Evaluations that focus on the costs and benefits of reentry programming are just as important as impact or process evaluations. There are three types of economic evaluations: 

1. Cost analysis, which is used to estimate the cost of the program (e.g., labor is 88 percent of costs).
2. Cost-effectiveness analysis, which uses the cost analysis results to determine the tradeoff between costs and outcomes to demonstrate cost savings to funders (e.g., reducing recidivism by 1 percentage point costs $80).
3. Cost-benefit analysis, which monetizes the benefits and then is combined with the cost analysis results to determine the overall cost-effectiveness (e.g., SCA program benefits outweigh costs by $280 per participant).

This webinar from the Evaluation and Sustainability Training and Technical Assistance (ES TTA) team at RTI International and the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly the Center for Court Innovation) demonstrates the importance of determining the costs and benefits of programming. 

Speakers:

• Presenter: Alexander Cowell, RTI International