From Prison to the Community: Assessing the Direct, Reciprocal, and Indirect Effects of Parolees on Neighborhood Structure and Crime

Abstract

This study examines the direct, reciprocal, and indirect effects of parolees on neighborhoods, including residential vacancies, property sales, public assistance, and crime. Cross-lagged autoregressive models are estimated using a unique data set containing annual neighborhood information on parolees, crime rates, and neighborhood structure in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, between 2000 and 2008. Results suggest parolees degrade neighborhood structure, and these effects are direct, reciprocal, and indirect. Understanding how the presence of parolees can contribute to changes in neighborhood processes linked to crime will broaden our understanding of the effects that parolees have on communities and highlight additional areas for intervention.

The Effects of Neighbourhood Offender Concentrations on the Number, Type and Location of Crimes Committed by Resident Offenders

“…In Scotland, no continual monitoring of offenders' residences is undertaken, so we are reliant on point-in-time address information, which is absent for a fifth of offenders. Other research has used offender addresses updated on an annual or six-monthly basis, whilst also acknowledging that tracking offender residence remains challenging and insufficient (Chamberlain 2016). Nonetheless, we believe the data-set we have used is better than that available to researchers in many other places, although we have not been able to examine co-offending; while this would be a desirable addition, it is less essential given that we are not inferring anything about crime rates, and in any case, co-offending is less significant for chronic, long-term offenders (Hodgson and Costello 2006;McGloin and Stickle 2011).…”

The Roles of Family, Community, and Services in the Prevention of Illicit Drug Use: Findings From a Sample of Released Prisoners

“…Given the multilayered social forces that may be associated with released prisoners’ risk of illicit drug use, this study draws insights from the systemic model of social disorganization to examine former prisoners’ substance use. The social disorganization perspective has proved to be a promising framework in integrative studies that bridge contextual and individual-level risk factors in reentry (e.g., Chamberlain, 2018; Chamberlain & Wallace, 2016; Hipp et al, 2010; Kubrin & Stewart, 2006; Liu, 2020a). However, past integrative studies predominantly used neighborhood structural/economic characteristics (e.g., income and poverty rate) to capture community context (e.g., Hipp et al, 2010; Kubrin & Stewart, 2006; Tillyer & Vose, 2011).…”

Family, Parochial, and Public Levels of Social Control and Recidivism: An Extension of the Systemic Model of Social Disorganization

“…Up till now, there has been a growing bodying of integrative studies bridging neighborhood context and individual-level risk factors in the study of reentry (e.g., Chamberlain, 2018; Hipp et al, 2010; Kubrin & Stewart, 2006). They draw insights of social disorganization perspective, and contend that neighborhood social disorganization should be considered when explaining individuals’ recidivism.…”