skip to main content
Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Back Button

Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI)

Adult Criminal Justice
Benefit-cost methods last updated December 2024.  Literature review updated August 2016.
In 2003 the U.S. Department of Justice awarded funding to states for the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) for individuals transitioning from prison into the community. These programs do not adhere to one specific type of intervention or program but instead implement a model designed to address six outcomes of concern for individuals reentering from incarceration (health, education, employment, housing, substance use, and recidivism). SVORI involves a three-phase timeline model. The first phase is an in-prison intervention that could begin months before participants are released into the community. In the second phase, services intensify in the months before and after release. A risk/needs assessment for each participant is conducted and an individualized implementation plan is administered. In the third phase, participants are supervised within the community, and required to follow their implementation plan as a condition of release. Follow-ups are conducted with each participant at 3, 9, and 15 months post-release to address adherence to the plan and the current state of affairs for each participant.
 
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 $7,869 Benefits minus costs $95
Participants $0 Benefit to cost ratio $1.01
Others $14,865 Chance the program will produce
Indirect ($4,923) benefits greater than the costs 51%
Total benefits $17,810
Net program cost ($17,715)
Benefits minus cost $95

^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.
 31 6 1772 -0.279 0.057 32 -0.279 0.057 40 -0.294 0.001
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.
 31 3 610 -0.107 0.096 32 n/a n/a n/a -0.107 0.267
Employment^^
Any employment, including part-time work.
31 4 780 0.129 0.085 31 n/a n/a n/a 0.193 0.024
Homelessness^
A lack of stable housing, often measured through self-report of conditions like living on streets or in shelters in a given time period.
 31 3 634 0.040 0.116 31 n/a n/a n/a 0.040 0.730
Technical violations^^
Violations of the conditions of an individual’s terms of probation, parole, or supervision.
 31 1 175 -0.001 0.170 31 n/a n/a n/a -0.003 0.981
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 $7,869 $0 $14,865 $3,934 $26,668
Program cost Adjustment for deadweight cost of program $0 $0 $0 ($8,857) ($8,857)
Totals $7,869 $0 $14,865 ($4,923) $17,810
Click here to see populations selected
Detailed Annual Cost Estimates Per Participant
Annual cost Year dollars Summary
Program costs $7,794 2007 Present value of net program costs (in 2023 dollars) ($17,715)
Comparison costs $3,014 2007 Cost range (+ or -) 10%
Per-participant cost estimated from Cowell et al. (2009) and Lattimore et al. (2004). Cowell et al. (2009) presented a breakdown of the costs of both Adult and Juvenile SVORI program sites, by implementation phase. Lattimore et al. (2004) reported the specific breakdowns of program details by state, indicating that in Washington State, offenders spend 9 months in phase 1 (pre-release), 12 months in phase 2 (post-release), and 12 months in phase 3 (post-supervision), for a total of 33 months of programming. The cost-estimate presented here is the sum of the products of phase-specific cost estimates from Cowell et al. (2009) and the Washington State specific timeline from Lattimore et al. (2004). Cowell, A. J., Lattimore, P. K., & Roman, J. (2009). Economic Evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. United States. Lattimore, P. K., Urban Institute., Research Triangle Institute., & National Institute of Justice (U.S.). (2004). National portrait of SVORI: Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. Washington, DC: RTI International, Urban Institute.
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

Veeh, C.A., Severson, M.E., & Lee, J. (2015). Evaluation of a serious and violent offender reentry initative (SVORI) program in a midwest state. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 1-17.

Lattimore, P.K., Barrick, K., Cowell, A., Dawes, D., Steffey, D., Tueller, S., & Visher, C.A. (2012). Prisoner reentry services: What worked for SVORI evaluation participants? U.S. Department of Justice.

Duwe, G. (2012). Evaluating the Minnesota Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP): Results from a randomized experiment. Justice Quarterly, 29(3).

Braga, A., Piehl, A., & Hureau, D. (2009). Controlling violent offenders released to the community: An evaluation of the Boston reentry initiative. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 46(4), 411-436.