NCJ Number
210015
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2005 Pages: 141-163
Date Published
June 2005
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the literature on the application of economic analysis to criminal justice interventions.
Abstract
The review began with 748 relevant bibliographic records after 2 consecutive screenings of 9,919 records. Ten out of 154 studies reviewed were determined to have involved rigorous applications of economic analysis to criminal justice interventions. The methods used in these 10 studies to value the costs, outcomes, and benefits of the interventions are summarized. The studies are categorized as cost-analysis studies, which examined the cost elements of the intervention; cost-effectiveness studies, which blended a full cost analysis with a precise measurement of the outcomes delivered by the intervention; cost-benefit studies, which involved a direct comparison of the costs and benefits of the intervention expressed in economic units; and modeling studies, which involved evaluating costs, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefits by using theoretical and empirical models. Although the methodologies used in the 10 selected studies were clearly better than the rest, nearly all of the 10 studies had methodological flaws. There was inadequate information on the allocation of shared overhead costs of separate interventions or activities, and there was a lack of cost information for many resources used in the programs and the events that followed. There was also a lack of discounting or the inappropriate treatment of amortization. Further, the studies lacked up-to-date information on monetary values of intangible costs and the consequences of the interventions. An inappropriate choice of outcome measures also characterized some of the studies. 44 references