Date of Award

9-4-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Criminal Justice

First Advisor

Jeffery Walker

Abstract

In the past, research has focused on individual-level characteristics in examining recidivism, which could, in part, be because recidivism relies on the offenders to commit crime. In short, people recidivate, so research focuses on individuals, the ‘who’. With such a spotlight on individual characteristics, other, potential influential factors of recidivism are limited in research. One potential aspect of recidivism research that may add to the understanding is that the offenders are going back to neighborhoods. The expansion of research on recidivism to examine the neighborhood factors builds from identify the ‘who’ and working towards understanding the ‘where’. The purpose of the current study is to explore the utility of developing a measure that reflects the risk for criminal opportunities across neighborhoods in Little Rock, Arkansas. Specifically, the current study examines probationers and parolees released in 2013 who reported residing in Little Rock. Using a multilevel framework, significant individual-level predictors of recidivism can be identified and neighborhood-level measures can be included to determine if neighborhood measures increase the understanding of recidivism beyond what individual-level characteristics can predict. The current study expands neighborhood-level research examining recidivism by constructing a measure of risk for criminal opportunities by neighborhood that is rooted in environmental criminology. Constructing a neighborhood measure of risk for criminal opportunities can reflect the riskiness of neighborhood offenders’ return to, and the measure can identify how risk for crime varies.

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