B737-700 Captain reported the First Officer's windshield cracked during climb. The flight crew elected to perform an air turn back and precautionary landing at departure airport.

Narrative

During climbout at approximately FL240; the First Officer's windshield R1 suddenly cracked. It was determined to be the outer layer of the window. We immediately leveled off; and asked ATC for a return. We ran the appropriate Quick Reference Handbook Checklist and Diversion Checklist. Dispatch seemed to immediately know that something wasn't right and we responded to their message confirming an air return. We notified the Flight Attendants first; then the passengers telling them exactly what had happened and why we were returning to Denver.We did not request priority handling but ATC began to refer to us as a critical aircraft so we went with that assuming that they had declared priority handling for us. We made an uneventful smooth overweight landing. There were multiple emergency vehicles lined along the runway as we landed. Logbook entries were made for both the cracked windshield; and the overweight landing specifying the smooth landing and a brakes-on speed of 65 kts. Dispatch and Maintenance Control were called at the gate. Another aircraft had been designated for the continuation of the flight. The First Officer and I determined that we were okay to continue to operate the [next] flight.