Transportation Access and Recidivism Report

This study examined the relationship between transportation access and recidivism among women offenders. Transportation deprivation can interact with other known risk factors, for example, by making it difficult for women to attend programming to address anger/hostility or to increase educational assets. Transportation problems might also influence illegal behavior directly (e.g., driving without a license) or indirectly through noncompliance with supervision requirements (e.g., failure to report to a scheduled supervision meeting). The study found that the scope of transportation difficulties was extensive, based on women's reporting of low levels of individual and community-level transportation resources. The study found that the relationship between transportation access and recidivism was moderately strong; access to transportation lowered the odds of recidivism events. To read Access to Transportation and Outcomes for Women on Probation and Parole (pdf, 118 pages) go to https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248641.pdf.  (The National Institute of Justice made the report available through the National Criminal Reference Service. The report is the result of an NIJ-funded project but was not published by the U.S. Department of Justice.)