NCJ Number
102594
Date Published
1985
Length
507 pages
Annotation
This report describes progress in the development of a study methodology designed to determine if the inclusion of socioenvironmental variables can improve upon recidivism predictions based solely on offender characteristics.
Abstract
Data were obtained on 1,033 offenders who returned to some 90 Baltimore, Md., neighborhoods. Offender data covered criminal history, current offense, social history, demographic characteristics, and performance under parole supervision. The 90 neighborhoods, sampled to include both large and small neighborhoods, were assessed by trained observers on a number of physical characteristics: land use, street patterns, traffic volume, housing characteristics, vacant land and buildings, litter, and graffiti. Twenty-five households in each of 66 of the 90 neighborhoods were interviewed to determine social dynamics of their neighborhoods. Offender attrition from the targeted neighborhoods permitted analyses of 497 offenders in 57 neighborhoods where household surveys were conducted and analyses of 619 offenders in 67 neighborhoods whose physical characteristics were documented. Issues of study replicability are discussed. Appended annotated bibliographies; papers on accuracy of prediction models and on neighborhood physical environment and stress; 172 references.