awaiting trial on supervised release by placing them under similarly stringent oversight. If they can’t stay off drugs without help, a treatment program also will be available.

Those who miss a court date or who otherwise don’t meet the conditions of the program — by failing one of the regular drug tests, for instance — will receive immediate sanctions. This means, as it does for those on probation, short jail sentences.

Alm said that under the law, those awaiting trial can be detained in jail. While that’s waived for participants in this program, the agreement is to stay off drugs and in line for the duration of the pretrial period.

Going through the program successfully doesn’t guarantee placement on probation, but it can’t hurt. And it’s good preparation for those who get probation to continue on the Project HOPE protocols.

The grant will fund the hiring of staff to run the pretrial program. These will include positions at the Department of Public Safety’s Intake Service Center to supervise and drug test HOPE Pretrial defendants, a deputy sheriff to serve any arrest warrants, a part-time deputy prosecutor and public defender. There also is money for drug testing and outpatient and residential treatment.

All this procurement, Alm said, could take months. The state administration should fast-track the process to get the project under way as soon as possible.

The grant seems like a lot of money for 125 cases, but considering that a jail sentence would cost $46,000 annually for each of them, the investment seems worthwhile.

While there is no silver bullet to cure the social ills producing drug-related crime, the basic Project HOPE has drastically reduced the number of people whose criminal records worsen while on probation, Alm said, and this has attracted international attention. A team from Japan was visiting his court chambers this week to learn whether the program has application to their own justice system.

HOPE Pretrial is already garnering interest at professional conferences, he added. It will be tracked by researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of California-Berkeley — an encouraging development. Good data from this experiment should inform other jurisdictions that, like Hawaii, desperately need alternative strategies for keeping crime in check and people out of prison.