Annotated Bibliography ( 6 sources)

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 1

Factors of Homelessness: An Annotated Bibliography Dedicated to the

Exploration of the Social Problem and Criminal Element

STUDENT NAME

Portland State University

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 2

Introduction:

The intent of this bibliography was to explore the nature of homelessness with specific

attention to the population that has been involved with the criminal justice system. In the

City of Portland this population can be readily seen as they frequent the University

campus, and sleep unsheltered nearby. This topic became of interest to research because

of the visibility here on campus and the desire to change this behavior and lifestyle that

affects a small proportion of society. Wishing to achieve the greatest synthesis of the

criminal problem associated with homelessness, the research chosen for study provided

insight to the causes and factors of recidivism, and quantitative data from interviews and

surveys. This combination of research was chosen because it examined the reasons this

population enters and sometimes reenters the criminal system, as well as establishing

perspective. This scope does not account for crimes committed by the homeless, even

though it was a recurring topic in related research of the studies themselves. The research

question for this synthesis is what is the criminal problem associated with homelessness

and what factors have been found that influences this behavior?

This synthesis of research developed insight into the aggravating factors of homelessness

in states such as Minnesota, Arizona, Nevada, and also overseas in Milan, Italy. The

Recurring trends in the research suggest that though there is a small proportion of the

population that is actively involved with the court and legal systems, homelessness

provides for an overwhelming factor to recidivism. The community or condition that an

offender released to played a significant role on their desistance in criminal activity.

Further mediated through substance use and victimization, homelessness adds a

significant strain on those that experience it. The type of social interactions with other

homeless was also tested for effect on the topic, and it was found that interactions with

previous offenders also show signs of correlation. Because of the survivability aspect of

the lifestyle, and the frequent inability to secure food or shelter, this population

commonly is charged or arrested with crimes such as trespassing or other property crimes

because of their situation. Further analysis to the kind of crimes committed could further

detail the specific homeless problem for the city or places studied, but would probably be

different because this may be impacted by the resources for the population of the

concerned location.

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Annotations:

Clark V.A. (2014). Predicting two types of recidivism among newly released prisoners:

First addresses as “launch pads” for recidivism or reentry success. Crime &

Delinquency, 1-36. doi: 10.1177/0011128714555758

By evaluating the impact of multiple factors of individuals separating from Minnesota

state corrections in 2009, the author, Valerie A. Clark, sought to explain relationships of

post release housing situations that offenders released to and rates of recidivism. Clark

found that individual-level variables such as neighborhood and housing characteristics of

the area the offender was set to release maintained a lasting impact on recidivism.

Through a longitudinal study of offenders released to the state of Minnesota, the author

evaluated the most successful and least successful “launch pads” (Clark, 2014) for

offender reentry. Clark classified each primary address the offender listed when

releasing to categories such as private residences, halfway houses, emergency (homeless)

shelters, treatment facilities, and impoverished communities. These same measures were

recorded 1 year after release as their whereabouts and status was determined through use

of the Correctional Operations Management Systems (COMS).

The research found that a large portion of those releasing to emergency shelters were

rearrested within the year recorded for the study, and offenders releasing to transitional or

halfway houses had the largest proportion of offenders to fail via a supervision

revocation. Of the total sample, 66% of the offenders recidivated, with 34% of total

sample rearrested and 32% revoked from supervision. Offenders released to emergency

shelters (temporary emergency shelters, including homeless shelters and motels with stay

of less than 30 days) posted the highest percentage of rearrests within the sample at 45%.

Relocation to transitional housing (state-funded or private halfway houses with

supervision and monitoring) also recorded the highest percentage of revocation, at 50%.

In all, the report concluded that offenders were 34% more likely of arrest when

transitioning straight to emergency shelters compared to offenders releasing to private

residences. The study also concluded in line with other research that details newly

released offenders are more likely to experience supervision revocation or prison

readmission when returning to poor and non-affluent neighborhoods.

The strengths of the research were the utilization of various and extensive contextual

factors of offenders releasing from Minnesota corrections to accurately display relation to

recidivism. All releasing offenders were given a context by applying their individual

Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) score that measured risk of recidivism.

Individual-level variables categorized the releases situation into five descriptive

definitions, one being emergency shelter. Neighborhood-level variables, including

urbanization and “Neighborhood Disadvantage”, as well as the Index of Concentrated

Extremes (ICE) were determined to accurately portray the living conditions upon release.

These measures increased construct validity because it matched the type of residency

noted by the releasing offender to risk assessment scores and geo-locations matched to an

offender’s whereabouts.

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 4

Because recidivism is an increasingly difficult outcome to measure due to only recording

failure through police intervention (National Institute of Justice, 2008), this result cannot

be seen as an absolute answer to the overall criminal problems this population has.

Weaknesses of the research fell on selection criteria and inclusiveness to Minnesota

release. This decreased the validity as it excluded a certain amount of offenders. The

follow-up time capped at one-year, not recording cases of recidivism occurring out of the

time frame, as well as only recording recidivism through law enforcement records

deteriorates the validity because other offenses could of happened outside the parameters

of the follow-up and state police records. All offenders releasing to other states were also

eliminated, further distorting the raw data. Another weakness is that though it attempted

to use all offenders releasing in the state, there was very few offenders releasing to work

release and emergency shelters, 12% and 7%, further diluting the findings’ reliability.

What is also common of recidivism studies is that there is no cross-population

generalizability from this sample. Because programs and resources for inmates

undergoing reentry is vastly different intra-state, these results cannot be compared to that

of another state’s newly released population.

This article was found by searching the PSU library website. The article was found under

the criminology & criminal justice database of articles, and located under the

‘criminology full text’ resource provided by SAGE journals.

Corno, L. (2015). Homelessness and crime: Do your friends matter? The Economic

Journal. Doi: 10.1111/ecoj.12316

With an array of research extensively covering recidivism, the further discussion of the

effect of friendship and criminality is researched through the analysis of three releasing

jurisdictions in Milan, Italy. The purpose of this study was to determine if social

interactions of those classified as homeless show a causal relationship with criminal

behavior to the type of friendship (interaction person has criminal record). This was

determined by using instruments of 1) the proportion of rainy days in the last year-spent

homeless 2) inmate release data for the particular city of release and comparing this with

arrest information of the individual case. Corno asserts that the homeless spend extended

periods of time with one another during the rain and develop much of their behaviors

from those interactions. Survey data from the responses of 836 homeless individuals;

collected from service providers, university students, and private citizens, were compared

with outcome criminality. The article sought to add to the current literature examining the

impact of social interaction on behavior and criminality and “provide evidence of the

influence of the size of one’s network on criminal behavior” (Corno, 2015).

The research found a relationship to how many friends a homeless person had with an

arrest in their past. The survey found that, on average, the increase of one additional

friend (not specifically non-criminal) lead to a decrease of 12 percentage points of the

likelihood of incarceration during a spell of homelessness. Respondents were asked ‘who

were their best friends?’ and ‘whether they were homeless?’ among other various

demographic questions to add to the extensive depth that the research captured. More

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 5

individuals in their peer group seem to establish a “safety net” (Corno) of social support,

where they could rely on someone to assist them or return favors when needed –and

possibly avoid criminality. This was found by comparing time in the rain spent and the

characteristics of friends (if had any) by non-imprisoned homeless versus imprisoned

homeless.

The sheer depth the research established in the report gives instantaneous face validity.

Graphical analysis as far as a ‘friendship network’ (Figure A2, Corno) of all respondents

and their peer groups were presented along with a multitude of characteristic data clearly

detailing the depth of the survey. Superseding the interview phase for each of the three

locations was a count of all homeless to ensure a proper sample was drawn. Another

finding on the type of peers one associates with showed that an increase in the share of

criminal friends a homeless person has ultimately increases the likelihood of

incarceration for a non-criminal, by a rate of 23 percentage points per increase of one

standard deviation of criminal friends. An improved design to the study would be to have

a similar number of individuals that were imprisoned to those that were solely homeless.

Selection factors such as achieving respondents via availability sampling ultimately

hindered the reliability of the sample findings. Though the survey portion was conducted

in 12 hours, it can only be a reflection of the relative population present in the three

municipalities of Milan and is inherent in selection bias. The generalizability of findings

is weak, as this did not use any sort of random sampling.

This resource was found from the PSU library online database, while searching keywords

“homelessness and criminality.”

Fischer, S.N., Shinn, M., Shrout, P., Tsemberis, S. (2008). Homelessness, mental illness,

and criminal activity: Examining patterns over time. American Journal of

Community Psychology. 42(3-4). pp. 251 – 265. doi: 10.1007/s10464-008-9210-

z

This study sought to determine the relationship between committing crime and varying

levels of mental illness of homeless individuals. Fischer et al. differentiated between

violent and non-violent crime in order to explore if conditions of mental illness lead to a

certain type of crime. The longitudinal study consisted of the recruitment of 218

homeless adults. They had to have spent 15 of the last 30 days homeless, shown a period

of housing instability, and been diagnosed with an “Axis I diagnosis of severe mental

illness, such as psychotic disorder (e.g., schizophrenia) or mood disorder (e.g., major

depressive disorder)” (Fischer et al., 2008). The main hypothesis was that the more

severe the mental disability of the individual, the higher likelihood of aggressiveness, or

violent crime. Data was collected via interviews of recruited subjects that encompassed a

4-year time span, with testing in 9-month intervals. The study found that the likelihood

of committing a criminal act increased along with the time the individual had spent

homeless, and increase in severity of mental illness. The initial hypothesis were

supported but findings suggested a weaker connection between sheltered homeless and

“subsistence-driven crimes (e.g., breaking into buildings to find shelter)” (Fischer et al.).

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 6

The relative factors of violent crime were also different than expected, as it was not

determined to produce a significant relationship.

Because the study recruited individuals that were made available to them through

transitional programs, the generalizability of the findings is in question. The researchers

utilized availability sampling by recruiting individuals recommended by psychiatric care

providers and those that were available in homeless shelter that met requirements. This

weakened the validity of findings.

This study was found through reading the previous research section of the Fox et al.

(2016) study and located via the PSU library database.

Fox, A.M., Mulvey, P., Katz, C.M., Shafer, M.S. (2016) Untangling the relationship

between mental health and homelessness among a sample of arrestees. Crime and

Delinquency. 62(5). pp. 592 – 613. doi: 10.1177/0011128713511571

In analyzing demographical information of arrested individuals, the homeless and

mentally ill populations have been found to provide increasingly consistent results as

factors to involvement in the criminal justice apparatus. The study performed by Fox et

al., seeks to further analyze qualitative data surrounding the characteristics of jailed

individuals and provide structural equation modeling to test the relationship to

homelessness and other factors. Fox based data from interviews of 3,673 recently

arrested in the county of Maricopa, Arizona within three different facilities, seeking to

represent the arrested in this setting. Adding to the extensive research done regarding the

consequences of homelessness in the criminal justice system, few studies have examined

homelessness and mental illness as separate factors in the relation to incarceration. The

current study presented by Fox et al. “proposes a model for understanding the

relationship between mental health, substance abuse problems, victimization and

homelessness for criminally involved individuals.” (2016). The research team

hypothesized that variables such as criminal justice involvement, coupled with a display

of mental illness increases the risk of victimization; as well as substance abuse, and

increases the likelihood of becoming homeless.

Homelessness was not found to be a large contributor to the population of arrested

individuals included in the sample. Only 8% of the sample stated that they were

homeless within the 30 days preceding their arrest. Larger portions of the arrestee

population included those with health problems, drug dependent, alcohol dependent and

involved of some sort of victimization, with 30%, 31.7%, 20.6% and 21.0% respectfully.

The direct effect of mental illness with homelessness was found to be very minute, and

more of the substantiating evidence suggested more of a connection from mental illness

to victimization. The research showed that homelessness was most commonly a result of

the variables measured and most commonly followed by at least one.

This study is not representative of the homeless population. Though the analyses

intended on measuring homelessness as a result of the variables measured, it was not an

overwhelming relation. As the study noted, the data collected is cross-sectional, and

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 7

provides limited insight to the causal effect established. The utilization of structural

equation modeling was intended to offset this limitation, but the researchers still

cautioned the interpretation of the findings. Representativeness to the arrestee population

in Maricopa County was a strong point of the research, as the method of systematic

sampling of arrested individuals was utilized. The findings are likely generalizable to

other like jurisdictions for self-report data. The validity however hinges on the accuracy

of every respondents answers, because the data was compiled from interviews. Only

through urine analysis testing, provided by the researchers, was actual substance abuse

measured for the respondents. All other factors were those made on their own remission.

Because of the environmental restrictions of the incarceration, and the self-reporting

procedures utilized, the validity is overall weak, but can be seen an aggregate perspective

of how the respondents viewed themselves.

This study was found through utilization of the PSU library database, and was found

using keyword of “homelessness and mental illness” in the criminology full text resource.

Hunter, B.A., Lanza, A. S., Lawlor, M., Dyson, W., Gordon, D. M., (2015). A strengths-

based approach to prisoner reentry: The fresh start prisoner reentry program.

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. pp. 1-

17. doi: 10.1177/0306624X15576501

Hunter et al. intended on proving the lasting and positive impact that personalized

rehabilitation and reintegration programs possessed in the lives of those set out to release

in a matter of months in the state of Connecticut to three designated communities. This

research was designed to evaluate repeated support and counseling by trained and

motivated personnel in the lives of those set to release, in an effort to prepare the offender

for troubles outside of the prison walls and in their socioeconomic climate. The authors

sought to demonstrate the effectiveness and far-reaching potential of strength-based

approaches in increasing success of reintegration and rehabilitation. The present study is

a qualitative assessment of the impact of these strength-based approaches during both

pre- and post- release phases of the reentry process to individual communities, and

further seeks to qualitatively analyze through implementation of focus groups, the impact

that these programs possess over newly releasing offenders. To highlight the best

qualities of strength-based approaches, the study shadowed the new implementation of

the Fresh Start Program that was designed to increase success of prisoner reentry through

repeated collaboration and training meetings. The program collaborated with businesses,

the Connecticut Department of Corrections, and community leadership to provide

repeated training on various topics of employment readiness, workplace safety, correction

and supervision success, and one-on-one counseling.

The focus group responses during incarceration were at first cautious of the new program.

Offenders wondered if this program would help them with the overbearing process of

reintegration, because they had never received help through the prison in any way. Many

offenders seemed optimistic of the new program, as the attention to care and

respectfulness of program staff seemed to win them over eventually. During the baseline

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 8

integration to the program, risk assessments were noted and the individuals were matched

with appropriate resources designed for their specific need. This seemed to prove

beneficial, as the offenders in the post-release focus groups identified the increased

accountability of the program staff and support had increased their successes in the

reintegration process.

Strengths of this research include the detailed analysis of feedback given by offenders

traversing the reentry process from prison to community. The qualitative feedback

provided valuable insight to the thoughts the offenders had of the Fresh Start Program,

and proved to be effective judging by the feedback. Feedback from the offenders of the

implementation of the program is useful when determining the applicability to other

communities and correctional facilities, as it seemed overwhelmingly positive amongst

those that participated. The absence of measurable variables in the study proves to be the

weakest point of the research. Inherent of qualitative studies and focus groups is the

inability to measure the outcome of the independent variable (Fresh Start Program) and

though the responses of the focus groups seem positive, these were the only responses

recorded in the post-release phase of the study. The validity of the research hinges on

whether the responses that were recorded in post-release phase were accurate of the rest

of the participants, and because this was not discussed; the validity remains in question,

as this is solely an exploratory study on the impact of strength-based approaches. The

reliability of the study is also very weak, as different results are inherent for repeated

studies in different settings.

This article was found from the article on Homelessnes and Reentry by Lutze et al. also

included in this bibliography, and was listed in the prior research to the study.

Lutze, F.E., Rosky, J. W., Hamilton, Z.K. (2013). Homelessness and reentry: A

multisite outcome evaluation of Washington State’s housing program for high risk

offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior. 41. pp. 471 – 491. doi:

10.1177/0093854813510164

Setting out to investigate the impact of different modes of transitional assistance and

wraparound services for inmates releasing to certain counties of Washington State, this

study showcased the Reentry Housing Pilot Program (RHPP). Created by the 2007

Washington State Legislature, and with a goal of reducing overall costs of the state from

prisoner reentry, the pilot program selected eligible participants that were high risk and

need offenders with no viable housing option and agreed to participate voluntarily.

RHPP, unlike other modes of transitional assistance, provided secure housing for up to 1

year post-release, but like other programs demanded that participants attended treatment

and seek active employment. The study consisted of a quasi-experimental research

design that matched participants in the program to similar offenders going through same

process without support of the RHPP (N = 416). The purpose of the study was to

distinguish the different outcomes of successful reintegration of coordinated wraparound

services [like the RHPP] and other more common transitional housing, such as halfway

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 9

houses, measuring outcomes by recidivism (revocations, new conviction, prison

readmission).

The findings of the study were in line with the hypotheses that participation in the RHPP

would reduce recidivism and increase survival times for the same categories. RHPP

participants were found to significantly outperform their matched co-offenders amongst

outcomes of new convictions and prison readmissions, 21.6% vs. 35.6% and 37.0% vs.

56.3% respectively. The RHPP participants were also found to significantly abstain from

homelessness post-treatment, with 8.7% of participants becoming homeless after

treatment compared to 15.4% of comparison group.

The research utilized previous studies to bolster its effectiveness and shape its methods to

encompass the most needed study. Having a greater sample size increased the statistical

representativeness of the reentry population and individual characteristics, increasing

statistical power and validity. The strain caused by reentry from prison was assessed by

increasing follow-up time to 3 years post-release, encompassing the prolonged difficulty

in successfully reintegrating. Measuring periods of homelessness over time also added to

a better-developed picture of the problems of offenders.

As stated by the author, selection bias could not have been avoided due to ethical

considerations. Though randomization is the most effective way to procure a

representative sample, offenders with the highest need for housing were given access to

the program resources and housing –which impacts the reliability. Because offender

motivation for successful completion amongst those participating in RHPP can be greater

for those participating, it is not a reliable method in measuring true or natural responses

to the program.

This article was found through resources provided by the PSU online library, specifically

searching “homelessness and prison population” from the criminology and criminal

justice databases.

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 10

OTHER WORKS CITED

National Institute of Justice. (2008). Measuring recidivism. Retrieved from:

http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/pages/measuring.aspx

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 11

Clark (2014)

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 12

Corno (2015)

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 13

Fischer et al. (2008)

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 14

Fox et al. (2016)

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 15

Hunter et al. (2015)

FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 16

Lutze, Rosky, Hamilton (2013)