Taking Quality Into Account - Assessing the Benefits and Costs of New Jersey's Intensive Supervision Program (From Intermediate Punishments, P 85-97, 1987, Belinda R McCarthy, ed. - See NCJ-105334)

• NCJ Number: 105339
• Author(s): F S Pearson
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): 83-IJ-CX-K027
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting, March 20, 1986.

Annotation

This paper describes specific problems arising in an external cost/benefit evaluation of New Jersey's intensive supervision program and their solution.

Abstract

The program has seven major components: intensive supervision contacts, employment or vocational training, community service work, community sponsor and network team support, special counseling, selective intake of offenders, and emphasis on individual responsibility. In assessing such components, standard cost-benefit analysis is often inadequate because hard-to-quantify, but real, program benefits may be overlooked. To deal with this problem, external evaluators are expanding the scope of their analysis. This expanded analysis includes specifying particular affected groups, reporting admittedly problematic measurements of important outcome variables: and trying to examine multilevel program options and estimate marginal net benefits. 9 references.