NCJ Number
213381
Journal
Criminology Volume: 44 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 165-198
Date Published
February 2006
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This study explored the influence of neighborhood socioeconomic status on rates of reoffending among ex-prisoners in Oregon.
Abstract
Results indicated that, controlling for individual-level factors, ex-prisoners who returned to disadvantaged neighborhoods characterized by poverty, inequality, and socioeconomic disadvantage, recidivated at rates greater than their counterparts who returned to resource-rich or affluent neighborhoods. The findings have important public policy implications in terms of pointing toward the need to focus on neighborhoods in efforts to reduce recidivism rates. Data were drawn from the 2000 United States census and from community supervision records of the Oregon Department of Corrections, Multnomah County (Portland and surrounding areas) Department of Community Justice, and the State’s repository for all community supervision data. Data was gathered on 5,002 offenders newly exposed to community supervision during a 6-month period in 2000. Variables under examination included offender characteristics, offense characteristics, risk supervision level, and rearrest data. Multilevel modeling techniques were used to examine the effects of individual- and neighborhood-level factors on recidivism rates. Future research should focus on the community-level processes that influence ex-prisoner recidivism rates. Footnotes, tables, figure, references