Coercive Mobility and Crime: A Preliminary Examination of Concentrated Incarceration and Social Disorganization

• NCJ Number: 199942
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2003 Pages: 33-64
• Author(s): Todd R. Clear; Dina R. Rose; Elin Waring; Kristen Scully
• Date Published: March 2003
• Length: 32 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Open Society Foundation
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined how incarceration affects crime rates at the neighborhood level.

Abstract

The study sought to clarify the ways in which coercive mobility (involuntary removal from the community through incarceration) affects community stability. The study was conducted in Tallahassee, FL (Leon County). Three types of data were collected for each neighborhood studied: prison admissions from Leon County and prison releases to Leon County for 1996; crimes known to the police for 1996 and 1997; and U.S. census data for 1990. Eighty neighborhoods were examined. They ranged in population from 249 to 4,538. The dependent variable was crime in each neighborhood in 1997. Two independent variables were used to indicate the level of coercive mobility: admissions to prison in 1996 and releases from prison in 1996. Only 42 of the neighborhoods had offenders admitted to prison in 1996. Of these neighborhoods, the mean number of offenders per neighborhood was 3.5. The number of releases per community ranged from 0 to 22, with a mean of 3.2 releases back into each neighborhood. The three primary social disorganization variables were poverty, residential mobility, and ethnic heterogeneity. The data were analyzed by using the generalized linear model with a negative binomial response function. Study findings show a positive relationship between the rate of releases 1 year and the community's crime rates the following year. They also show that low rates of admissions to prison have an uncertain impact on crime rates; moderate rates reduce crime; and higher rates increase crime. In identifying the problem of concentrated criminal-justice effects, this study suggests the efficacy of building neighborhood-based community-justice strategies that focus on the development of collective informal social control and community capacity, rather than emphasizing the arrest and processing of residents through the criminal justice system. Suggestions are offered for future research. 2 tables, 3 figures, and 63 references