The Washington State Institute for Public Policy recently conducted a study to identify evidence-based options to reduce crime and criminal justice costs. The study examined 545 comparison group evaluations of adult corrections, juvenile corrections
and prevention programs. The study included two phases. The first phase identified programs that work using
meta-analytic procedures to evaluate the evidence. The second phase determined the cost effectiveness of the programs
utilizing their economic model. Some of the more effective programs in terms of results and cost benefit were vocational
education in prison, intensive supervision-treatment oriented programs, mentally ill offender programs and educational
programs. The complete report can be found at:
http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/pub.asp?docid=09-00-1201
