Evaluation activities

(a) Independent research organizations The Attorney General shall provide funding directly to the Advisory Board for the purpose of contracting with one or more independent research organizations, in partnership with the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities, to carry out an evaluation to determine whether each grant awarded under the Program is being implemented effectively and to measure the impact of such programs. (b) Impact evaluation activities (1) In general Not later than one year after a recipient of a grant awarded under the Program receives an award they shall conduct an impact evaluation for its program, in which the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail will be evaluated for their effect on the criminal justice and economic outcomes of individuals who receive the survey. Such impact evaluation shall be conducted by an independent research organization, with oversight from the Advisory Board and include an analysis of the impact of the survey and referral on participant crime rates, including arrest, arraignment, and incarceration rates, participant employment and wage rates, and participant mental healthcare utilization rates for one year, three years, five years, and ten years after the participant has completed the survey and referral program. These analyses will use administrative data collected by each State’s department of public safety, for the crime rate data, and each State’s Department of Labor, for the employment and wage rate data. States shall provide this data to the independent research organization. For the mental health utilization data, data from mental health providers and, if necessary, from outreach to the individuals who participated in the survey and referral program shall be utilized. (2) Experimental design Program impact evaluations under paragraph (1) shall use randomized control experimental or quasi-experimental research designs. Randomized control experimental designs are preferred and the Advisory Board will provide the independent research organization, in partnership with the Bureau of Prisons, State, or Locality, additional resources to carry out a randomized control experimental evaluation. (c) Database Once evaluations become available, the Advisory Board will be required to keep an updated database of the impact of programs funded under the grant program and how those programs were implemented and administered, with the goal of creating a repository of evidence regarding what drives impact on crime rates and employment and wage rates to guide policymakers and program operators in the future.