Centers: Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit
Few states and counties know what return on investment they are getting for expenditures on their criminal and juvenile justice systems. Agencies spend money and make assumptions about the financial and substantive effects of policy and program choices without much solid information on the real costs incurred or benefits accrued. Yet this information is highly relevant to the decisions policymakers need to make, particularly in a challenging fiscal climate.
Vera’s Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit provides policymakers with clear, accessible information on the economic pros and cons associated with criminal and juvenile justice investments, so that they can identify effective, affordable interventions for their jurisdictions and allocate resources accordingly. We perform cost-benefit analyses and other cost-related studies, support jurisdictions conducting their own studies, and carry out research to advance the knowledge and application of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in the justice system. We also provide technical assistance to help jurisdictions integrate CBA and other types of economic analysis in their justice planning and policymaking.
The Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit draws upon the experience of an advisory board of national experts and practitioners in criminal justice and economics.
For more information on the Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit, please contact Tina Chiu, director of technical assistance.
Projects
The Substance Use and Mental Health Program (SUMH) is studying the impact of recent changes to New York State drug laws that allow shorter sentences and alternatives to incarceration for certain felony drug charges. The reform is a shift from mandatory sentencing guidelines limiting judicial discretion that came into effect in 1973 during the tenure of then-governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and were popularly known as the Rockefeller drug laws. The study will describe the reform’s implementation and explore its implications for public safety and criminal-justice-system costs.
This study, funded by the National Institute of Justice, will explore whether providing incarcerated people with access to video visitation improves the nature and frequency of prisoners’ contact with their families and other people who support them. It will also explore if these contacts improve their compliance with custodial rules and outcomes after their release from prison.
Vera's Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit worked with MDRC to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the Center for Employment Opportunities, an independent program launched by the Vera Institute that provides employment services to people with criminal records.
Vera's Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit has developed a national knowledge bank for cost-benefit analysis in criminal justice to help practitioners and policymakers better understand the budgetary impact of criminal justice policy choices.
Vera’s Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit and Center on Sentencing and Corrections, in collaboration with the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, have developed a methodology to guide a complete accounting of the cost of prisons.
Vera’s Substance Use and Mental Health Program launched a project to study the role of indigent defense, commonly known as public defense, for defendants with mental health disorders (MHD) in January 2013. With support from the National Institute of Justice, this work aims to 1) enhance understanding of the challenges faced by indigent defenders and their clients with MHD; 2) improve outcomes for defendants with MHD; and 3) inform the development of guidelines and training materials for defense attorneys that address common challenges to providing indigent defense for people with MHD.
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Tina Chiu  Director of Technical Assistance |
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Christian Henrichson Senior Policy Analyst, Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit |
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Sarah Galgano Policy Analyst, Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit |
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Carl Matthies Senior Policy Analyst, Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit |
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Robert Reed, Jr. Senior Policy Adviser, Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit |
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Joshua Rinaldi Policy Analyst, Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit |
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Jules Verdone Content Manager, Cost-Benefit Knowledge Bank |
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Desiré Vincent Project Coordinator, Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit |
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Steve Aos Steve Aos is the director of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, the nonpartisan research arm of the Washington State legislature. He has more than 35 years of experience in conducting cost-benefit analyses and in communicating the results to policymakers in a wide range of public policy areas, as well as in the private sector. His current work focuses on identifying and evaluating the costs and benefits of programs and policies that reduce crime, improve K-12 educational outcomes, reduce child abuse and neglect, improve mental health, and reduce substance abuse and tobacco use. He also has many years of experience in energy economics and regulatory policy. |
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Mark H. Bergstrom Mark H. Bergstrom has been the executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing since 1998. In addition to providing the overall management of the Commission, he also serves as the commission’s liaison with the General Assembly, the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts, the Governor’s Office, other state and local agencies, and with the various administrative units of The Pennsylvania State University, where the Commission is based. In his prior positions with the Commission, he was responsible for incorporating intermediate punishments into the sentencing guidelines, conducting training seminars on sentencing-related issues, and assisting counties with the development and implementation of intermediate punishment plans and programs. |
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Mark A. Cohen Mark A. Cohen is professor of management and law at Vanderbilt University. Previously, he served as a staff economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Sentencing Commission and as vice president for research at Resources for the Future. He is often called upon by government and research organizations to serve in advisory roles providing his expertise on the economics of crime and the cost of crime to society. He served for two terms as chairman of the American Statistical Association’s Committee on Law and Justice. He has received several research grants from the National Institute of Justice to assess the costs and impact of crime on society. He has lectured around the world on the cost of crime, including consultations and invited talks with governmental organizations in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, and elsewhere in the EU. |
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Philip J. Cook |
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Dall Forsythe |
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Michael Jacobson
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Jens Ludwig Jens Ludwig is director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration, Law, and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and co-director of the NBER’s working group on the Economics of Crime. He conducts empirical research in law and economics and social policy, with a focus on urban poverty, education, crime, and housing. He is the co-author with Duke University professor Philip J. Cook of Gun Violence: The Real Costs (Oxford University Press 2000) and co-editor with Cook of Evaluating Gun Policy (Brookings Institution Press 2003). Before coming to the University of Chicago, he was a professor of public policy at Georgetown University. In 2006, he received the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s David N. Kershaw Prize for distinguished contributions to public policy by the age of 40. |
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