Prison Cycling and Crime in Communities: A Three City Comparison

• In Event: The Concentration of Violence in Local Areas

Abstract

The purpose of this project has been to estimate the impact of “prison cycling”—the flow into and out of prison--on crime rates in communities, with special concern about areas that have high rates of prison cycling. Overall, our work finds strong support for the impact of prison cycling on crime. It seems that such cycling has different effects in different kinds of neighborhoods, consistent with the idea of a “tipping point” but more clearly expressed as an interaction between crime policy and type of neighborhood. The results in Tallahassee, Boston, and Trenton provide consistent support for this idea. In Newark, as a result of the city’s limited variability in neighborhood disadvantage, we failed to find the same pattern.

Authors

• Natasha A. Frost, Northeastern University

• Todd R. Clear, Rutgers University

• Michael D. Carr, University of Massachusetts, Boston

• Geert Dhondt, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

• Anthony A. Braga, Rutgers University / Harvard University