Correctional Education Yields High Return on Investment

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy was created by the 1983 Washington Legislature to carry out non-partisan research assignments. The 2009 Legislature directed the Institute to “calculate the return on investment to taxpayers from evidence-based prevention and intervention programs and policies.” The Institute was directed to produce “a comprehensive list of programs and policies that improve . . . outcomes for children and adults in Washington and result in more cost-efficient use of public resources.”

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy identified public policies that have been shown to improve the following outcomes:
? Child maltreatment
? Crime
? Education
? Labor earnings
? Mental health
? Public assistance
? Public health
? Substance abuse

The Institute’s approach to calculating the return on investment to taxpayers from evidence-based prevention and intervention programs included: systematically @#$%& the evidence, calculating cost and benefit, measuring the riskiness of conclusions, and, where possible, providing a portfolio of policy options.

The 2011 update identified correctional education programs as being among the top adult criminal justice programs with the greatest rate of return on investment. Two correctional education programs ranked among the top five best returns on money for adult criminal justice populations. “Correctional Education in Prison” and “Vocational Education in Prison” ranked third and fifth most effective when “Monetary Benefits minus Costs” per participant are calculated.

Background

In the mid-1990s, the legislature began to direct the Institute to undertake comprehensive reviews of “evidence-based” policy strategies. The initial efforts were in juvenile and adult criminal justice.

Several juvenile justice and adult corrections’ programs—not then operating in Washington—that had the potential to reduce crime and save Washington taxpayers money were identified. In subsequent sessions, the legislature used the information to begin a series of policy reforms.

Today, the results of these crime-focused efforts appear to be paying off. Relative to national rates, juvenile crime has dropped in Washington, adult criminal recidivism has declined, total crime is down, and taxpayer criminal justice costs are lower than alternative strategies would have required.

Benefits and Costs of Evidence-Based Public Policies

The report, “Return on Investment: Evidence-based options to improve statewide outcomes,” shows the computations of benefits and costs for 70 programs in ten policy areas. Evaluations of dozens of other programs have been published previously or are in the review process. The entire report is available at: [www.wsipp.wa.gov]. Here are the evaluations of the Adult Criminal Justice Topic Areas and Programs

Topic Area/Program Total Taxpayer Non- Costs Benefits Benefit Risk
Benefits Benefits Taxpayer Minus to Cost (odds of
Benefits Costs Ratio positive value)

Dangerously Mentally Ill Offenders $103,596 $24,391 $79,205 ($31,626) $71,969 $3.28 100%

Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative: drug offenders $28,013 $6,680 $21,333 ($1,511) $26,502 $18.57 99%
Correctional Education in Prison $19,923 $4,785 $15,138 ($1,102) $18,821 $18.11 100%

Electronic Monitoring $17,068 $4,068 $13,000 $1,044 $18,112 n/e 100%

Vocational Education in Prison $19,083 $4,634 $14,449 ($1,537) $17,547 $12.43 100%
Drug Treatment in the Community $15,419 $3,671 $11,748 ($2,102) $13,317 $7.35 100%
Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative: prop. offenders $14,324 $3,410 $10,914 ($1,513) $12,811 $9.47 76%
Mental Health Court $14,230 $3,424 $10,806 ($2,878) $11,352 $4.95 100%
Cognitive-Based Treatment (in prison) $10,741 $2,588 $8,153 ($217) $10,524 $49.55 99%
Drug Treatment in Prison $14,351 $3,467 $10,883 ($3,894) $10,456 $3.69 100%
Intensive Supervision: with treatment $17,521 $4,216 $13,305 ($7,712) $9,809 $2.28 96%
Drug Court $11,750 $2,644 $9,106 ($4,099) $7,651 $2.87 100%
Cognitive-Based Treatment (in the community) $7,739 $1,848 $5,891 ($217) $7,522 $35.70 99%
Work Release $6,466 $1,552 $4,914 ($649) $5,817 $9.97 97%
Correctional Industries in Prison $6,398 $1,546 $4,851 ($1,387) $5,011 $4.63 100%
Community Employment Training/Job Assistance $4,641 $1,104 $3,537 ($132) $4,509 $35.13 100%
Intensive Supervision: surveillance only ($556) ($132) ($424) ($4,050) ($4,606) ($0.14) 10%
Domestic Violence Treatment Programs ($3,724) ($886) ($2,839) ($1,335) ($5,059) ($2.91) 20%