Washington State Sex Offenders: Costs of Sentencing Options

• NCJ Number: 156558
• Author(s): R Lieb; H Scogin; G Weeks
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 8 pages
• Corporate Author: Washington State Institute for Public Policy
• Sale Source: Washington State Institute for Public Policy
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Three sentencing options for sex offenders in Washington State were compared with respect to their costs.

Abstract

The sentencing options were (1) the Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA), which allows certain offenders to receive outpatient treatment in the community while under the supervision of the Department of Corrections; (2) prison; and (3) prison with sex offender treatment at the Twin Rivers Correctional Center. The analysis revealed that a typical sex offenders who is incarcerated costs State and local governments five times as much as an offender who successfully completes SSOSA. The offender pays 60 percent of the cost of a SSOSA sentence and must pay a certified treatment provider. The cost of providing sex offender treatment to sex offenders in State prisons increases the State's cost by $10,206 over the duration of a typical sentence. If the 17 percent failure rate for those granted SSOSA is included in the calculations, the SSOSA cost per sentence increases by about 25 percent. Figures and appended methodological information and tables