Steve Lerch - January 2004

Tax exemptions—tax preferences such as deductions, credits, or preferential rates—benefit specific groups of taxpayers. This report provides an overview of the tax exemption concept and a summary of research on tax exemption impacts, with an emphasis on exemptions in the economic development area.

Cheryl Milloy - December 2003

Washington was the first state to pass a civil commitment law for violent sex offenders; the law was part of the state's 1990 Community Protection Act. The Sexually Violent Predator statute permits the indefinite involuntary civil commitment of persons found in civil court to be sexually violent predators. This study examines the recidivism of 89 sex offenders released between July 1990 and July 1996 who were referred by the Department of Corrections as meeting the filing standards for civil commitment petitions, but for whom no petitions were filed. The study reveals that this group of individuals have a high pattern of recidivism.

Robert Barnoski - December 2003

The 2003 Washington State Legislature directed the Institute to determine if there are changes to Washington’s sentencing structure that could reduce costs without endangering public safety. This interim report describes the research plan, as well as the steps taken as of December 2003.

The final report is available in two parts:
Part I: Historical Trends
Part II: Recidivism Analyses

Robert Barnoski, Steve Aos - December 2003

In 1999, the Washington State Legislature passed the Offender Accountability Act (OAA). The OAA affects how the state provides community supervision to adults convicted of felony crimes. The Legislature directed the Institute to determine if the OAA achieves reduced re-offense rates (recidivism) and improvements in other outcomes. In this report, we examine how well the risk assessment instrument adopted by DOC—the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R)—predicts recidivism in a sample of 22,533 Washington offenders. We also explore possible improvements to the instrument and how a revised classification approach might work within the OAA.

Robert Barnoski, Steve Aos, Roxanne Lieb - December 2003

In 1997, the Washington State Legislature directed the Institute to evaluate research-based juvenile court programs. In 2002, the Institute's preliminary evaluation found that the programs cost-effectively reduced recidivism-but only when faithfully adhering to the original program design. Based on this finding, the 2003 Legislature directed the Institute to develop adherence and outcome standards to ensure quality implementation of juvenile justice research-based programs. In developing this report, the Institute worked with the juvenile courts, JRA, program developers, and the state's program experts.

Polly Phipps, Bill Luchansky - December 2003

The 1999 Legislature directed the Institute to evaluate DOSA, a drug treatment alternative for felony drug and property offenders who receive a prison sentence. In this presentation to the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, we examine how DOSA has been implemented. Are DOSA offenders: (1) receiving and completing treatment?, and (2) held accountable for behavior that violates DOSA sentence conditions through sanctions and revocations? The final DOSA report, due to the Legislature in December 2004, focuses on criminal recidivism and cost-effectiveness, using a pre-post study design with a treatment and comparison group.

Steve Aos - December 2003

The 2003 Washington State Legislature directed the Institute to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of prevention and early intervention programs for at-risk youth. This interim report describes the scope of the project.

Annie Pennucci, Jim Mayfield - August 2003

The interim report on branch campuses concluded that Washington's five upper division branch campuses are operating as intended by the 1989 Legislature. There are, however, internal and external pressures for branch campuses to evolve into more traditional, four-year research universities. This final report describes those pressures and identifies potential courses of action to guide the campuses' future development. Costs associated with Washington's branch campuses are also analyzed.

Roxanne Lieb - July 2003

Washington State's law for sexually violent predators was enacted in 1990; since then, 14 other states have passed similar laws authorizing civil commitment for dangerous sexual offenders following their prison terms. Although the law has survived constitutional challenges at both the state and in the U.S. Supreme Court, a related set of court actions has addressed whether the treatment program is adequate. In 1994, the federal district court placed Washington's program under injunction and appointed a special master to ensure that the state improve deficiencies in the program. As of 2003, the federal court continues to oversee the state's program, with a threat of fines totaling several million dollars if the injunction terms are not met. Over an eight-year period, the special master delivered 19 reports to the court, documenting the program's deficiencies as well as its successes in meeting the court's orders. This article reviews these reports and court orders, detailing the court's requirements for an adequate treatment program.

Steve Lerch - June 2003

The ability to identify Medicaid recipients who will have high health care expenses in the future is important for targeting cost containment efforts such as coordination of medical care, patient education, and other “case management” techniques.  This report examines two approaches to identifying future high-cost clients among Medicaid recipients with severe disabilities.  The results indicate that over 60 percent of next year’s high-cost clients can be accurately identified from current year data.