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The neighborhood environmental context has been found to influence behavior above and beyond individual explanatory variables and may provide an important additional independent level of explanation for examining the likelihood of reincarceration for offenders released back to the community ( Kirk, 2009 Kubrin & Stewart, 2006 Wehrman, 2010). Some have argued and demonstrated that criminal behavior is influenced not only by individual characteristics but also by the neighborhood characteristics (e.g., concentrated disadvantage, lack of collective efficacy) in which individuals live ( Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002). The time to recidivism is shorter for drug-involved offenders than other types of offenders ( Spohn & Holleran, 2002). White, 1998, as cited in Martin, Butzin, Saum, & Inciardi, 1999), 67% of drug offenders are rearrested (41% for a new drug offense), 47% are reconvicted, and 25% are sentenced to prison for a new crime ( Langan & Levin, 2002). Within 3 years, about 95% of released state inmates with drug use histories return to drug use ( W. On the other hand, for those who do not reoffend within 3 years of release, the likelihood of reincarceration at a later time is greatly diminished ( Greenfeld, 1985). More recent studies at the state level suggest that recidivism rates are still high, including one study reporting that 22% of a sample of released offenders were reincarcerated within a year of release ( Visher, Yahner, & La Vigne, 2010) and other studies showing rates as high as 80% ( The Sentencing Project, 2011). The most recent large-scale national study on recidivism found that two thirds of prisoners released in 1994 were rearrested within 3 years and about one quarter were reincarcerated within that period ( Langan & Levin, 2002). Research has shown that offenders who are released from prison reenter their communities with a considerable likelihood of reoffending and eventual reincarceration. Petersilia argues that because of these deficits, successful reentry for many prison inmates is both difficult and unlikely” ( Makarios, Steiner, & Travis, 2010, p. A typical situation for released offenders is arriving home “with very little money, resources, or social capital, and because of their felony record they are unable to obtain employment or find housing. Many also experience difficulties in returning to a problematic family and social environment, unresolved substance abuse and mental health problems, and numerous other challenges in establishing a conventional prosocial lifestyle ( Mallik-Kane & Visher, 2008 National Research Council, 2007 Petersilia, 2003 Visher & Travis, 2003). Released prisoners typically face obstacles in obtaining employment and stable housing often due to lack of work skills, stigma, and low levels of educational attainment ( Petersilia, 2003). The difficulties of prisoners returning home are well-documented in the literature. In recent years, releases from state and federal prisons have been totaling more than 700,000 annually ( West et al., 2010). Virtually all of those currently incarcerated will eventually return to their communities, with about 85% returning within 3 years of admission ( West, Sabol, & Greenman, 2010). There are currently more than 7 million adults in the United States under some form of criminal justice supervision, including more than 2 million offenders who are incarcerated and 5 million who are on probation or parole ( Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011).
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Reentry programs need to particularly address substance abuse issues of ex-offenders as well as take into consideration their residential locations. None of the neighborhood environment variables were associated with increased risk of reincarceration. For violent offenders, drug involvement, age, and spatial contagion were particular risk factors for reincarceration. Older offenders and those convicted of violent or drug offenses were less likely to be reincarcerated. Using geographic information systems (GIS) and logistic regression modeling, our results showed that the likelihood of reincarceration was increased with male gender, drug involvement, offense type, and living in areas with high rates of recidivism. Independent variables included demographic characteristics, offense type, drug involvement, various neighborhood variables (e.g., concentrated disadvantage, residential mobility), and spatial contagion (i.e., proximity to others who become reincarcerated). We examined the influence of individual and neighborhood characteristics and spatial contagion in predicting reincarceration on a sample of 5,354 released Pennsylvania state prisoners.