Practical Program Evaluation for Criminal Justice

When closely examined, many of the most prominent criminal justice policies to emerge over the last 30 years are found wanting. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, today’s prisons now house 700% more inmates than in 1980 at 1700% the cost. What’s more, 62% of ex-offenders are re-arrested, and 41% re-imprisoned. Such high rates of incarceration and recidivism reflect just how flawed contemporary crime prevention approaches really are. It’s becoming increasingly clear that policy need not just be executed , but properly evaluated . During this period of economic uncertainty, it’s more imperative than ever that we are able to apply the principles of fiscal responsibility, accountability, and evidence-based practice to criminal justice reform plans. Practical Program Evaluation For Criminal Justice teaches students to do just that – thus endowing them with an increasingly important skill to be used in the workplace. Unlike other policy-based texts (which tend to focus more on implementation than assessment), it provides applicable, step-by-step instruction on how to determine whether an initiative is truly necessary prior to its adoption (thus eliminating the risk of wasting resources), as well as how to accurately gauge its effectiveness during initial roll-out stages. This is achieved through the gradual introduction of basic data analysis procedures and statistical techniques, which, once mastered, can prove or disprove a program’s worth. Lastly, the book’s penultimate chapter introduces students to the types of stakeholders to whom evaluation results should first be relayed if quick action is needed, as well as how to best structure reports to ensure their buy-in.