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The Effectiveness of Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Public versus Private Management

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Bayer

    (Economic Growth Center, Yale University)

  • David E. Pozen

Abstract

This paper uses data on juvenile offenders released from correctional facilities in Florida to explore the effects of facility management type (private for-profit, private nonprofit, public state-operated, and public county-operated) on recidivism outcomes and costs. The data provide detailed information on individual characteristics, criminal and correctional histories, judge-assigned restrictiveness levels, and home zipcodes—allowing us to control for the non-random assignment of individuals to facilities far better than any previous study. Relative to all other management types, for-profit management leads to a statistically significant increase in recidivism, but, relative to nonprofit and state-operated facilities, for-profit facilities operate at a lower cost to the government per comparable individual released. Costbenefit analysis implies that the short-run savings offered by for-profit over nonprofit management are negated in the long run due to increased recidivism rates, even if one measures the benefits of reducing criminal activity as only the avoided costs of additional confinement.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Bayer & David E. Pozen, 2003. "The Effectiveness of Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Public versus Private Management," Working Papers 863, Economic Growth Center, Yale University, revised Nov 2004.
    • Handle: RePEc:egc:wpaper:863
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    File URL: http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp863.pdf
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    2. Stephane Lavertu & Long Tran, 2025. "For‐profit milk in nonprofit cartons? The case of nonprofit charter schools subcontracting with for‐profit education management organizations," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 236-265, January.
    3. Knutsson, Daniel & Tyrefors, Björn, 2020. "The Quality and Efficiency Between Public and Private Firms: Evidence from Ambulance Services," Working Paper Series 1365, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 01 Jul 2021.
    4. Anita Mukherjee, 2021. "Impacts of Private Prison Contracting on Inmate Time Served and Recidivism," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 408-438, May.
    5. Patrick Bayer & Randi Hjalmarsson & David Pozen, 2009. "Building Criminal Capital behind Bars: Peer Effects in Juvenile Corrections," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(1), pages 105-147.
    6. Kevin T. Schnepel, 2016. "Economics of Incarceration," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 49(4), pages 515-523, December.
    7. Yu XIA, 2012. "What’s the Role of Schools in Juvenile Crime?," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(4), pages 97-114, August.
    8. Yu XIA, 2012. "What’s the Role of Schools in Juvenile Crime?," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 2(4), pages 97-114, August.
    9. Hall, Maximilian J.B. & Liu, Wenbin B. & Simper, Richard & Zhou, Zhongbao, 2013. "The economic efficiency of rehabilitative management in young offender institutions in England and Wales," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 38-49.
    10. Andersson, Fredrik & Jordahl, Henrik, 2011. "Outsourcing Public Services: Ownership, Competition, Quality and Contracting," Working Paper Series 874, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. Rubli, Adrian, 2023. "Trade-offs between access and quality in healthcare: Evidence from retail clinics in Mexico," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    12. Lindqvist, Erik, 2011. "Planned treatment and outcomes in residential youth care: Evidence from Sweden," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 21-27, January.
    13. Fredrik Andersson & Henrik Jordahl & Jens Josephson, 2019. "Outsourcing Public Services: Contractibility, Cost, and Quality," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 65(4), pages 349-372.
    14. Bergman, Mats A. & Johansson, Per & Lundberg, Sofia & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2016. "Privatization and quality: Evidence from elderly care in Sweden," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 109-119.
    15. Yazzie, Rebecca A., 2011. "Availability of treatment to youth offenders: Comparison of public versus private programs from a national census," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 804-809, June.
    16. Singleton, John D., 2017. "Putting dollars before scholars? Evidence from for-profit charter schools in Florida," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 43-54.

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    JEL classification:

    • H0 - Public Economics - - General
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • K0 - Law and Economics - - General
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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