RT Article
T1 Community consequences of mass incarceration: sparking neighborhood social problems and violent crime
JF Journal of crime and justice
VO 45
IS 1
SP 103
OP 119
A1 Kirk, Eileen M.
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1794332324
AB Punitive criminal justice policies caused incarceration and reentry rates to sharply increase in the era of mass incarceration. Disadvantaged communities of color have been disproportionately affected by those policies through heightened levels of prison cycling, which is the flow of individuals into and out of prison. Community-level prison cycling has harmful neighborhood consequences, including increased violent crime. This Boston-based study investigates how prison cycling influences crime by exploring three potential pathways. First, prison cycling may undermine beneficial social behavior, reduce collective efficacy, and create an environment susceptible to crime; second, prison cycling may stimulate neighborhood social problems that encourage crime; and third, prison cycling may simply have a direct, toxic relationship with neighborhood violent crime. The analysis employs Boston crime and prison cycling data,and neighborhood social environment data from the 2008 Boston Neighborhood Survey. Contrary to existing theoretical and empirical research, results suggest that prison cycling is not associated with collective efficacy. However, results indicate that prison cycling predicts neighborhood social problems and community violent crime, offering support for alternative theories on the prison cycling and crime relationship. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and policy implications.
K1 Social Problems
K1 Collective Efficacy
K1 Prison cycling
K1 Neighborhood crime
DO 10.1080/0735648X.2021.1887751