Beyond Neighborhoods

Activity Spaces of Returning Prisoners

Bibliographic Data

ID2245245
AuthorsAndrea Leverentz (0000-0002-8985-3311, University of Massachusetts Boston, corresponding author)
Year2019
Publication date2019-03-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Problems (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7791 • E-ISSN: 1533-8533
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/socpro/spz005
OpenAlexW2924114346
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited39

Neighborhood and place are key concerns in prisoner reentry and desistance literature. Residential change may serve as a turning point for those who want to desist from offending or minimize visibility as a “known” offender by law enforcement and neighbors. Yet choices of where to live are often dictated more by limited housing options than by preferred neighborhood characteristics. In addition, people are more or less stably housed upon release, and more or less socially tied to places. Still, much of the established research relies on residential neighborhood as a construct. I apply the concept of activity spaces, or how people use and move about space, to extend our understanding of the meaning of place for returning prisoners. Drawing on repeated semi-structured interviews with men and women returning to the community from a county correctional facility in Boston, I employ a typology of three types of activity spaces that are common among this sample: neighborhood-anchored, utility- or affective-anchored, and unanchored activity spaces. These activity spaces reflected their relationship to place and reflect varying levels of connection to a “neighborhood.” I discuss the implications of these patterns for how we think about the impact of neighborhoods and place on reentry.

Criminology · Economic geography · Geography · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Homelessness and Social Issues

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