Research on Alternatives to Incarceration

The Common Interest reviewed much of the extensive research literature on alternatives to incarceration, including various reviews of the research. We found the review conducted in 2006 by Aos, Miller, and Drake of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to be the most useful. The authors and their institution are widely respected in the field. Other national experts we consulted referred us to Steve Aos and this reveiw. In addition to being among the most recent, it was the most comprehensive we found in terms of the number of studies reviewed. It was also the most rigorous review we found. The 571 programs they reviewed had all been evaluated using rigorous methods and Aos et al used advanced meta-analysis methods to analyze the overall effects found in these studies. Moreover, it was the most policy relevant review. In addition to testing whether given programs were effective at reducing crime, it also analyzed whether, and to what extent, the economic benefits exceeded the program costs.

Accordingly, our review of alternatives to incarceration is based to a large extent on the Aos et. al. study. The findings we report, however, are supported by other reviews of the research literature. Most of the findings we report in the brief are found in Exhibit 4 on p. 9. To review the study, click here.

Boise State University Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Administration Lisa Growette Bostaph recently completed a review that was commissioned by the Idaho Criminal Justice Commission in their efforts to identify viable alternatives to incarceration.

A recent review by the Vera Institute of Justice entitled "Reconsidering Incarceration: New Directions for Reducing Crime," provides an excellent review of research on the effects of incarceration on crime rates as well as broad alternative approaches to enhancing public safety like improving education and employment.

A recent report by the JFA Institute is authored by distinguished experts who review the empirical research and who have a more explicit agenda—one that is critical of the incarceration approach to public safety—than the other reports we reviewed.

Another body of research focuses not on alternatives to incarceration per se, but on the importance of effective delivery of alternatives. Programs designed and delivered according to well defined “principles of effective intervention” succeed where others fail. We have attached a review of research conducted by Edward J. Latessa & Christopher Lowenkamp here.