Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Criminal records and housing: an experimental study

  • Published:
Journal of Experimental Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Notes

  1. See Pager (2007) for a discussion of the benefits to an experimental field study over survey research.

  2. Neighborhoods were identified according to the City of Columbus’ definitions, available at http://myneighborhood.columbus.gov/.

  3. Four properties were rented by the time the test call was made and were excluded from the analyses, resulting in a final sample size of 416.

  4. This was not block randomization within strata.

  5. The clustering adjustment resulted in little difference. See the online Technical Appendix for comparison.

  6. One could argue that such a result is due to more single-family homes being located in areas more likely to accept ex-offenders. In fact, 44.8% of residences in our focus neighborhoods were single-family homes while that number was 22.2% for nonfocus neighborhoods. However, single-family-home managers’ willingness to consider ex-offenders in both those areas was nearly identical at approximately 81%.

References

  • Blumstein, A., & Nakamura, K. (2009). Redemption in the presence of widespread criminal background checks. Criminology, 47, 327–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, C. (2005). No second chance: People with criminal records denied access to public housing. University of Toledo Law Review, 36, 545–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, L. M. (2007). Landlord attitudes toward renting to released offenders. Federal Probation, 71, 20–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Decker, S. H., Ortiz, N., Spohn, C., & Hedberg, E. (2015). Criminal stigma, race, and ethnicity: The consequences of imprisonment for employment. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43, 108–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desmond, M. (2016). Evicted: Poverty and profit in the American city. U.S.: Crown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downs, K., Keating, D., & Kelso, N. V. (2011). Interactive: Mapping the Census. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/census/2010/

  • Evans, D. N. (2016). The effect of criminal convictions on real estate agent decisions in New York City. Journal of Crime and Justice, 39, 363–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, D. N., & Porter, J. R. (2015). Criminal history and landlord rental decisions: A New York quasi-experimental study. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 11, 21–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galgano, S. W. (2009). Barriers to reintegration: An audit study of the impact of race and offender status on employment opportunities for women. Social Thought & Research, 30, 21–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, B., Wodahl, E. J., & Mayfield, J. (2010). Prisoner reentry in a small metropolitan community: Obstacles and policy recommendations. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 22, 90–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helfgott, J. (1997). Ex-offender needs versus community opportunity in Seattle, Washington. Federal Probation, 61, 12–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschfield, P. J., & Piquero, A. R. (2010). Normalization and legitimation: Modeling stigmatizing attitudes toward ex-offenders. Criminology, 48, 27–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurlychek, M. C., Brame, R., & Bushway, S. D. (2006). Scarlet letters and recidivism: Does an old criminal record predict future offending? Criminology & Public Policy, 5, 483–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurlychek, M. C., Bushway, S. D., & Brame, R. (2012). Long-term crime desistance and recidivism patterns – Evidence from the Essex County convicted felon study. Criminology, 50, 71–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • La Vigne, N. G., Thomson, G. L., Visher, C., Kachnowski, V. & Travis, J. (2003). A portrait of prisoner reentry in Ohio. Urban Institute. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/410891-A-Portrait-of-Prisoner-Reentry-in-Ohio.PDF.

  • Leasure, P., & Stevens Andersen, T. (2016). The effectiveness of certificates of relief as collateral consequence relief mechanisms: An experimental study. Yale Law and Policy Review Inter Alia, 35, 11–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leasure, P., & Stevens Andersen, T. (2017). Recognizing redemption: Old criminal records and employment outcomes. The Harbinger: New York University Review of Law and Social Change (in press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Legal Action Center. (2016). Helping moms, dads, and kids to come home: Eliminating barriers to housing for people with criminal records. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://indd.adobe.com/view/04243d7e-5a9a-4bd8-9d97-1bb1ce77b9c5.

  • Louviere, J. J., Hensher, D. A., & Swait, J. D. (2000). Stated choice methods: Analysis and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McFadden, D. (1979). Quantitative methods for analysing travel behavior of individuals: Some recent developments. In D. A. Hensher & P. R. Stopher (Eds.), Behavioural travel modelling (pp. 279–318). London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, P. (2001). “just like baking a cake”: Women describe the necessary ingredients for successful reentry after incarceration. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 82, 287–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. (2016). Fiscal year 2016 commitment report. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from http://www.drc.ohio.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=fxsbHO23kzY%3D&portalid=0.

  • Ohio Revised Code 2953.25 Certificate of qualification for employment for persons subject to collateral sanctions. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2953.25.

  • Ortiz, N. R. (2014). The gendering of criminal stigma: An experiment testing the effects of race/ethnicity and incarceration on women’s entry-level job prospects. Dissertation, Arizona State University.

  • Pager, D. (2003). The mark of a criminal record. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 937–975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D. (2007). The use of field experiments for studies of employment discrimination: Contributions, critiques, and directions for the future. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 609, 104–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D., & Shepherd, H. (2008). The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit and consumer markets. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 181–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D., Western, B., & Bonikowski, B. (2009). Discrimination in a low-wage labor market a field experiment. American Sociological Review, 74, 777–799.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pendall, R. & Hedman, C. (2015). Worlds apart: Inequality between America’s most and least affluent neighborhoods. Urban Land Institute. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/60956/2000288-Worlds-Apart-Inequality-between-Americas-Most-and-Least-Affluent-Neighborhoods.pdf.

  • Price, R. (2015). Neighborhood inequality particularly profound in Columbus area. Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved January 23, 2017, from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/07/12/neighborhood-inequality-particularly-profound-here.html.

  • Roman, C. G. & Travis, J. (2004). Taking stock: Housing, homelessness, and prisoner reentry. The Urban Institute. Retrieved January 23, 2017 from http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/58121/411096-Taking-Stock.PDF.

  • Thacher, D. (2008). The rise of criminal background screening in rental housing. Law & Social Inquiry, 33, 5–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uggen, C., Vuolo, M., Lageson, S., Ruhland, E., & Whitham, H. K. (2014). The edge of stigma: An experimental audit of the effects of low-level criminal records on employment. Criminology, 52, 627–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Carolina, 1305 Greene Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Peter Leasure & Tara Martin

Authors
  1. Peter Leasure
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tara Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Leasure.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 50.5 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Leasure, P., Martin, T. Criminal records and housing: an experimental study. J Exp Criminol 13, 527–535 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-017-9289-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-017-9289-z

Search

Navigation