Through its Center for Criminal Justice Research (CJR), WYSAC is the state’s federally created statistical analysis center for criminal justice research. CJR both collects original data and analyzes administrative records to inform policymakers on critical policy matters impacting the justice system in Wyoming. With a client mix of state agencies and NGOs, we help span the gap between research and practice. Primary areas of research/program evaluation include:

• Corrections
• Reentry programming
• Probation and parole
• Domestic violence
• Sex offenders
• Substance abuse and crime
• Victims of crime

WYSAC is active nationally as a member of the Justice Research and Statistics Association (www.jrsa.org). In 2006 a CJR evaluation of Wyoming’s drug courts received the JRSA’s annual Hoke Award for excellence in policy analysis. And in 2009, WYSAC received the JRSA’s Technical Innovation Award for WyoSafe, a secure case-management software system developed for the Wyoming Division of Victim Services.

WYSAC is eligible to apply annually for federal funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics under the State Justice Statistics (SJS) program.

Process Evaluation of the Transition from Prison to Community Program. A three year effort to improve public safety and aid prisoners in successfully making the transition from prison to community was spearheaded by the Wyoming Department of Corrections. The 2012 SJS program funded a process evaluation of the project.

Pilot Study on Human Trafficking and Arrest-Related Deaths in Wyoming. The 2012 SJS funded two additional studies with important implications for the state. The human trafficking study is a qualitative pilot project that provides information on the perceptions of Wyoming law enforcement officials and other stakeholders on the existence of human trafficking in the state. Arrest-related deaths is a continuing project for Wyoming that provides data on offender deaths that occurred during the arrest process.

Cost-benefit Analysis of Wyoming Drug Courts vs. Traditional Sentencing. The 2011 SJS funded a cost-benefit and a cost-effectiveness analysis that provides policymakers with information on the differences in costs along with the differences in effectiveness (measured through recidivism rates) between traditionally-sentenced offenders and offenders sentenced to adult drug court programs.

Prescription Narcotics. The 2010 SJS award was used to analyze data from the Wyoming prescription drug monitoring program.

Other CJR Projects. For information about WYSAC’s previous BJS-funded work, as well as CJR projects for various state agencies, please use the Quick Links panel on the right.

Contact CJR:
Steve Butler
phone: 307-760-1906
e-mail: sbutler@uwyo.edu