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Vocational and employment training for court-involved youth

Juvenile Justice
Benefit-cost methods last updated December 2024.  Literature review updated July 2019.
Vocational and employment training includes a combination of vocational skills training, academic education or tutoring, and job search assistance or placement programs. These programs aim to support positive outcomes to reduce recidivism, specifically steady, long-term employment and education attainment. Vocational skills training uses classroom-based job training to teach youth employable skills. As part of some training curriculums, youth can receive certification in a variety of specialties. For programs that focus on job search assistance, youth participate in interview preparation, resume building, or job placement services aided by community volunteers. Commonly, job assistance programs provide total or subsidized wages which offer an additional incentive to employers in the community to work with youth.

The current analysis includes programs that provide services to youth while on probation in the community. Youth in the studies are classified as moderate or high risk per a validated risk assessment tool. In the included studies, participants receive services over three to six months. Of the studies in our analysis that reported demographic information, 55% of participants were youth of color and 14% were female.

Evaluations of Education and Employment Training (EET), mentoring programs, and vocational and employment training programs that occur while youth are in state institutions are excluded from this analysis and analyzed separately.

Key Terms

Court-involved youth: Youth who are processed through the juvenile justice system but who are not ordered to a period of confinement in a residential or correctional facility. This includes populations of arrested youth, diverted youth, charged youth, adjudicated youth, and youth on probation or formal supervision.

Youth in state institutions: Youth who are confined in a residential or correctional facility when they participate in the program.

Youth post-release: Youth who are returning to the community following a period of confinement in a residential or correctional facility and who participate in the program after release to the community.
 
ALL
BENEFIT-COST
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS
For an overview of WSIPP's Benefit-Cost Model, please see this guide. The estimates shown are present value, life cycle benefits and costs. All dollars are expressed in the base year chosen for this analysis (2023).  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 $3,077 Benefits minus costs $8,229
Participants $592 Benefit to cost ratio $4.15
Others $7,082 Chance the program will produce
Indirect $87 benefits greater than the costs 82%
Total benefits $10,838
Net program cost ($2,609)
Benefits minus cost $8,229

^WSIPP’s benefit-cost model does not monetize this outcome.

^^WSIPP does not include this outcome when conducting benefit-cost analysis for this program.

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on 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. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change 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. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured Treatment age No. of effect sizes Treatment N 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
Involvement in the criminal justice system (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions, incarceration) measured through administrative records (e.g. court records, arrests) or self-report.
 16 5 703 -0.114 0.085 17 -0.114 0.085 25 -0.114 0.180
High school graduation^^
On-time completion of high school with a diploma (excluding GED attainment).
 16 1 50 -0.382 0.367 18 n/a n/a n/a -0.382 0.299
Cannabis use^
Adult use of cannabis that does not rise to the level of “disordered.”
16 1 50 0.183 0.204 17 n/a n/a n/a 0.183 0.369
Externalizing behavior symptoms^^
Symptoms of externalizing behavior (e.g., aggressive, hostile, or disruptive behavior) measured on a validated scale.
 16 1 50 0.431 0.208 17 n/a n/a n/a 0.431 0.038
Internalizing symptoms^^
Symptoms of internalizing behavior (e.g., sadness, anxiety, or withdrawal) measured on a validated scale.
 16 1 50 0.077 0.207 17 n/a n/a n/a 0.077 0.709
Employment^^
Any employment, including part-time work.
16 1 50 0.738 0.276 17 n/a n/a n/a 0.738 0.008
Alcohol use^
Adult use of alcohol that does not rise to the level of “problem” or “disordered.”
 16 1 50 0.010 0.203 17 n/a n/a n/a 0.010 0.959
Illicit drug use^
Adult use of illicit drugs that does not rise to the level of “disordered.” When possible, we exclude cannabis/marijuana use from this outcome.
 16 1 50 0.034 0.203 17 n/a n/a n/a 0.034 0.866
Problem alcohol use^^
Alcohol use reflecting problem behaviors (e.g., high frequency drinking, binge drinking, or drinking that has a high impact on daily life) for individuals who do not have an alcohol use disorder.
 16 1 50 -0.057 0.203 17 n/a n/a n/a -0.057 0.780
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
Affected outcome: Resulting benefits:1 Benefits accrue to:
Taxpayers Participants Others2 Indirect3 Total
Crime Criminal justice system $2,849 $0 $6,731 $1,424 $11,003
Labor market earnings associated with high school graduation $293 $690 $381 $0 $1,364
Costs of higher education ($65) ($98) ($30) ($33) ($225)
Program cost Adjustment for deadweight cost of program $0 $0 $0 ($1,304) ($1,304)
Totals $3,077 $592 $7,082 $87 $10,838
Click here to see populations selected
Detailed Annual Cost Estimates Per Participant
Annual cost Year dollars Summary
Program costs $2,130 2016 Present value of net program costs (in 2023 dollars) ($2,609)
Comparison costs $0 2016 Cost range (+ or -) 20%
We estimate the per-participant cost of treatment from the cost of Education and Employment Training (EET), a similarly structured vocational and employment training program used in Washington State. We use the weighted average length of treatment of the included studies (4.8 months) and apply the per-month expenditure calculated from the information reported in Miller, M., Fumia, D., & He, L. (2015). The King County Education and Employment Training (EET) Program: Outcome evaluation and benefit-cost analysis. (Doc. No. 15-12-3901). Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.
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.
Benefits Minus Costs
Benefits by Perspective
Taxpayer Benefits by Source of Value
Benefits Minus Costs Over Time (Cumulative 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 discounted dollars. 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.

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Gruenewald, P.J., Laurence, S.E., & West, B.R. (1985). National evaluation of the New Pride replication program, final report - Volume II: Client impact evaluation. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE).

Quay, H.C., & Love, C.T. (1977). The effect of a juvenile diversion program on rearrests. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 4, 377-396.

Schaeffer, C.M., Henggeler, S.W., Ford, J.D., Mann, M., Chang, R., & Chapman, J.E. (2014). RCT of a promising vocational/employment program for high-risk juvenile offenders. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 46 (2), 134-143.