Kathy Gookin - August 2007

In 1990, the Washington State Legislature passed a new form of involuntary commitment for sex offenders identified as “sexually violent predators” (SVPs). This law permits the state to retain custody of individuals found by a judge or jury to pose risks for reoffending.

This report updates the Institute’s 2005 study, “Involuntary Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators: Comparing State Laws,” and compares the now 20 states that have enacted or are planning to implement SVP laws. The 2005 report covered data through 2004; this report extends the timeframe through 2006 and includes information on the number of residents, discharges, and program costs.

Cheryl Milloy - April 2006

Washington’s Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) statute permits the civil commitment of adult and juvenile sex offenders found to be a high risk to the public. Since the law’s enactment in 1990, to the end of 2003, 31 juvenile sex offenders were identified as possibly meeting the statutory criteria for civil commitment. These individuals represent approximately 1 percent of the total juvenile sex offenders paroled in this 13-year period.

The attorney general or prosecuting attorney declined to file on two-thirds (21) of these referrals; the individuals were released to the community. Follow-up data were available for all 21 juveniles through December 31, 2005.

Eva Westley, Julia Cramer, John Bauer, Stephanie Lee, Michael Hirsch, Mason Burley, Noa Kay - May 2017

WSIPP’s Board of Directors authorized WSIPP to work on a joint project with the MacArthur Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, with additional support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to extend WSIPP’s benefit-cost analysis to certain health care topics.

We present new benefit-cost findings for interventions in four health care areas: 1) interventions to promote healthy pregnancy and birth; 2) therapies to treat opioid use disorder; 3) collaborative primary care; and 4) patient-centered medical homes. These benefit-cost findings build on our meta-analytic results released in December 2016.

As part of this work, we conducted a primary analysis of Washington State birth certificate and hospital discharge data to estimate the costs related to key birth indicators. This analysis is a new addition to WSIPP’s benefit-cost model and is discussed comprehensively in the Health Care Technical Appendix.

Mason Burley - October 2009

The 2001 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to “conduct a longitudinal study of long-term [mental health] client outcomes to assess any changes in client status at two, five and ten years.”

For this report, we followed 30,055 youth who received individual or family therapy in 2004. We looked at the most significant episode of treatment during the youth’s entire treatment history and found that 17 percent had “one-time” episodes lasting fewer than 30 days, 48 percent had short-term episodes lasting fewer than six months, 10 percent had an episode of intermediate duration (six to 12 months), and 25 percent had a long-term episode lasting longer than 12 months.

Among youth in public mental health care in Washington, 8 percent were in a foster placement following treatment (compared with 1.3 percent of the state population), 10 percent had a criminal conviction in the year following treatment (compared with 2.2 percent of the general population), and less than half (47 percent) of 18-year olds had any paid employment (compared with 88 percent of all 18-year-olds).

Morgan Spangler, Colin Gibson - June 2023

In Washington State, Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is one of the many evidence-based programs made available to court-involved youth on probation. In 2022, WSIPP was contracted to evaluate the effect of the program on recidivism.

Using administrative data, this study examined the likelihood of recidivism for youth participating in FFT relative to eligible youth who did not participate in FFT. In addition, we evaluated for whom, and under what conditions, the program was most effective.

Our findings indicate that participation in FFT is associated with an increased likelihood of recidivism, when compared to the average “treatment-as-usual” that youth in the juvenile courts typically receive. On average, youth who started FFT were 10.1 percentage points more likely to recidivate than youth in the comparison group. Of those who recidivated, there were no significant differences found in the rates of felony or violent felony recidivism. The association between participation in FFT and recidivism did not vary based on youth characteristics, geography, living situation, or competency of therapist.

Steve Aos, Robert Barnoski, Roxanne Lieb - January 1998

This report highlights the findings of the Institute’s economic analysis of programs that try to reduce criminal behavior. The Institute found that there are some interventions, if well implemented, that can lower crime rates and lower total costs. Some economically attractive programs are designed to reduce the odds that young children will ever begin committing crimes, and some are designed for juvenile offenders already in the criminal justice system.

Mason Burley - July 2011

In 2010, the Washington State Legislature amended the legal guidelines for Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA) commitments to allow a Designated Mental Health Professional (DMHP) to more fully consider reasonably available information about individuals from credible witnesses and historical records (RCW 71.05.212). These statutory changes will take effect in 2012. The Legislature directed the Institute to assess the potential impact of these changes.

This paper discusses trends in both the utilization of inpatient psychiatric treatment beds and changes in the capacity of these facilities to admit patients. To assess potential increases in psychiatric admissions as a result of this law, we conducted a survey that asked DMHPs to review ITA cases during a one-week period in 2010. Based on this survey, we estimate that the commitment rate could increase from 40 percent to between 45 and 55 percent of all investigations as a result of the statutory changes. Between 42 and 168 additional psychiatric beds (above current capacity) would be necessary to accommodate this growth in admissions.

Elizabeth Drake - December 2013

In Washington State, the juvenile courts have jurisdiction over youth under the age of 18 who are charged with committing a crime. Under certain circumstances, however, the juvenile courts are declined jurisdiction and youth are automatically sentenced as adults.

For this report, we examined whether the automatic decline law results in higher or lower offender recidivism for those who were sentenced as adults by comparing recidivism rates of youth who were automatically declined after the 1994 law with youth who would have been declined had the law existed prior to that time.

Mason Burley - January 2011

In Washington State, specialized investigators, called Designated Mental Health Professionals (DMHPs), are responsible for determining if individuals can be committed for 72 hours under the state’s Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA). The criteria established under the ITA statute (RCW 71.05) allow individuals to be involuntary detained to a psychiatric facility if, as a result of a mental disorder, the individual is gravely disabled or presents a substantial risk of serious harm to him or herself or others.

A DMHP relies on both professional judgment and historical case records to determine the extent to which an individual may pose a risk. While protocols have been adopted for ITA investigations, at present, DMHPs do not use a standardized risk assessment instrument to determine the level of danger an individual may pose.

This report reviews both mental health and risk assessment instruments that potentially could be utilized in an ITA investigation. None of the risk instruments discussed here, however, have been validated for use within the general population. While we could not identify suitable instruments for ITA investigations within the research literature, other measures are discussed which may assist a DMHP in the investigation process. These options include expanded access to criminal records and centralized access to previous mental health investigation and commitment data.

Steve Aos - December 2004

In 2000, the Washington State Legislature initiated a pilot rehabilitation program for juvenile offenders sentenced to a state juvenile justice institution. The program focuses on offenders with “co-occurring” substance abuse and mental health disorders. Offenders with both of these conditions are known to pose a high risk for committing new crimes upon re-entry to the community. The program—called the Family Integrated Transitions (FIT) program—was designed and implemented by Eric Trupin, Ph.D., and David Stewart, Ph.D., from the University of Washington. The program uses a combination of evidence-based approaches tailored to the particular needs of these high-risk youth. In this report, we present findings on the effectiveness of FIT in reducing recidivism, as well as an analysis of the program’s benefits and costs.