Community Change and Recidivism: The Interrelationship Between Neighborhood Ecology and Prisoner Reintegration

Author: Alyssa Whitby Chamberlain

Dissertation School: Regents of the University of California

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between neighborhood context, parolee reintegration and success, and local neighborhood changes in social and economic characteristics. More than 800,000 inmates were released onto parole in 2007 alone, and parolees and the communities to which they return must navigate through the many challenges associated with offender reintegration. The process of parolees returning to communities raises critical questions about public safety, proper supervision of parolees, and the ability of communities to incorporate re-entrants into the neighborhoods to which they return. Underlying these challenges are questions regarding which parolees are likely to recidivate, what community factors might contribute the most to their re-offending, and the impact that parolees might have on the neighborhoods to which they return.

A central component of this project will be to explicitly estimate the direct effect parolees have on neighborhood characteristics and crime. More specifically, this study will investigate how neighborhoods have changed over time with regard to the number and types of parolees that return, the consequences parolees have on the economic and social characteristics of neighborhoods, and the impact of neighborhood characteristics on recidivism. This project will improve upon existing studies of parolees and neighborhoods in a number of ways. First, very little research has been conducted investigating the direct effect that paroles might have on neighborhood crime, and no studies have investigated the effect that the presence of parolees may have on changes in neighborhood characteristics; therefore, the long-term consequences of this population on neighborhoods are unknown. Second, although considerable research has examined the relationship between ecological factors and crime, absent from this literature is an examination of the extent to which neighborhood characteristics affect recidivism. Therefore, the impact of neighborhood context on parolee failure is not fully understood. Exploring both neighborhood changes and the movement of parolees over an extended period of time must be studied in order to understand how communities have changed over time with regard to the number and types of parolees that return, the impact parolees have on the characteristics of the communities to which they return, and the effects that the environment have on re-offending among parolees.

To execute this study, data on parolees released from Ohio prisons onto parole between 1997 and 2009 will be combined with publicly available data to contextualize the communities to which these offenders return. This analysis will be performed at the census block group level, the operational definition of neighborhood. Longitudinal structural equation models will be used to estimate the impact of parolees on neighborhood levels of social disorganization and crime, and multi-level survival analyses will be used to examine the impact of neighborhood characteristics on parolee recidivism rates. Characteristics of neighborhoods, such as concentrated disadvantage, economic inequality, racial and ethnic composition, social capital, and proximity to transportation and jobs will also be included in the analysis. The research proposed here will bring to the fore how parolees operate in communities and the consequences of their presence on both neighborhood crime and neighborhood characteristics. This study will identify neighborhood characteristics that can both mediate the deleterious effects paroles might have on neighborhoods, and minimize parolee risk of recidivism. The findings from this research will ultimately assist policymakers in developing programs that will cultivate these neighborhood resources to aid communities with large concentrations of parolees, thereby enhancing public safety and reducing re-offending among parolees.

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