Do Released Prisoners’ Perceptions of Neighborhood Condition Affect Reentry Outcomes?

• Published date: 01 August 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403420980806
• Date: 01 August 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403420980806

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2021, Vol. 32(7) 764 –789

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403420980806

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Article

Do Released Prisoners’

Perceptions of Neighborhood

Condition Affect Reentry

Outcomes?

Lin Liu1, Christy A. Visher2,

and Dayu Sun3

Abstract

As the United States enters a decarceration era, the factors predicting reentry success

have received a rapidly growing body of research attention. Numerous studies expand

beyond individual-level attributes to assess the contextual effect of neighborhoods

to which released prisoners return. However, past studies predominantly used

neighborhood structural/economic characteristics as the proxies of neighborhood

context, leaving the roles of community cohesion and disorder understudied in

the context of reentry. Using longitudinal data, this study examines the influence

of neighborhood cohesion and disorder on reentry outcomes, represented by

released prisoners’ determination to desist and social isolation. The results of linear

regression analyses show that net of the effects of individual-level risk factors,

released prisoners’ perception of neighborhood disorder exhibit profound influence

on reentry outcomes. Implications for reentry programming and interventions are

presented.

Keywords

prisoner reentry, neighborhood social cohesion, neighborhood disorder, the RNR

model

1Florida International University, Miami, USA

2University of Delaware, Newark, USA

3Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Lin Liu, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International

University, 11200 SW 8th Street, PCA-257, Miami, FL 33199, USA.

Email: linliu@fiu.edu

980806CJPXXX10.1177/0887403420980806Criminal Justice Policy ReviewLiu et al.

research-article2020

Liu et al. 765

Introduction

The U.S. “imprisonment binge”—a prolonged period of mass incarceration from the

last two decades of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century—has led the

United States to the top of the incarceration rankings compared with other industrial-

ized and democratic nations (Pratt, 2009). While federal and state governments find

themselves facing the heavy economic toll of housing large prison populations

(Gartner et al., 2011), there is also an intimidating toll that mass incarceration takes

on criminal justice–involved individuals. Past studies document various collateral

damages of a criminal record, such as the blockage of access to education and hous-

ing support (Bushway, 2004; Travis, 2002), the rejection from family members

(Austin & Irwin, 2001; Covington & Bloom, 2007; Liu & Visher, 2019; Travis et al.,

2001), and the difficulty in securing a job (Visher et al., 2004; Western et al., 2001).

Individuals re-entering society from prison face insurmountable hurdles to socially

and financially survive (Liu et al., 2020; Myers & Olson, 2013; Western, 2018), and

too often they are ensnared by the revolving door of prison. According to the recidi-

vism report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, nearly 60% of prisoners released to a

term of community supervision returned to prison within 5 years (Markman et al.,

2016). If the recent reentry failure data holds up, we can expect that nearly 360,000

out of the 600,000 former prisoners that reenter society each year will be reincarcer-

ated within 5 years. How to best integrate former prisoners back into society is one of

the most pressing issues for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers (Liu, Visher,

O’Connell, 2020).

While the majority of reentry studies draw heavily from desistance theories (e.g.,

Farrington, 2001; Laub et al., 1998) or risk assessment models (e.g., Andrews, Bonta,

& Hoge, 1990; Andrews et al., 2011) to identify released prisoners’ criminogenic

needs, a relatively thinner line of research attention has been paid to the factors that go

beyond individual attributes (Hipp et al., 2010; Kubrin & Stewart, 2006). The indi-

vidual attributes—attitudes, education, job skills—only provide one dimension of fac-

tors that explain reentry failure. To provide a complete and comprehensive picture of

reentry outcomes, it is imperative to address the conditions of the communities to

which released prisoners return (Hipp et al., 2010; Kubrin & Stewart, 2006).

Among the extant integrative studies bridging neighborhood conditions and indi-

vidual risk factors in evaluating reentry success, the majority of them used neighbor-

hood economic characteristics (e.g., income and poverty rate) to represent community

context (Hipp et al., 2010; Hipp & Yates, 2009; Kubrin & Stewart, 2006; Tillyer &

Vose, 2011). This prism illustrates how the structural disadvantage and resource deple-

tion of a neighborhood creates a difficult context for released prisoners to obtain

access to employment opportunities and social services (Hipp et al., 2010, p. 953;

Kubrin & Stewart, 2006, p. 166). For example, with limited access to community-

based programs such as job training and substance abuse treatment, released prisoners

fall victim to the “resource desert” environment and are at high risk to experience

varied aspects of reintegration failure.