The cost benefits of providing community-based correctional services: An evaluation of a statewide parole program in California

This was a cost-benefit study of a statewide program involving multiple community-based services for parolees in California. Program effectiveness was assessed by comparing program costs to incarceration costs avoided due to decreases in recidivism. During the first year following parole release, program participants on average stayed out of prison longer than the comparison population. Participants who completed any of the community-based services stayed out of prison substantially longer. The reductions in re-incarceration yielded a net saving of $21 million in incarceration costs over the study period, after the costs of the program and parole supervision were subtracted, or a 47 percent net return on each program dollar invested. This study did not include potential cost savings to other parties in the justice system. These findings suggest future investments in community-based correctional services might produce substantial financial benefits. A fuller apprehension of the potential benefits would benefit from continuing evaluations, including studies employing a true experimental design.     

MacDill 65 demonstration of military managed care--DoD. Notice of demonstration project

This notice is to advise interested parties of a demonstration project in which DoD will enroll up to 2,000 Medicare-eligible military retirees at MacDill Air Force Base to primary care managers. The MacDill 65 demonstration project seeks to show that a DoD-operated program can provide primary health care services to beneficiaries eligible for both military health care and Medicare more effectively and efficiently than under the current DoD-operated system. In this project, DoD will grant enrollees in the program priority access to primary health care at MacDill in exchange for their agreement to receive all of their primary health care from MacDill AFB. Additional services, available at the military treatment facility at MacDill AFB, will be granted to these enrollees at a higher priority than that granted to other retirees and their family members not enrolled in TRICARE Prime. Funding for the demonstration for care provided will come from an additional $2 million per year over the current level of DoD expenditures on care provided to the MacDill AFB Medicare-eligible population. Claims for care provided to enrollees outside the MTF will be submitted to Medicare on a fee-for-service basis by the civilian provider. At the end of the project, DoD will conduct an analysis of the benefits and costs of the program. DoD will conduct the demonstration over three years, from October 1, 1998, to September 30, 2001. This demonstration project is being conducted under the authority of 10 USC 1092.     

Social and economic implications of family connections to prisoners

Research about incarceration has moved beyond studies of the individual prisoner to examine how incarceration impacts prisoners' families and neighborhoods. Much of the family-centered work highlights the potential benefits for the prisoner of maintaining ties to family during the incarceration period, and particularly after release. Less thoroughly considered is the potential benefits and costs to families of maintaining a relationship with an incarcerated individual. This article addresses this topic with a qualitative study of prisoners' families, as well as a review of census data in one high incarceration neighborhood. Research findings suggested that there were significant costs, both social and economic, to a prisoner's family if they desired to maintain the most basic level of connection with him. The study further suggested that families and prisoners were put in a position requiring constant negotiation of competing interests.     

Estimating economic impacts of new dimensional control technology applied to automobile body manufacturing

CONSAD analysts investigated the effects of the ATP-sponsored project on controlling dimensional variation in manufacturing (the “2mm project”). They looked first at the firm level to determine the technological changes that resulted from the project; the role played by the ATP; and the direct impacts on automobile production and maintenance costs. They then used macroeconomic interindustry modeling to project preliminary impacts on the national economy of adoption of the technology by the automobile industry. A challenge was to estimate the impacts based on preliminary and partial information characterizing industry experience. Some potential effects of the ATP-sponsored project were considered too uncertain at this early stage to attempt quantification and were omitted from the analysis. The results of the macroeconomic analysis provide a very preliminary projection of national economic impacts of this ATP-sponsored project. This paper is based on a study performed by CONSAD Research Corporation of a project funded by the Advanced Technology Program.     

Commercialization activities in the SBIR program (part 1)

Telephone surveys were conducted over a three-year period on more than 800 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II projects initiated during the first three years of the program. For most of these projects, respondents were surveyed four years after receiving their Phase II award Five distinct levels of commercialization activity were identified ranging from “commercialization has occurred” (Level 1) to “commercialization is not expected” (Level 5). At the time of the survey, 12% of the projects had achieved commercialization (Level 1) and 18% were experiencing some commercialization success (Levels 1 and 2 combined). Of the participating federal agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services had by far the largest percentage of commercialized projects. For all agencies, over 60% of the respondents attributed nearly all of their projects' success to the SBIR program. Eighty-four percent stated that the technology development effort would not have been pursued without SBIR. Survey responses were also analyzed for a series of factors to determine their influence on the extent of commercialization activity. Factors included in the series are those related to the SBIR company conducting the project, the technology being developed, and marketing the product or service expected to be derived from the SBIR effort.     

Measuring the Economic Returns from Successful NASA Life Sciences Technology Transfers

Since 1958 NASA has invested approximately $3.7 billion in life sciences R&D in the support of the successful human space flight program. There are numerous studies documenting the spin-off technologies that can be traced to NASA research and development activities. Most of these studies describe the technologies and their uses; however only a few measure the economic impact of the spin-offs and most of these are benefit/cost studies that tend to overstate benefits or underestimate costs. This study takes a different approach, measuring only economic impacts to the companies that developed successful spin-off products from NASA life sciences investments. A personal interview was conducted with each company and the benefits are conservatively estimated as the value-added by the NASA technology to the company's output and the amount of additional private R&D stimulated by the NASA R&D.This pilot study of fifteen companies, using a very conservative measurement technique, found a large return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Value-added benefits totaled over $3.7 billion in life sciences R&D in the support of the successful human space flight program. There are numerous studies documenting the spin-off technologies that can be traced to NASA research and development activities. Most of these studies describe the technologies and their uses; however only a few measure the economic impact of the spin-offs and most of these are benefit/cost studies that tend to overstate benefits or underestimate costs. This study takes a different approach, measuring only economic impacts to the companies that developed successful spin-off products from NASA life sciences investments. A personal interview was conducted with each company and the benefits are conservatively estimated as the value-added by the NASA technology to the company's output and the amount of additional private R&D stimulated by the NASA R&D.This pilot study of fifteen companies, using a very conservative measurement technique, found a large return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Value-added benefits totaled over 1.5 billion and a NASA R&D total investment in these 15 technologies of 64 million was found to stimulate an additional64 million was found to stimulate an additional 200 million in private R&D.     

A taste of its own medicine: Assessing the impact of the EU Better Regulation Agenda

This article performs an ‘impact assessment’ of the EU Better Regulation Agenda. It considers whether there is a clear definition of the problems that the EU Better Regulation seeks to address, the evidence base, whether Better Regulation more effectively responds to those problems than alternative options, and what the costs, benefits and broader impacts of the the Agenda may be. The analysis suggests that while the Better Regulation Agenda generally promotes an open yet rational decision‐making process based on sound problem definitions and aiming at targeted solutions calibrated for optimum efficiency and effectiveness, some of its own problem assumptions remain unproven, it possesses contradictory traits and risks being counter productive. Furthermore, while EU Better Regulation may have benefits, it also entails significant costs that should not be overlooked. This assessment reveals the complex and multifaceted nature of EU Better Regulation, and the need to hold it to its own standards.     

The economic costs of partner violence and the cost-benefit of civil protective orders

Partner violence affects a significant number of women and their children each year. Estimates of the economic costs of partner violence are substantial. However, most estimates of the costs of partner violence are made at the aggregate level rather than the individual level. Estimating costs at the individual level allows for a wider range of costs of partner violence to be considered. This study is one of the first to examine a wide range of economic costs of partner violence and to examine the economic costs and cost-benefits of civil protective orders. Overall, including changes in quality of life, protective orders were estimated to have saved taxpayers in one small state US$85 million in a 1-year period. More generally, this study provides a framework to address more specific complexities associated with cost-benefit analyses of partner violence and the impact of justice system interventions.     

The advanced technology program, its evaluation plan, and progress in implementation

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) partners with U.S. businesses in high-risk research to develop enabling technologies with strong potential for economic benefits to the nation. Universities, nonprofit research laboratories, and firms of all sizes participate in ATP-funded projects. ATP’s evaluation effort seeks not only to measure the impacts of the technology development projects it funds, but also to understand the underlying relationships among research, technological change, and economic impact, and to provide feedback to the program to increase its broad-based benefits. Evaluation activities encompass developing models, conducting surveys, compiling databases, conducting micro- and macro-economic case studies, and performing statistical and econometric analyses. Program metrics include private rates of return, social rates of return, and public rates of return—the social-rate-of-return component attributable to the ATP. Topics of special interest, in addition to performance metrics, include spillover pathways, benefits and costs of collaboration, financing issues, and new models of impact assessment.     

The economic impact of engineering research centers: preliminary results of a pilot study

This article describes the results of a pilot study that tested the feasibility of estimating quantitatively the regional and economic impacts of NSF-supported Engineering Research centers. For regional impacts, we combined estimates of the direct plus indirect and induced economic impacts of ERC expenditures generated from a regional input–output model with estimates of the additional impact on the state due to center-based start-up companies, licensing income from intellectual property produced by the center, the cost savings enjoyed by local firms that had hired center graduates, and advice and consulting to local firms by center faculty. For national economic impact, a suitably modified version of the regional approach was employed, supplemented by use of a consumer surplus model to estimate the net public benefits of newly commercialized technologies based in center research. As the project proceeded, it became clear that efforts to focus solely on economic impacts that could be quantified relatively easily would greatly underestimate the actual national economic impact of ERCs. The types of impacts included and the kinds of data collected from centers and their collaborating companies were therefore expanded in the later case studies. Results of the first three cases are described here; findings from the remaining two studies did not change our overall results or conclusions. The profile of regional and, especially, national economic impact estimates varied widely across the centers studied. Only some of these variations could be attributed to ERC characteristics; most were the result of variations in the amount and type of data that could be obtained from the centers involved and the companies they worked with. We concluded that even the most conscientious and costly data collection efforts would be unlikely to yield comparable data across centers because the accessibility of key data, especially proprietary data, will differ unpredictably from center to center. Further, focusing on narrowly-conceived, quantifiable economic data alone should be avoided in these kinds of impact studies. Doing so distorts the amount and characteristics of actual impacts, many of which—perhaps most of which—cannot feasibly be converted to monetary terms. Such a narrow focus will greatly underestimate the impact of ERC-like centers, masking the much broader and, based on our findings, larger and more significant impacts on society.     

Gauging the process of international technology transfer

A Technology Transfer Index is proposed for gauging the process of international technology transfer. The approach is based on the premise that the transferee in the process aims at achieving technological independence through gradual replacement of imported technological components by indigenous resources. By avoiding abstract concepts and concentrating on the end-results of the technology transfer process, the index can be computed from readily available statistics of production costs and international trade. The quantitative measure is expected to be a useful indicator for economic planning, aid program management and project evaluation and assessment.     

The importance of “spillovers” in the policy mission of the advanced technology program

Government policies like the Advanced Technology Program (“ATP”) are intended, at least in part, to remedy the “market failure” inherent in the fact that a significant portion of the social benefits of new knowledge and technology are not captured by a firm that invests in R&D. ATP’s project selection, and its evaluation of the impact of its program, can be made more effective by explicitly incorporating the analysis of such “spillovers.” For project selection, this means identifying technological, organizational and economic factors that tend to oint to a large “spillover gap,” or deviation between the social and private rates of return to a proposed project. For program evaluation and assessment, it means adapting existing study methods that measure social returns to innovation in ways that explicitly capture spillover effects. This paper is based on a study that I performed for the ATP, Economic Analysis of Research Spillovers: Implications for the Advanced Technology Program, NIST GCR 97-708. I have benefited from comments and useful discussions with Zvi Griliches, Jeanne Powell, Rosalie Ruegg, and Richard Spivack. Some of the ideas in this paper grew out of previous joint research with James Adams. The views expressed herein are my own, however, and should not be attributed to any of these individuals or to the ATP.     

The “process” of field research in the courtoom

This article is meant to contribute to understanding the process of “live” courtroom research by describing and reflecting upon the choices my colleagues and I made in a recently completed study of judicial behavior. In light of the tremendous need for such research and in recognition of the perils attendant to conducting it, social scientists must begin to articulate in detail their philosophy, strategies, and methods of study in the actual courtroom setting. The present article discusses the methodological and ethical issues that we faced in the context of the research project on trial judges' verbal volved in our courtroom research included: (1) developing the theory and purpose of study, (2) organizing entry and logistics in the field, (3) assessing ethical costs and benefits, (4) gathering field data and developing methods that accommodate the field setting, and (5) understanding follow-up and ethical concerns after the research is over.     

Refinement and Preliminary Testing of an Imagery-Based Program to Improve Coping and Performance and Prevent Trauma among Urban Police Officers

Police officers are regularly exposed to traumatic critical incidents. The substantial mental, behavioral, and social costs of police trauma indicate a substantial need for prevention. We have refined and enhanced a previously tested Swedish program to the harsh conditions of U.S. inner cities. The program was designed to strengthen resilience during stressful encounters and teach methods of coping after exposure, thereby preventing the emergence of maladaptive symptoms and behaviors with adverse effects on professionalism. In an uncontrolled demonstration project, junior officers were trained by senior officers to engage in imaginal rehearsal of specific dangerous situations while incorporating optimal police tactics and healthy emotional reactions. A class of 32 officers in the police academy engaged in the program, and they and the trainers reported high satisfaction with it. After their first year of field work, 22 officers were reassessed. Compared to pre-training, these officers showed significant increases in the use of positive reframing and humor and significant reductions in anxiety and alcohol use over the year. Trauma symptoms did not increase. These results offer preliminary evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of this trauma prevention program for new police officers.     

村委会直选中贿选的经济诱因与治理对策

村委会直选过程中产生贿选的根本原因是贿选者为了获取非法经济利益。当贿选者认为预期收入大于成本时,贿选发生的几率就必然加大。要治理贿选,必须通过立法等措施来阻断贿选者对获取非法经济利益的预期,加大违规成本,净化选举环境,完善村级民主治理的各项制度建设。     

2009年香港法政大事记

刚划上句号的2009年,总括来说是香港抗击金融海啸的又一年,当中政经风云不定,政府施政面对重重挑战,另一边厢,历时9年的民事司法制度改革（Civil Justice Reform）开始实施,标志着香港民事司法制度发展的一个重要裹程碑。     

Beyond the "science of sophomores": does the rational choice explanation of crime generalize from university students to an actual offender sample?

Much of the criminological literature testing rational choice theory has utilized hypothetical scenarios presented to university students. Although this research generally supports rational choice theory, a common criticism is that conclusions from these studies may not generalize to samples of actual offenders. This study proceeds to examine this issue in two steps. First, a traditional sample of university students is examined to determine how various costs and benefits relate to their hypothetical likelihood of offending. Then the same data collection procedures are employed with a somewhat different sample of younger, adjudicated, and institutionalized offenders to determine whether the conclusions drawn from the student sample generalize to this offender sample. Results generally suggest that the content and process of hypothetical criminal decision making differ in the sample of known offenders relative to the university students. Limitations of the current study, as well as suggestions for future research, are discussed.     

The impact of after‐school programs on the routine activities of middle‐school students: Results from a randomized,controlled trial*

Research Summary Unsupervised after‐school time for adolescents is a concern for parents and policymakers alike. Evidence linking unsupervised adolescent socializing to problem behavior outcomes heightens this concern among criminologists. Routine activities theory suggests that, when youth peer groups congregate away from adult authority, both opportunity for and motivation to engage in deviant acts increase. After‐school programs are a possible solution to unsupervised teen socializing during afternoon hours and are much in demand. However, empirical research has yet to test the relationship between the availability of after‐school programs and youth routine activities. This study presents evidence from a multisite, randomized, controlled trial of an after‐school program for middle‐school students in an urban school district. Policy Implications Youth in the treatment group engaged in less unsupervised socializing after school than youth in the control group but not as much less as would be expected if the after‐school program was providing consistent supervision to youth who would otherwise be unsupervised. Additional analyses examined why the influence of the after‐school program was not more pronounced. We found that, although program attendance was related to decreases in unsupervised socializing, the program did not attract many delinquency‐prone youths who were unsupervised, which suggests that the students most in need of the program did not benefit. Furthermore, data obtained from a mid‐year activity survey revealed that youth in the study were highly engaged in a variety of after‐school activities. The addition of the after‐school program into the mixture of available activities had little effect on the frequency with which students participated in organized activities after school.     

The Monetary Value of Saving a High-Risk Youth

Programs targeted at high-risk youth are designed to prevent high-school dropout, crime, drug abuse, and other forms of delinquency. Even if shown to be successful in reducing one or more social ill, a key policy question is whether the cost to society from that intervention program exceeds its benefits. Although the costs of intervention programs are often available, the benefits are more illusive. This paper provides estimates of the potential benefits from “saving” a high-risk youth, by estimating the lifetime costs associated with the typical career criminal, drug abuser, and high-school dropout. In the absence of controlled experimental data on the number of career criminals averted, one can ask the reverse question—How many career criminals must be prevented before the program “pays for itself?” Based on a 2% discount rate, the typical career criminal causes $1.3–$1.5 million in external costs; a heavy drug user, $370,000 to $970,000; and a high-school dropout, $243,000 to $388,000. Eliminating duplication between crimes committed by individuals who are both heavy drug users and career criminals results in an overall estimate of the “monetary value of saving a high-risk youth” of $1.7 to $2.3 million.