Do neighborhood organizational resources impact recidivism?

There is a growing literature investigating how neighborhood organizations impact crime, although recidivism or reoffending has been excluded from this discussion. Combining data on recidivism and organizational availability in Chicago with the 2000 Census and the 2007-2011 American Community Survey, this study models the effect of three types of organizations important for ex-prisoners (emergency assistance, employment, and education) and their changes on neighborhood-level recidivism from 2001 to 2006. Results show that changes in the availability of certain types of organizations impact recidivism. Non-trivial losses (losing two or more organizations) of educational organizations across years increase neighborhood recidivism. Also, disadvantage moderates the effect of non-trivial gains in organizations; specifically, in low-disadvantage neighborhoods, gains in employment organizations decrease recidivism. These results suggest that ex-prisoners are exposed to variability in local organizational environments, and this variability has an impact on overall recidivism. Neighborhood-based policy aimed at lowering recidivism should not only work to increase these organizations in neighborhoods, but also work to stabilize their presence.