Washington State Institute for Public Policy

Boot camps
Juvenile Justice
Benefit-cost estimates updated May 2017. Literature review updated October 2016.

Correctional boot camps, also known as shock incarceration or intensive incarceration programs, are an alternative to incarceration that emphasizes military-style discipline, including a rigid daily schedule, uniforms, physical labor, and punishment for misbehavior. Boot camps for juvenile offenders also frequently incorporate therapeutic components. Graduates of boot camps typically participate in a graduation ceremony and return to supervised aftercare in the community.

BENEFIT-COST	META-ANALYSIS	CITATIONS

The estimates shown are present value, life cycle benefits and costs. All dollars are expressed in the base year chosen for this analysis (2016). The chance the benefits exceed the costs are derived from a Monte Carlo risk analysis. The details on this, as well as the economic discount rates and other relevant parameters are described in our Technical Documentation.
Benefit-Cost Summary Statistics Per Participant
	Benefits to:

	Taxpayers	$2,875	Benefits minus costs	$77,515
	Participants	$380	Benefit to cost ratio	n/a
	Others	$8,666	Chance the program will produce
	Indirect	$22,736	benefits greater than the costs	100 %
	Total benefits	$34,658
	Net program cost	$42,857
	Benefits minus cost	$77,515

¹In addition to the outcomes measured in the meta-analysis table, WSIPP measures benefits and costs estimated from other outcomes associated with those reported in the evaluation literature. For example, empirical research demonstrates that high school graduation leads to reduced crime. These associated measures provide a more complete picture of the detailed costs and benefits of the program.

²“Others” includes benefits to people other than taxpayers and participants. Depending on the program, it could include reductions in crime victimization, the economic benefits from a more educated workforce, and the benefits from employer-paid health insurance.

³“Indirect benefits” includes estimates of the net changes in the value of a statistical life and net changes in the deadweight costs of taxation.
Detailed Monetary Benefit Estimates Per Participant
Benefits from changes to:¹	Benefits to:
	Taxpayers	Participants	Others²	Indirect³	Total

Crime	$2,658	$0	$8,532	$1,330	$12,520
Labor market earnings associated with high school graduation	$193	$426	$195	$0	$813
Health care associated with educational attainment	$46	($13)	($50)	$23	$6
Costs of higher education	($22)	($33)	($10)	($11)	($75)
Adjustment for deadweight cost of program	$0	$0	$0	$21,394	$21,394

Totals	$2,875	$380	$8,666	$22,736	$34,658

Detailed Annual Cost Estimates Per Participant
Annual cost		Year dollars	Summary
Program costs	$14,406	2016	Present value of net program costs (in 2016 dollars)	$42,857
Comparison costs	$57,263	2016	Cost range (+ or -)	10 %

Costs are estimated from information provided by the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Treatment costs are based on per-participant annual operating and capital costs for Washington’s Juvenile Basic Training Camp (no longer in operation). Comparison costs are estimated per-participant costs of confinement in a Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration facility. Because individuals in boot camp programs are diverted from traditional juvenile confinement for 16 weeks (the average length of boot camp programs in these studies), costs for this program include the avoided costs of traditional confinement

The figures shown are estimates of the costs to implement programs in Washington. The comparison group costs reflect either no treatment or treatment as usual, depending on how effect sizes were calculated in the meta-analysis. The cost range reported above reflects potential variation or uncertainty in the cost estimate; more detail can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Estimated Cumulative Net Benefits Over Time (Non-Discounted Dollars)

The graph above illustrates the estimated cumulative net benefits per-participant for the first fifty years beyond the initial investment in the program. We present these cash flows in non-discounted dollars to simplify the “break-even” point from a budgeting perspective. If the dollars are negative (bars below $0 line), the cumulative benefits do not outweigh the cost of the program up to that point in time. The program breaks even when the dollars reach $0. At this point, the total benefits to participants, taxpayers, and others, are equal to the cost of the program. If the dollars are above $0, the benefits of the program exceed the initial investment.

**Meta-analysis** is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic in order to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The **outcomes** measured are the types of program impacts that were measured in the research literature (for example, crime or educational attainment). **Treatment N** represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An **effect size** (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases.

**Adjusted effect sizes** are used to calculate the benefits from our benefit cost model. WSIPP may adjust effect sizes based on methodological characteristics of the study. For example, we may adjust effect sizes when a study has a weak research design or when the program developer is involved in the research. The magnitude of these adjustments varies depending on the topic area.

WSIPP may also adjust the second ES measurement. Research shows the magnitude of some effect sizes decrease over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments which we apply between the **first time ES is estimated** and the **second time ES is estimated**. We also report the **unadjusted effect size** to show the effect sizes before any adjustments have been made. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.
Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured	Primary or secondary participant	No. of effect sizes	Treatment N	Adjusted effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) used in the benefit-cost analysis						Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
				First time ES is estimated			Second time ES is estimated
				ES	SE	Age	ES	SE	Age	ES	p-value
Crime	Primary	2	703	-0.092	0.085	20	-0.092	0.085	30	-0.092	0.284

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Barnoski, R. (2004). Washington's juvenile basic training camp: outcome evaluation. Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.

Bottcher, J., & Ezell, M.E. (2005). Examining the effectiveness of boot camps: A randomized experiment with a long-term follow up. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 42(3), 309-332.