An Application of an Innovative Cost-Benefit Analysis Tool for Determining the Implementation Costs and Public Safety Benefits of SORNA with Educational Implications for Criminology and Criminal Justice

Abstract

Sex offending is a considerable public health and criminal justice system concern. While the research is fairly mixed at best with most pointing toward a general lack of an appreciable deterrent benefit for these polices, no prior evaluation has made a rigorous attempt to determine and define the vast array of implementation costs and public safety benefits of these policies, specifically the Sex Offender and Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). As such, our proposed research strategy involves the development and application of an innovative Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) tool. The results from this innovative and dynamic CBA tool with hypothetical data suggests that the 10-year financial benefit for SORNA ranges from $1.01 to $3.91 for every dollar spent when considering the reduction in sex crime specifically, and any crime more generally. This tool holds promise as a mechanism for generating jurisdiction/site-specific cost-benefit analyses. Policy implications are also discussed.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Aaron Chalfin, PhD, for his considerable contribution and assistance to the development of the tool used in this study and the related discussion of the CBA.

Notes

1 In practice, the discount rate applies to inflation-adjusted dollars.

2 There are other concerns as well—in particular, the use of federal guidelines in assigning individuals to risk categories as opposed to using specially designed algorithms designed to predict an offender’s risk of recidivism in each state.