Toward a CostBenefit Analysis of Incarcerating Parents

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Toward a Cost-Benefit Analysis of Incarcerating
Parents

• Thomas E. Lengyel, MSW, Ph.D.
• Director, Research Evaluation Services
• Alliance for Children and Families
• Impact on the Innocent Conference
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• October 30, 2003

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Preamble

• Merely returning women to their
  pre-incarceration state will do little to alter
  their lives in any significant way.
• - Marilyn Brown

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisStructure of Presentation

• Factual foundations
• Social cost and social benefit
• Elements of social cost
• Elements of social benefit
• Scale of offenses scale of offenders
• Cost-benefit of mandatory minimums for
  methamphetamine (712-141, -142, -143)
• Conclusions

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisFactual Foundations

• The majority of prisoners in both state and
  federal prisons are parents with minor children -
  56
• Female prisoners are 6.8 of the total prison
  population men are 93.2
• For state prisoners, 65 of women and 55 of men
  have minor children
• Hawaii may have more parents on average

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisFactual Foundations (slide
2)

• Women prisoners are in worse shape at admission
  than men women with children are worse off than
  women without children
• More drug abuse, alcohol addiction, mental
  illness, homelessness, low educational
  attainment, and poverty
• 10 of mothers children are in foster care 2
  for fathers
• Women prisoners in Hawaii may be worse off than
  their mainland counterparts

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisFactual Foundations (slide
3)

• Women are more expensive to house in prison than
  men
• Expense derives partly from their poorer
  condition on entry and higher need for services
• More mothers (64) than fathers (44) lived with
  their children before admission
• Note This may be an overestimate

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisFactual Foundations (slide
4)

• Where children live during incarceration depends
  on the prisoners gender
• Children of father-prisoners tend to live with
  their mother, and a few with grandparents
• Children of mother-prisoners live primarily with
  grandparents or other relatives
• Women are the primary caregivers when the mother
  is incapacitated other women take her place

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisThe Nature of Social
Benefit

• Two basic parts to the concept
• Deterrence
• Commission of a crime is averted because the
  potential perpetrator fears the consequences
• Effect is largest with property crimes that have
  low social costs
• Incapacitation
• Commission of a crime is averted because the
  potential perpetrator is unable to commit crime
• Benefit is greatest with violent crimes

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisThe Concept of Social Cost

• Complex concept
• Technical A collateral resource that is used up
  or destroyed by an act or decision
• General Contextual or downstream costs of a
  course of action
• Destroyed resources
• Additional needs generated by an action
• Foregone benefits to society that would have been
  experienced had the action not taken place
• Social cost of prison distinct from lockup cost

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisSocial Costs of
Incarceration

• Direct costs (quantified)
• Presentence investigation and assessment
• Foster care for placed children
• Additional social, health, educational services,
  child care for dependents
• Post-release supervision (parole)
• Lost child support from non-custodial
  incarcerated parents

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisSocial Costs of
Incarceration

• Grey costs (quantifiable research ongoing)
• TANF for dependents caregivers
• Food stamps
• Medicaid/SCHIP
• Housing assistance
• Economists prefer to call these transfer payments

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisSocial Costs of
Incarceration

• Indirect costs (not currently quantified)
• Trauma to children leading to
• Increased special education, physical and mental
  health services, and other support
• Decreased future productivity
• Increased criminality
• Hidden costs (costs born by others - not
  quantified)
• Family supervision of children
• Family housing of parent children post-release

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisSocial Costs of
Incarceration

• Bottom Line Preliminary work suggests direct
  social costs are about twice the cost of lockup
• Probably a conservative estimate

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisSocial Benefit of
Incarceration

• Benefit of Incapacitation
• Self-reports Median prisoner commits 12
  crimes/year when on the street
• Elasticity Non-crime related reduction of
  prison population results in 14.7 additional
  index crimes
• Cost of various index crimes calculable
• Net savings for adding one prisoner is 71,150 in
  reduced index crime (03 dollars)

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisSocial Benefit of
Incarceration

• Most costly crimes are murder, assault, and
  robbery
• Accounts for about 52,800 of the effect (03 )
• Least costly crimes are burglary, rape, auto
  theft, and larceny
• Each of these crimes cost on average 3,785 per
  crime (2003 dollars)

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisScales of Offenses
Offenders

• Assumption An offender will tend to commit the
  same type of offense for which they were
  sentenced
• Offense Scale Offenses can be arranged on a
  scale by the social benefit from their avoidance
• Murder gt Assault gt Burglary gt Drug use
• More benefit lt gt Less Benefit

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisScales of Offenses
Offenders

• Offender Scale
• Offenders can be arranged on a scale by the net
  cost (lockup social cost) of their
  incarceration
• Women w. Men w. Men w/o
• multiple multiple children
• minor children children
• More cost lt
  gt Less cost

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisScales of Offenses
Offenders

• For particular prisoners or types of prisoners
  the scales will cross
• Cost will exceed benefit for prisoners with high
  cost and low benefit
• Benefit will exceed cost for prisoners with low
  cost and high benefit
• Men without children who rob Low cost-high
  benefit
• Women with multiple minor children who abuse
  drugs High cost-low benefit

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisIce Users in Hawaii

• Net Incarceration Cost Calculation
• 637 712 felons sentenced in Hawaii
• Average sentence 39 months
• 76 - 91 per day prison cost
• 30,500 average per year
• 99,000 for average sentence
• 57.4 M to 68.8 M lockup cost
• 189 M net incarceration cost (3x lockup)

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisIce Users in Hawaii

• Social Benefit Calculation
• Average benefit per crime 3,785
• Reduction in crimes 15 per year
• Average sentence served 3.25 years
• incarcerated ice users 637
• Total social benefit 117.5 M

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisIce Users in Hawaii

• Cost-benefit Comparison
• Net social benefit
• of incapacitation 117.5 M
• Net incarceration
• cost 189.0 M
• State benefit - 71.5 M

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisIce Users in Hawaii

• Conclusions
• Its worthwhile to scrutinize classes of
  prisoners
• Numbers and classes of prisoners are determined
  in large part by state policy
• The state has the ability to reduce the prison
  population through policy and legislation

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisIce Users in Hawaii

• Conclusions
• Savings from prisoner reductions should be
  invested in programs that delay or forestall
  incarceration, such as job training, economic
  opportunity, and drug abuse education and
  treatment
• New prisons should be accompanied by a full set
  of services to stem the upward spiral caused by
  recidivism, esp. drug offenders

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Cost-Benefit AnalysisAcknowledgements

• Thanks to
• Geri Marullo
• Child and Family Services
• Marilyn Brown
• Amalia Bueno
• Contact information
• Thomas E. Lengyel
• tlengyel_at_Alliance1.org