Prison Effectiveness Measurement (From Evaluating Performance of Criminal Justice Agencies, P 211-235, 1983, Gordon P Whitaker and Charles D Phillips, ed. - See NCJ-92180)

• NCJ Number: 92188
• Author(s): M E Marsden; T Orsagh
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In considering prison effectiveness measurement, this study examines the current state of performance measurement, current beliefs about the effectiveness of prisons, problems in the evaluation of prison effectiveness, and an optimal plan for the evaluation of prison performance.

Abstract

The discussion of current beliefs about the effectiveness of prisons and problems with the empirical measurement of prison performance documents the need for broader conceptions of correctional goals and outcomes. Evaluation should be considered in the context of multiple goals, cost effectiveness, and process. Concerns for the attainment of general goals should be joined by concerns for administrative goals such as efficiency and cost. Likewise, concerns for outcomes of the prison experience should be integrated with concerns for the processes by which those outcomes are produced. As a first step in the evaluation of prison effectiveness, the multiple general and administrative goals must be specified. The level of attainment of each of the general goals would then be separately assessed, using relevant outcome and efficiency measures. These investigations would require the separation of the effects of the prison experience from the effects of other criminal justice agencies on the attainment of each goal. Separate evaluation of the attainment of each general goal vis-a-vis the administrative goals would facilitate the assessment of prison performance during a time in which prison goals are changing. Some, however, might still desire an overall measure of a prison's performance. This first requires the specification of the differential value of each general goal. This permits the development of a comprehensive measure of overall effectiveness both within a single system or across different systems. Within this expanded framework for evaluation, performance measures must also be improved. The first priority is the development of uniform outcome measures. Twelve notes and 65 references are provided.