Too Far to Travel?: An Investigation of the Effects of Distance to Community-Based Treatment Programs for Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

Although recent years have seen a dramatic increase in research on the relationship between space and crime, few studies have examined the impact of space on the juvenile justice outcomes of treatment non-completion and recidivism. Fewer yet have investigated how such effects might differ on those outcomes when disaggregated by the reason for non-completion and recidivism offense type. This study seeks to address those theoretical gaps by determining the effects of distance to treatment for juvenile offenders on type of treatment non-completion and recidivism. By estimating the effects of not only linear and temporal distance, but also social distance, this analysis represents a valuable inquiry into the influence of space on juvenile offenders. Data on juvenile offenders adjudicated in Philadelphia's Family Court to attend community-based treatment from 1996 through 2002 provide this study with 6,208 individual units of analysis. Data describing the neighborhoods in which the juveniles live and the programs that they attend are also included in this analysis. The use of hierarchical linear models allows for the simultaneous estimation of multiple levels of control variables when modeling the effects of distance to treatment. Separate models are constructed to estimate the direct effects of distance to treatment on treatment non-completion and then the subsequent, indirect effects of distance to treatment on juvenile recidivism. Results from two-level models that control for both neighborhood and program context indicate that distance to treatment does influence the likelihood of both treatment non-completion and recidivism. In general, distance to treatment was found to increase the likelihood of both treatment non-completion and recidivism as distance to treatment increases. Interaction effects that represent the joint effects of distance and race indicate that the impact of distance is generally greater for non-Whites, as they are more likely than Whites to fail to complete treatment as distance increases. Results from cross-classified models reveal limitations of the data related to statistical power and noise. Findings from this analysis contribute to several bodies of literature, including criminology and geography, and strongly support the consideration of distance to treatment by policymakers within the juvenile justice system.