Interest in human and social capital's contribution to the desistence of crime is increasingly popular amongst criminologists, economists and policy makers. However, little attention has been drawn to the influence human and social capital indicators contribute towards the relationship between the re-entry process and juvenile crime at the neighborhood level. The current study hypothesizes the existence of a mediating relationship between human and social capital indicators (2000) and the rates of receiving formerly incarcerated persons (1997-2002) and juvenile arrest (2006-08) in 92 Portland, Oregon neighborhoods. Portland, Oregon receives more formerly incarcerated persons from Oregon's state correctional facilities than any other city or county in Oregon. Using neighborhood rates of residents with house-hold income above 50K, high school graduation, and annual income type: retired or government assistance, as proxies for human capital measures and neighborhood rates of residents employed by non-profit organizations, number of churches, and self-employment as proxies for social capital measures, OLS regression and bivariate correlations tested for a mediating effect between human and social capital on rates of re-entry and juvenile arrest rates. Findings indicate neighborhoods with increased rates of returnees have higher rates of juvenile delinquency. In addition, mediating human and social capital indicators affect the direct relationship between re-entry and juvenile crime: neighborhoods with more residents receiving retirement income, higher percent of self-employed residents, non-profit employees, or higher rates of residents earning income above 50K had lower rates of returnees in their communities. Greater rates of Portland neighborhoods which house residents with high proportions of house-hold incomes above 50K per year see increases in the rate of juvenile crime. Rates of neighborhood churches showed a positive correlation with on both rates of returnees and juvenile crime; obtaining a high school diploma was also associated with increased returnee rates and juvenile crime. Neighborhoods with more residents who are self-employed or employed by non-profit organizations had reduced rates of returnees and juvenile crime. Future research and recommendations are discussed to examine the impact of these findings on neighborhoods with formerly incarcerated persons, levels of human and social capital and juvenile crime in Portland, Oregon.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-1260 |
| Date | 01 January 2011 |
| Creators | Swofford, Jacqueline Victoria |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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