NCJ Number
89428
Date Published
1982
Length
336 pages
Annotation
The text brings together for a student and professional audience a set of principles for applying the optimizing methods of operations research, management science, and related disciplines to public policy problems.
Abstract
It uses a four-part classification of policy optimization models that involves finding an optimum choice among policy alternatives, finding an optimum level for a policy requiring moderation, finding an optimum mix in allocating scarce resources, and using time-oriented optimizing models. Concrete examples of finding an optimum choice among discrete policy alternatives are discussed, such as encouraging socially desired behavior where the would-be wrongdoer has a choice of whether or not to do what is socially desired, or deciding whether to convict or acquit in criminal cases where there are risks of convicting the innocent and of acquitting the guilty. Other examples target problems involved in finding an optimum level for a policy where either doing too much or too little is undesirable. These include arriving at an optimum jury size where juries that are too big are unable to sufficiently convict the guilty and juries that are too small can too easily convict the innocent, and arriving at an optimum level of imprisonment where excess length incurs unnecessarily high costs. The text also discusses problems involved in finding an optimum mix in allocating scarce governmental or political resources, such as campaign funds and anticrime dollars. It presents three sets of policy evaluation methods relevant to minimizing time consumption or forecasting in the future. These methods include queueing, sequencing, and critical paths; time-oriented predictive models; and optimum level, mix, and choice applied to delay minimization. Tables, figures, chapter notes, and name and subject indexes are provided.