skip to main content
Washington State Institute for Public Policy

Use the search fields below to find specific publications that match certain criteria. If you want to find other information on our website that is not publications, you can use the search field in the navigation bar at the top, or click here to search the entire website.

Use the dropdown to select the field in which you would like to perform a keyword search.

Input the keyword you would like to search by in the textbox.

You can put multiple words inside quotes "like this" to indicate that you only want results where the entire phrase is found.

You can use the minus symbol "( - )" to indicate you only want results without the indicated word, such as: "teacher -substitute".


Select a publication author(s) to filter results by author. Once selected, you may remove an author from the search by clicking the "x".
"ANY of these authors" will return all results that include any of the authors you specified in your search criteria.

"ALL of these authors" will return only those results that include every author you specified in your search criteria.


Select a topic(s) to filter results by topic. Once selected, you may remove a topic from the search by clicking the "x".
"ANY of these topics" will return all results that include any of the topics you specified in your search criteria.

"ALL of these topics" will return only those results that include every topic you specified in your search criteria.


Select a date range if you would like to only see results published during a specified time period.

Publications

Found 1 results

WSIPP’s Benefit-Cost Tool for States: Examining Policy Options in Sentencing and Corrections

Open Publication PDF

Steve Aos, Elizabeth Drake - August 2010

Can knowledge about “what works” to reduce crime be used to help states achieve a win-win outcome of lower crime and lower taxpayer spending?

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy has constructed an analytical tool for the Washington legislature to help identify evidence-based sentencing and programming policy options to reduce crime and taxpayer criminal justice costs. With additional financial assistance from the MacArthur Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts contracted with WSIPP to: (1) develop the tool, (2) apply it to a policy process currently underway in Washington State, and (3) help Pew make the tool available to other interested states.

This report describes the tool (as of August 2010) in detail and illustrates its use by applying it to two hypothetical sentencing policy options in Washington State. The tool assesses benefits, costs, and risks. Results from the two hypothetical examples point to possible win-win policy combinations.

Related: