Each year in the United States, more than 625,000 individuals are released from prison. Half will be back in prison within just three years. Many former prisoners who reoffend return home to their old communities, where the same family, friends, drugs, and criminal opportunities await them. In Home Free, David S. Kirk uses Hurricane Katrina as a natural experiment to examine whether residential relocation away from an old neighborhood can lead to desistance from crime. Drawing upon both quantitative and qualitative evidence and data from an experimental housing mobility program, he focuses on the lives of individuals released from Louisiana prisons soon after the hurricane, some who moved away from New Orleans and some who did not. Kirk further explores the impact of the Katrina-induced residential change, which provides a unique opportunity to investigate what happens when individuals move not just a short distance away from home, but to entirely different cities, counties, and social worlds. In a series of analyses, Kirk shows the impact that changes in structured daily activities and peer relationships, as well as opportunities for cognitive transformation can have to substantially reduce the likelihood of recidivism. Addressing one of the biggest challenges now facing the criminal justice system, Home Free offers a story of redemption. In light of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Kirk provides important insights into how the power of a fresh start can have considerable policy implications for reducing recidivism.

About the Author
David S. Kirk is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College at Oxford University. At Oxford, he directs the Centre for Social Investigation. His research has appeared in leading outlets such as American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Criminology, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reviews
It is easy to say that this book is a significant contribution to scholarship on the life course of crime, re-entry and desistance, and a must read for policy makers and practitioners working with the formerly incarcerated. The rigorous study design integrating a large quantitative dataset that leverages a natural experiment analytic approach with a deep qualitative inquiry provides a richness of detail about the challenges of re-entry, and how context overlays the process of desisting from crime. * Bianca Bersani, University of Maryland, Rutgers *
Kirk offers a mixed-methodology design to investigate the reincarceration rates of ex-prisoners who returned to live in New Orleans after their release after Hurricane Katrina, compared to those who left to live in other places. The quantitative analysis is triangulated with qualitative interviews involving mostly African American ex-inmates to explain why some desisted and others persisted in experiencing reincarceration. * B. Agozino, CHOICE *


Awards
Winner of Winner of the 2021 James Short Senior Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology Division of Communities and Place.



Book Information
ISBN 9780190841232
Author David S. Kirk
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 239mm * 28mm