Measuring the Performance of the U.S. Correctional Systems at the State Level

Abstract

This paper attempts to measure the comparative performance of correctional facility operations at the state level in the United States of America. We apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) to the latest available data set with key performance indicators for analyzing correctional facility operations. We attempt to provide a research framework for performance measurement and benchmarking when undesirable outputs are presented in the public sector and discuss managerial implications for improving the performance of correctional facility operations.