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HOMELESS SHELTER USE AND REINCARCERATION FOLLOWING PRISON RELEASE *
Author(s) -
METRAUX STEPHEN,
CULHANE DENNIS P.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
criminology and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.6
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1745-9133
pISSN - 1538-6473
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9133.2004.tb00031.x
Subject(s) - prison , population , demography , incidence (geometry) , prison population , psychology , gerontology , medicine , criminology , sociology , physics , optics
Research Summary: This paper examines the incidence of and interrelationships between shelter use and reincarceration among a cohort of 48,424 persons who were released from New York State prisons to New York City in 1995–1998. Results show that, within two years of release, 11.4% of the study group entered a New York City homeless shelter and 32.8% of this group was again imprisoned. Using survival analysis methods, time since prison release and history of residential instability were the most salient risk factors related to shelter use, and shelter use increased the risk of subsequent reincarceration. Policy Implications: These findings show both homelessness and reincarceration to be substantial problems among a population of released prisoners, problems that fall into the more general framework of community reintegration. They also suggest that enhanced housing and related services, when targeted to a relatively small at‐risk group among this population, have the potential to substantially reduce the overall risk for homelessness in the group.