Corrections_Today_September_October_2020_Vol.82_No.5

Title Here

Benchmarks Figure 2: Mean Total Cost by Supervision Type

Figure 2: Mean Total Cost by Supervision Type

$130,000

$125,000

End of Study

End of Study

First Release

$120,000

Return to Prison

End of Study

$115,000

$110,000

Finished Parole

First Release

Return to Prison

No Supervision Street Parole ACC

$105,000

Return to Prison

Finished Parole

$100,000 Mean Total Cost

Finished ACC

$95,000

First Release

$90,000

$85,000

$80,000

700

900

1100

1300

1500

1700

1900

2100

2300

Mean Days Tracked

Summary Community corrections is often an understudied part of the criminal justice system. 5 The analysis pre- sented here adds to the discussion by moving beyond traditional evalu- ative metrics. The simple metric of recidivism could have been a nail in the coffin for the Wyoming ACC programs; however, when focusing on prison days, the ACC participa- tion group was shown to consume fewer prison days than the street parole group even with a higher recidivism rate. The cost analysis suggests, as currently constituted, the ACC and street parole groups cost the WDOC essentially the same amount. If the ACC recidivism can be reduced, even by a modest rate, further savings can be obtained in

both prison days and total supervi- sion costs. While recidivism is an important evaluative tool, considering alterna- tive metrics such as prison days and total cost can help verify or restrain decisions on the effectiveness of cor- rectional programs. Endnotes 1 Pew Center on the States. 2011. State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons . Washington, D.C.: The Pew Charitable Trusts. (April). 2 Council of State Governments Justice Center. 2019. Justice Reinvestment in Wyoming: Policy Framework . Lexington, KY: The Council of State Governments (June). 3 Harris, Mark and Ethan Harris. 2019. Using Prison Days and Total Costs as an Alternative to Return to Prison Measures . Seventh Annual Institutional Corrections Research Network (ICRN)/ National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) Data Providers Meeting, 19-20 September in St. Louis, MO.

4 Wong, Jennifer, Jessica Bouchard, Kelsey Gushue and Chelsey Lee. 2019. Halfway Out: An Examination of the Effects of Halfway Houses on Criminal Recidivism. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology . 63(7):1018-1037. 5 Still, Wendy, Barbara Broderick and Steven Raphael. 2016. Building Trust and Legitimacy Within Community Corrections . New Thinking in Community Corrections Bulletin , 3:1-25. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. (December).

Mark Harris is the research manager for the Wyoming Department of Corrections.

Ethan Harris is a statistics instructor for Casper College.

Corrections Today September/October 2020 — 61