Exploring the Effects of Residential Relocation on Post-Prison Recidivism: An Experimental Approach

• In Event: Incarceration, Reentry and Recidivism

Abstract

This study explores the question of whether relocating to a neighborhood that is different from the one that released prisoners lived in prior to incarceration facilitates successful reentry measured in terms of reduced recidivism. Research literature on this question is not clear – while it is documented that returning to an old neighborhood and being connected to the support networks of family and friends may be important for successful reentry and lower recidivism, there is also some evidence consistent with the possibility that returning to an old neighborhood may increase the risk that released prisoners will become re-embedded in prior networks of criminal peers and family members. We explore this question by conducting a randomized experiment in which prisoners in Pennsylvania preparing to be paroled to Community Corrections Centers (halfway houses), and willing to relocate, are randomly assigned to either an experimental group who moves to a new neighborhood or a control group who returns to the old neighborhood.

Authors

• Kiminori Nakamura, University of Maryland

• Kristofer Bret Bucklen, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections