NCJ Number
237326
Date Published
January 1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This is a report on the results of a cost-benefit assessment of certain criminal justice policies, violence-prevention programs, and other efforts to decrease criminal recidivism and at-risk behaviors of youth, with a view toward implementing cost-effective programs in Washington State.
Abstract
The report presents three general findings. First, some programs have been well researched and have been shown to lower the odds of criminal offending, but the success rates of even the best of these interventions are relatively modest. Second, some programs, if implemented as intended, can lower crime rates and save more money than they cost. Third, in Washington State, as in the rest of the Nation, most programs designed to reduce crime have never been rigorously evaluated. Carefully constructed evaluations can help the State assess programs within juvenile and adult corrections. Following the reporting of these three general findings, the report then lists and describes the programs found in the literature to have been evaluated for their criminal justice outcomes. The programs are divided into the following categories: early childhood programs, middle childhood programs, adolescent programs for juvenile non-offenders, and juvenile offender programs. Because most studies did not analyze program economics, the researchers responsible for this study conducted five analytical steps in a cost benefit analysis of each program. The information and data developed determined how a particular program might be used in Washington State; whether a program can produce the same positive outcomes if replicated in another setting; the value of a program's crime-reduction for the State; and the program's summary economic statistics. A table shows the estimated taxpayer costs and crime-reduction benefits of 16 programs (in 1997 dollars). Examples are provided of some of the 16 programs that should have positive cost-benefits in Washington State. 2 tables