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Environmental heterogeneity in models predicting criminal recidivism : isolating the contribution of individual-level characteristics /
Abstract
Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.) -- American University, 2001. American University, Dept. of Economics. Dissertation advisor: Amos Golan. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-168). Dissertation Abstracts: 62:338A, Jul 2001. University Microfilms, Inc. order no. 30-00706.
... Research estimating the impact of neighborhood-level factors on individual outcomes shows that these effects are moderate and depend on individual characteristics (Iannotta and Ross, 2002). A growing body of research has examined neighborhood-level influences on individual criminal activity (Simcha-Fagan and Schwartz, 1986;Elliott, Wilson, Huizinga, et al., 1996) and recidivism (Bhati, 2001;Kubrin and Stewart, 2006). These studies show that structural features, such as residential stability, rates of organizational participation, and measures of informal and formal social control have either direct or mediated effects on individual criminal activity. ...
... Perceptively, Gottfredson and Taylor (1985) were the first to note the absence of the environmental context in recidivism research. It took another couple of decades before a small but growing body of literature emerged, concerned with the ecological risk factors that ex-prisoners encounter on release from prison (Abrams and Freisthler, 2010;Bhati, 2001). In the first instance, this research has shown that prisoners are most likely to return to the neighbourhoods they lived in before their incarceration (La Vigne, et. ...
Reducing re-offending amongst ex-prisoners is of paramount importance for both penal and societal reasons. This paper advances an argument that the current prisoner risk assessment instruments used in the UK neglect to account for environmental determinants of re-offending. We frame this position within the growing literature on the ecology of recidivism, and use the principles of environmental criminology to stress the importance of the opportunities for crime that are present in an ex-prisoners’ neighbourhood. We conclude by considering the implications for policy and discuss how these might conflict with the practical realities of managing ex-prisoners.
... The study of crime and delinquency has a rich history of ecological research that has focused on the ways in which characteristics of communities may influence rates of crime and violence (for a review, see Sampson 2002). Although the majority of this research does not attempt to explain individual differences, a small and growing body of work has examined neighborhood-level influences on individual criminal activity (Simcha- Fagan & Schwartz 1986, Elliott et al. 1996 and recidivism (Bhati 2001). These studies show that structural features of neighborhoods, such as residential stability, rates of organizational participation, and measures of informal and formal social control, have either direct or mediated effects on individual criminal activity (see Sampson 2002). ...
In 2002, over 600,000 individuals left state and federal prisons, four times as many as were released in 1975. However, according to a national study, within 3 years, almost 7 in 10 will have been rearrested and half will be back in prison, either for a new crime or for violating conditions of their release. Clearly, an indi-vidual's transition from prison back into a home and into a community is difficult, and avoiding crime can be the least of his or her problems. Understanding these path-ways and the reasons for and the dimensions of an individual's success or failure is the focus of recent scholarly attention to the problem of "prisoner reentry," the pro-cess of leaving prison and returning to free society. However, most of the existing research on prisoners' lives after release focuses solely on recidivism and ignores the reality that recidivism is directly affected by postprison reintegration and adjustment, which, in turn, depends on four sets of factors: personal and situational characteris-tics, including the individual's social environment of peers, family, community, and state-level policies. Moreover, individual transitions from prison to community are, we suggest, best understood in a longitudinal framework, taking into account an indi-vidual's circumstances before incarceration, experiences during incarceration, and the period after release—both the immediate experience and long-term situational circum-stances. This review summarizes what we know about the four specified dimensions and how they affect an individual's transition from prison to community. The review concludes with a call to the research community for interdisciplinary, multilevel, lon-gitudinal studies of the processes of reintegration for former prisoners. Such research may illuminate many dimensions of social life, including the effects of recent social policies.
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