Recidivism and the Availability of Health Care Organizations

Posted: 25 Apr 2012

See all articles by Danielle M. Wallace

Danielle M. Wallace

Arizona State University (ASU)

Andrew Papachristos

Yale University - Department of Sociology

Date Written: April 25, 2012

Abstract

Incarceration has been identified as a cause of poor health in current and former prisoners. Furthermore, ex-prisoners often live in disadvantaged neighborhoods that are health-resource poor. Scant research examines the relationship between the availability of health care services and criminal offending. Given the relationship between incarceration and health, it is plausible that health service availability is related to subsequent offending and incarceration. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the availability of health care organizations (HCOs) and their changes over time with neighborhood level recidivism, and how these relationships may be moderated by neighborhood disadvantage. Results demonstrate that the effect of HCOs on recidivism is moderated through disadvantage: as disadvantage increases, the negative effect of losing significant amounts of HCOs on recidivism accelerates. Our results suggest that while increasing HCOs in disadvantaged neighborhoods is important, keeping HCOs in place is equally important for moderating negative neighborhood level outcomes.

Keywords: recidivism, health care organizations, re-entry

Suggested Citation

Wallace, Danielle M. and Papachristos, Andrew, Recidivism and the Availability of Health Care Organizations (April 25, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2046277 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2046277

Danielle M. Wallace (Contact Author)

Arizona State University (ASU) ( email )

Farmer Building 440G PO Box 872011
Tempe, AZ 85287
United States

Andrew Papachristos

Yale University - Department of Sociology ( email )

493 College St
New Haven, CT 06520
United States

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