Data and Code for: Halfway Home? Residential Housing and Reincarceration

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are released from prison. For many, the transition back to society includes a mandatory stay in residential housing. In this research, I estimate the effect of residential housing on reincarceration using administrative data from Iowa. I address selection into residential housing by instrumenting for residential housing assignment with the rate at which randomly assigned case managers recommend it. I find no evidence that Iowa's costly investment in residential housing results in reduced reincarceration rates relative to parole. Instead, assignment to residential housing accelerates the timing of reincarceration. I go on to show that residential housing increases reincarceration due to violent crimes and technical violations. This is partially offset by decreases in drug and public order crimes. <br>