Steve Aos, Polly Phipps, Robert Barnoski, Roxanne Lieb - January 2000

The 1999 Washington Legislature passed E2SSB 5421, the Offender Accountability Act, reforming the way adult criminals, under the jurisdiction of the state, are supervised in the community. The legislation directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to carry out an evaluation of the Act. The Institute presented the design of the evaluation to the Legislature in January 2000. This report describes the research design the Institute intends to follow during the course of the evaluation of the Offender Accountability Act.

Steve Aos, Polly Phipps, Robert Barnoski, Roxanne Lieb - May 1999

This report describes the "bottom-line" economics of various programs that try to reduce criminal behavior. We identify the types of programs that can, as well as those that apparently cannot reduce criminal offending in a cost-beneficial way. Among other uses, this information can assist decision-makers in allocating scarce public resources.

Various Authors - April 1999

Risk Level Classification Form of the State of Washington, Department of Corrections, Revised 1999.

Polly Phipps, Kim Korinek, Steve Aos, Roxanne Lieb - January 1999

At the request of the Washington State Department of Corrections, the Institute for Public Policy summarized what is known about the effectiveness of adult correctional programs in reducing recidivism. The report covers programs in seven areas: substance abuse treatment, education, employment, sex offender treatment, cognitive behavioral treatment, life skills training, and intensive supervision. The focus is on fairly recent programs that have been evaluated using a control or comparison group design. Each program area is summarized and individual programs are reviewed in light of their effectiveness in reducing criminal recidivism.

Steve Aos - January 1999

In the late 1980s, with the number of drug-related cases on the rise, several courts in the United States began to experiment with new ways to process defendants charged with drug-related offenses.  A key innovation was the “drug court.”  Due to the more intensive monitoring by the court, as well as the provision of drug treatment, drug courts are more expensive than regular court processing.  A typical program costs about $2,000 more per participant.  Are drug courts worth this extra cost?  Do participants commit fewer subsequent crimes and thereby reduce future costs to taxpayers and crime victims?  In short, what is the bottom line? 

Kay Knapp - January 1999

This review examined ten community networks to gauge their understanding of the outcome measurement approach and legislative expectations.  The interviews revealed substantial progress by the networks in defining and measuring results connected to community projects.  By legislative direction, the networks are expected to focus on prevention with respect to violence, especially youth violence.  Preventative efforts take time to show their effects; thus, the Legislature directed that an external evaluation of the networks and their programs occur after five years of network operation.  The Legislature assigned the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to conduct this evaluation. 

Roxanne Lieb, Scott Matson - September 1998

As of 1998, twelve states had statutes authorizing the confinement and treatment of highly dangerous sex offenders following completion of their criminal sentence: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. This report describes sexual predator laws and compares several of their key provisions.

Roxanne Lieb - August 1998

In 1990, the Washington State Legislature passed the Community Protection Act, a comprehensive set of laws that increased prison terms for sex offenders, established registration and notification laws, authorized funds for treatment of adult and juvenile sex offenders, and provided services for victims of sexual assault. The legislation directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to evaluate the effectiveness of these state-supported programs. The charts included in this report were selected from this research and cover a number of topics related to this research effort.

Dretha Phillips - March 1998

The 1990 Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to evaluate the effectiveness of the Community Protection Act. As part of this evaluation, the Institute contracted with the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center at Washington State University to conduct telephone interviews with a sample of Washington State residents regarding the state's community notification law. The results of the survey indicated an overwhelming majority of respondents were familiar with the law and believed it was very important.