NCJ Number
80946
Date Published
1978
Length
86 pages
Annotation
This study analyzed the impact of prison proximity on residential property values in two Wisconsin communities -- Allouez, home of the Green Bay Reformatory, and Waupun, home of the Waupun State Prison.
Abstract
It describes the two communities and their relationship to the prisons. It then examines the urban land economic literature as it relates to the prediction of residential property values based on structural characteristics and neighborhood externalities affecting market values. The data base for the impact studies in the two communities consisted of three subsets: physical characteristics, neighborhood characteristics, and interaction characteristics. Tax assessor files and the U.S. Census were the primary data sources in both studies. Results of the Allouez study indicate that proximity to the reformatory had no measurable deleterious effect on either the assessed value or market prices of homes in the sampled data set of 587 cases. There was a small tendency for homes to increase in assessed value the nearer a home was located to the reformatory. In general, other variables were much more important in determining assessed value or market value in Allouez than were variables associated with distance to or within sight of the prison. Results for the Waupun study were similar. Tables, photographs, street maps, footnotes, and four references are included. (Author summary modified)