Models of Evaluation in the Criminal Justice System

• NCJ Number: 129132
• Author(s): R Underwood
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 42 pages
• Corporate Author: University of Western Australia
• Sale Source: University of Western Australia
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Research Report No. 2

Annotation

This report describes the evaluation models that have been developed over the past 30 years with emphasis on their purposes, assumptions, limitations, and implications for the evaluation of criminal justice programs and the use of evaluations in policymaking, especially in Australia.

Abstract

Rossi has concluded that evaluations of offender treatment have often concluded that "nothing works" because they have not considered the validity of the theory on which the intervention program was based, the degree to which the program has been implemented as planned, the selection of participants for a program, and the potential conflict between the treatment goal and the method by which the service is delivered. The main evaluation models are the experimental paradigm, the goal-oriented approach, process evaluation, participatory evaluation, and cost analysis. Evaluation research has made significant progress in the last 3 decades, and each type of evaluation has specific uses for decisionmakers. Table and 82 references