The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. 

Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:

Document Title: Access to Transportation and Outcomes for 

Women on Probation and Parole

Author(s): Miriam Northcutt Bohmert

Document No.: 248641

Date Received: February 2015

Award Number: 2013-IJ-CX-0041

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federallyfunded grant report available electronically. 

Opinions or points of view expressed are those 

of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect 

the official position or policies of the U.S. 

Department of Justice.
ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION AND OUTCOMES FOR WOMEN ON PROBATION 

AND PAROLE

By 

Miriam Northcutt Bohmert

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to

Michigan State University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements 

for the degree of 

Criminal Justice - Doctor of Philosophy 

2014 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
ABSTRACT

ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION AND OUTCOMES FOR WOMEN ON PROBATION 

AND PAROLE

By

Miriam Northcutt Bohmert

The current study focuses attention on a previously understudied topic – transportation 

deprivation in women offenders. This is a timely and important endeavor given the scale of mass 

incarceration, number of women on probation and parole, and the numerous barriers women with 

a criminal record face. The study utilizes a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design of 

transportation access and its causes and effects on recidivism for 402 women on probation and 

parole. 

The study has two phases. The quantitative, first phase, of this project combines multiple 

indicators of transportation access (e.g., time, cost, stress related to travel) into one composite 

access score; tests hypotheses linking resources to transportation access; and tests for direct and 

moderating effects of transportation access on probation/parole violations and recidivism. 

Quantitative analyses are able to identify associations between transportation resources, 

transportation access, criminogenic needs, and recidivism; however, the analyses raised 

questions about why or why not associations were present. To address these questions, a second 

phase, a qualitative component, undertook analyses to increase understanding of (1) women's 

experiences and feelings (e.g., any stress, ease) about getting around while under supervision, (2) 

their strategies for increasing transportation resources and access, (3)the role of transportation 

access in attending, or missing, required/needed programming and supervision appointments, 

and (4) whether and how supervision violations or new offenses resulted from lack of 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
transportation access. The follow-up sample included 75 women. 

The findings of the quantitative analysis found, first, the scope of transportation 

deprivation was found to be quite extensive; women reported low levels of individual and 

community level resources. Second, an instrument (a composite score) was found to adequately 

capture women’s level of transportation access. Third, several resources were found to predict 

transportation access: owning or leasing a vehicle, having a valid driver’s license, having 

difficulty walking, having poor vision, having friends who could help with transportation needs, 

and living in an area with a low community accessibility score. Fourth, transportation access was 

found to lower the odds of experiencing recidivism events and the time until these events 

occurred. Fifth, the findings indicate that transportation access is especially important for women 

with certain criminogenic needs – those with antisocial friends, histories of child maltreatment, 

greater family support and greater self-efficacy.

The findings of the qualitative analysis found that, first, women experience one to ten 

types of transportation problems such as difficulty arranging rides, using inadequate bus services 

and relying on unreliable people for transportation help. Second, women were found to utilize 

several resources not previously known such as using agency-provided bus tokens or benefitting 

from having an understanding and non-punitive supervision agent. Third, nine previously 

unrecognized strategies were identified such as planning in advance for appointments, building 

extensive support networks and making use of several modes of transportation. Fourth, the 

relationship between transportation access and recidivism was found to be moderately strong. 

Overall, the findings indicate that training parole and probation agents to recognize and 

respond to women’s transportation needs will be beneficial. Similarly, transit authorities can 

benefit from understanding the limitations of their services for women offenders.

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dr. Merry Morash for your support and guidance over the past four 

years. As a result of your expertise and encouragement, I have achieved goals I did not think 

possible. You have provided an incredible model of mentorship I hope to emulate. I would also 

like to thank Drs. Steve Chermak, Jennifer Cobbina, Steve Gold and Ed McGarrell for serving on 

my dissertation committee. Thank you for taking the time to provide me with insightful feedback 

and knowledgeable guidance. Additionally, I would like to thank my former mentors – Drs. 

Donald Luidens and Alfred DeMaris. You both continue to encourage and advise in my 

academic pursuits. You are my earliest supporters. 

I also would like to thank the agencies that supported this research. This project was 

supported by dissertation grants from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice 

Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (2013-IJ-CX-0041),and the National Science Foundation 

(SES-1323461). Additional funding was also provided by the National Science Foundation 

(SES-1126162), the Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology & Criminal Justice, and 

Michigan State University. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations 

expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the 

funding agencies. 

I would also like to thank some of my friends who were around for the graduate school 

years, such as Tia Stevens Andersen, Rebecca Stone, Megan Vertucci, and Deanna Trella. Tia, 

you paved the way. Megan and Deanna, thank you for coffee breaks and laughter. You made the 

experience enjoyable. Jessie Koehle, Katie Sherron, Emily Duffelmeyer, and Kristin Johnson, 

thank you for reminding me of the world outside of the Nisbet Building. Jenny Cornacchione, 

Marva Goodson and Chelsea Wilkins – thank you for your skillful work on this project. Data 

iv

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
doesn’t collect itself. Without you, this endeavor would not have been possible. 

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Janine Sternik for caring for, and helping 

me raise, my two most valuable creations Clare and Alex. Thank you for directing their steps, 

keeping them safe, and providing me sanity and encouragement. You made it possible for me to 

be both an academic and a mother. 

Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Al and Val, and my parents-in-law, Joe and 

Julie, who have been constant sources of love and support. Most of all, I would like to thank my 

funny and handsome husband, Ben, who has been my greatest supporter. You make me laugh. 

You encourage me when I am worn. You are my rock. Thank you for supporting this crazy 

endeavor and for all the sacrifices you have made to bring it to fruition. Beginning and ending 

each day with you is the greatest gift and most precious thing I have. All my eggs, too, are in one 

basket.

v 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi 

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii 

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 

 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................1 

 Significance of the Study .........................................................................................3 

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..............................................................5 

Women Offenders’ Pathways to Crime ...................................................................5 

Risk Assessment Tools for Women Offenders ........................................................6 

 Agency & Structure .................................................................................................8 

 Purposes, Goals & Objectives ..................................................................................9 

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...............................................................13 

Research Design .....................................................................................................13 

Phase I: Available Data and Sample Design for Quantitative Analysis ................13 

 Quantitative measures ...............................................................................15 

 Resources hypothesized to predict transportation access .............18 

 Transportation deprivation ............................................................19

 Criminogenic needs .......................................................................19

 Recidivism ......................................................................................20

 Quantitative data analysis strategy.............................................................22 

 Missing data ...................................................................................24

Phase II: Data Collection and Sample Design for Qualitative Analysis ................24 

 Qualitative measures ..................................................................................27 

 Qualitative data analysis strategy...............................................................28

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS FOR QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS ......................................31 

Descriptive Statistics ..............................................................................................31 

 Transportation resources ............................................................................31 

 Transportation access .................................................................................33

Confirmatory Factor Analysis ...............................................................................34 

Creation of Composite Transportation Access Score ............................................35 

Multivariate Analysis of Transportation Access on Transportation Resources .....38 

Logistic Regression Analyses of Recidivism, Testing Moderation of 

Criminogenic Needs by Transportation Access .....................................................40 

Rearrest ......................................................................................................40 

 Reconviction ..............................................................................................43 

Supervision violation .................................................................................44 

Impact of Transportation Access on Recidivism Outcomes ..................................48 

Rearrest ......................................................................................................49 

 Reconviction ..............................................................................................49 

vi 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Supervision violation .................................................................................49 

Survival analysis with Cox Regression......................................................49 

 

CHAPTER 5: RESULTS FOR QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS ........................................56 

Descriptive Statistics ..............................................................................................56 

 Types, Intensity, and Comparative Importance of Transportation Problems ........58 

 Analysis of types of transportation problems ............................................61 

 Analysis of intensity of transportation problems .......................................65 

 Analysis of comparative importance of transportation problems with 

 other problems ...........................................................................................67 

Resources Used to Increase Transportation Access ...............................................68 

Strategies Used to Increase Transportation Access ...............................................70 

Relationship Between Transportation Access and Recidivism .............................76 

 

CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ....................................................... 81 

Summary and Discussion .......................................................................................82 

 Quantitative results ....................................................................................82 

 Qualitative results ......................................................................................85 

Limitations and Recommendations ........................................................................87 

Conclusion and Policy Implications ......................................................................90 

APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................93 

 Appendix A 

Phase I: Transportation-Related Variables and Questionnaire Items for

Quantitative Analysis ............................................................................................ 94 

Appendix B 

Phase II: Follow-Up Transportation Interview Questions for Qualitative

Analysis............................................................................................................... 100 

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................103 

 

vii 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Risk Factors & Criminal History for Women on Probation & Parole ............14 

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics for Transportation Resources Indicators, 

 Wave 3 (n=366) ..............................................................................................31 

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics for Transportation Access Indicators, Wave 3

 (n=366) ...........................................................................................................34 

Table 4 Composite Access Score Measures ................................................................36 

Table 5 Multivariate Regression Transportation Access on Transportation 

 Resources (n=366) ..........................................................................................39 

Table 6 Logistic Regression Models Predicting Rearrest ............................................41 

Table 7 Logistic Regression Models Predicting Reconviction ....................................43 

Table 8 Logistic Regression Models Predicting Supervision Violation ......................45 

Table 9 Logistic Regression Models Predicting Rearrest, Significant Moderation 

Effects Shown .................................................................................................46 

Table 10 Cox Proportional Hazards Model: Time Until Three Recidivism Events ......52 

Table 11 Transportation Indicators, Comparison of Full Wave Three Sample 

 to Three Subgroups .........................................................................................56 

Table 12 Transportation Problems, and Intensity Level, Reported by Women 

at Follow-up Interview ...................................................................................60 

Table 13 Additional Resources Women Use to Increase Access to Transportation 

 (n=75) .............................................................................................................69 

Table 14 Strategies Women Use to Increase Access to Transportation ........................71 

Table 15 Strategies Women Use to Increase Access that Conflict with the Law ..........75 

Table 16 Correlations Between Transportation Access & Recidivism Outcomes ........78 

viii

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Conceptual Framework for Relationship between Transportation 

Resources, Access and Recidivism Outcomes, and Sample Measures ..........17 

Figure 2 Survival Function for Levels of Transportation Access ................................54

ix

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Statement of the Problem

As a result of the “war on drugs” and the resulting policing and sentencing policies, the 

decades prior to 2009 saw a substantial increase in the number of women in prison and under 

community supervision (for a comprehensive review, see Belknap, 2007). In recent years, the 

number of women entering the criminal justice system has declined slightly. However, the 

number of women on probation or parole nationally, and their recidivism rates, remain quite 

high. For example, in a sample of 15 states, approximately 60% of paroled women were 

rearrested and 30% returned to prison within three years (Deschenes, Owen, & Crow, 2007). 

These findings signal the need for additional research on women who are supervised in the 

community (i.e., on probation and parole); better understanding of the barriers they face can lead 

to programming that more effectively reduces their rates of recidivism.

Efforts aimed at reducing women’s recidivism must target several known criminogenic 

needs: poverty and unemployment, unsafe housing, current depression and anxiety symptoms, 

psychosis symptoms, anger/hostility, adult victimization, parental stress, and relationship 

dysfunction (Belknap, 1996; Bloom, Owen, & Covington, 2003; Covington & Bloom, 2003; 

O’Brien, 2006; Owen & Bloom, 1995; Richie, 2001); and must also ensure that high-risk 

offenders receive appropriately intensive services (Andrews, Bonta, & Hoge, 1990; Andrews & 

Bonta, 2010). Schram, Koons-Witt, Williams, and McShane, (2006) have found that accurate 

needs/risks assessment for women on parole are important in placing women into appropriate 

programming and preventing women from recidivating. The authors found that unmet needs do 

negatively impact offenders’ reintegration into the community. Obtaining these necessary 

services may be prevented by a risk factor that is not currently considered in needs/risk 

1 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
assessments – lack of access to adequate transportation. Almost no research has focused on 

transportation deprivation (i.e., lack of access) in offender populations. Transportation 

deprivation may interact with other risk factors, for instance, by making it difficult for women to 

attend programming to address anger/hostility or to increase educational assets. Transportation 

deprivation also may influence illegal behavior directly (e.g., driving without a license) or 

indirectly through noncompliance with supervision requirements (e.g., failure to report to a 

scheduled supervision meeting). 

Just a few prior studies have identified transportation as a challenge that women parolees 

face after release (Baer et al., 2006; Edin & Lein, 1997; Hattery & Smith, 2010; Richie, 2001; 

Scroggins & Malley, 2010). Scroggins & Malley (2010) examined 155 reentry programs meant 

to address women offenders’ needs in ten large metropolitan areas. The authors performed a 

content analysis of the programs’ websites to discover the number and types of services were 

being offered to women. They found that services were lacking in five key areas: childcare and 

parenting services; healthcare and substance abuse counseling; education, employment and job 

training; social support, and; housing and transportation. The authors explain that, although 

public transportation may be available to women in metro areas, it is not suitable for many. The 

authors point out that it may require in excess of four hours of travel per day (Richie, 2001, p. 

380), it may not be safe depending on the neighborhoods women must travel through, and the 

unreliability of the service decreases women’s ability to meet their needs on a regular basis. 

When women’s needs are unmet, which may occur when they lack transportation, they are more 

likely to recidivate (Schram et al., 2006). 

Apart from the correctional literature, research shows that for a greater proportion of 

women than men, transportation deprivation has important consequences for several precursors 

2 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
of recidivism. These precursors include unemployment, stress, and lack of medical care 

(Atkinson & Rostad, 2003; Dupuis, Weiss, & Wolfson, 2007; McNiel & Binder, 2007; van Dam, 

De Bruyn, & Janssens, 2007). Recent research utilizing data from the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development found that low-income individuals with cars lived in higher opportunity 

neighborhoods characterized by lower poverty rates, higher social status, stronger housing 

markets and lower health risks than those without cars (Pendall et al., 2014, p. 2); in large part 

because of the inefficiency of public modes of transportation. Access to a car is key to obtaining 

and maintaining employment (Blumenberg, 2004; Sandoval, Cervero, & Landis, 2011). For lowincome single mothers, car ownership is an even stronger predictor of gaining and maintaining 

employment than education or work experience (Lichtenwalter, Koeske, & Sales, 2006), in part 

because access to a reliable car translates to fewer days of missed work (Lambert, 1998). Further, 

transportation problems can lead to increased levels of stress (Cox, Griffiths, & Rial-Gonzalez, 

2000; Gottholmseder, Nowotny, Pruckner, & Theurl, 2009; Jacobson et al., 1996) which may 

contribute to mental health problems, reduced labor productivity, lower employee performance, 

and absenteeism. On the other hand, high transportation access can minimize social isolation, 

increase access to health and social programs, and improve access to medical services 

(Cvitkovich & Wister, 2001). Although overlooked in correctional research, transportation is 

likely to be an important influence in the lives of women on probation and parole. 

Significance of the Study

 The study addresses four gaps in existing research. First, it focuses on women offenders, 

a group that has not received adequate research attention. Second, it uses available survey data to 

discover actual levels of transportation deprivation, which is currently unknown. Third, it 

investigates the strategies women with transportation deprivation use to increase their level of 

3 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
transportation access. Fourth, and finally, it assesses how transportation deprivation is related to 

recidivism. 

4 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Women Offenders’ Pathways to Crime 

Research indicates that women offenders are different than men in the pathways they take 

to crime (Akers & Sellers, 2009; Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2004; Steffensmeier & Allan, 1996). 

For example, women differ in the types of crimes they commit, the reasons they commit crimes, 

and in their treatment by the criminal justice system after they have committed crimes. 

Researchers using the feminist pathways model unmask these gender differences by asking girls 

and women to discuss their lives and the milestone events that shaped the trajectory of their 

lives; it usually involves retrospective, quasi-longitudinal research strategies. This type of 

research is consistent with, and largely grew out of, life course and cycle of violence theories 

(Widom, 2000). Research utilizing this approach consistently suggests the need to understand the 

role of victimization, such as childhood and adulthood traumas, as precursors to women’s 

offending (Belknap, 2007, p. 79; Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2004; Richie, 2001; Salisbury, Van 

Voorhis, & Spiropoulis, 2009; Widom, 2000). Widom (2000) reports that abused and neglected 

girls are nearly twice as likely to be arrested as juveniles, twice as likely to be arrested as adults, 

and 2.4 times as likely to be arrested for a violent crime (Widom, 2000, pp. 29–33) than males. 

Other studies have found that girls with histories of abuse and family problems are more likely to 

drink and use drugs, run away from home, and drop out of school (Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2004, 

pp. 107–111) than males. Collectively, research on women’s unique pathways to crime has found 

the following needs lead to criminal behavior: low self-esteem and self-efficacy, parental stress, 

victimization and abuse, relationship dysfunction, mental health problems (especially 

depression), poverty and homelessness, and substance abuse (Van Voorhis, 2012). Women 

offenders’ pathways to crime may indicate transportation is particularly important to their 

5 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
recovery, for example, by bridging their needs for substance abuse treatment and receipt of those 

services. Further, whether women’s use of transportation may present a unique pathway into 

crime via increased rates of transportation-related offenses, compared to male offenders.

Risk Assessment Tools for Women Offenders

The dominant tool for risk and needs assessment among female offenders, the Level of 

Service Inventory – Revised (LSI-R), was developed by Don Andrews and James Bonta based 

on research on male offenders (Andrews et al., 1990; Andrews & Bonta, 2010). Risk assessments 

are used to predict the likelihood an offender will recidivate (i.e., be arrested or convicted of 

additional crimes) and usually rely extensively on criminal history profiles. Needs instruments, 

on the other hand, assess individuals’ educational level, employment skills, and physical and 

mental health and are used to refer offenders to correctional and supervision services. In 

developing their instrument, Andrews and Bonta found that, in order to reduce recidivism, 

treatment programs must be appropriately matched to offenders in terms of level of 

programming (intensive programming for high-risk offenders) and type of need (most serious 

criminogenic needs must be addressed). 

 Andrews and Bonta discovered that, for men, there were four main ‘risk factors’ that 

should be addressed in correctional programming: antisocial attitudes, peers, personality, and 

criminal history. Subsequent studies, however, have found that these are not the dominant risk 

factors for women (Van Voorhis, 2012; Wright, Salisbury, & Van Voorhis, 2007). 

Because the guiding principle of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model of corrections and the 

related use of the LSI-R, is that services should be matched to offender’s needs, the LSI-R is not 

well suited for use with women. 

6 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Yet, currently, most states administer the LSI-R to women offenders even though they 

have not taken the proper steps (e.g., validation) to ensure it can be effectively used on a sample 

of women (Wright et al., 2007). Research examining this practice has found that the LSI-R 

overclassifies women (Wright et al., 2007); specifically, it suggests placement for women into 

higher levels of custody than their behavior warrants. This violates the risk principle outlined by 

the creators of the LSI-R. Recall this principle states that, in order to reduce future criminal 

behavior, offenders must receive appropriate levels of treatment (i.e., intensive treatment if 

administered to low-risk women could actually do harm). Further, this research has found that 

the LSI-R ignores needs specific to women such as relationships, mental health problems, 

parenting and childcare issues, abuse and victimization, self-esteem and self-efficacy (Presser & 

Van Voorhis, 2002). 

Pat Van Voorhis and colleagues recognized that the standard method of evaluating 

women’s risk levels and corresponding needs required improvement (Hardyman & Van Voorhis, 

2004; Presser & Van Voorhis, 2002; Salisbury et al., 2009; Van Voorhis, Salisbury, Wright, & 

Baumann, 2008; Van Voorhis, 2012; Wright et al., 2007). In response, Wright, Van Voorhis, 

Bauman and Salisbury (2007) spent several years addressing the limitations of the LSI-R and 

creating a new, women-specific, gender-responsive, needs assessment: the Women’s Risks and 

Needs Assessment (WRNA). They first validated the LSI-R among women offenders, then 

developed an add-on instrument to the LSI-R that included scales relevant to parenting, abuse, 

relationship issues, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Finally, as part of the NIC Gender-Responsive 

Assessment Project, they carried out a national study designed to develop risks/needs 

assessments specifically for women offenders. The result of these efforts is a gender appropriate 

instrument designed to target women’s special needs. The authors have found that the predictors 

7 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
of women’s recidivism include these criminogenic needs: poverty and unemployment, unsafe 

housing, current depression and anxiety symptoms, psychosis symptoms, anger/hostility, adult 

victimization, parental stress, and relationship dysfunction. However, one need not yet examined 

in these assessment tools is transportation access. 

Agency & Structure

Similar to the necessity for a risk/needs assessment tool tailored to women’s specific 

needs, research techniques aimed at understanding women offenders must also be appropriately 

designed to consider women’s agency. Quantitative methods that employ closed-ended responses 

can often mask women’s agency. Agency is nicely summarized as, ‘The capacity to act in a selfdirected and purposeful way” (Morash, 2010, p. 4). Women offenders are often portrayed as 

passive victims who have had things happen to them: they were abused as children; they lacked

economic resources to obtain job skills and, as a result, turned to drug use or criminal behavior. 

This characterization masks women’s agency and conceals that women not only have things 

happen to them but also have capacity to make decisions that shape their lives. Although it is true 

that women’s agency and choices are constrained by structures and forces beyond their control, 

such as patriarchal gender roles and capitalism, research shows that women still exercise a 

considerable amount of agency. For example, research on substance-abusing women on 

probation and parole found that, despite “biological, personal and social experiences associated 

with addiction and dependence” women still exercised agency by choosing to stay away from 

people who break the law or do drugs (Morash, 2010, pp. 31, 111). In the context of 

transportation, women exercise agency when they innovate strategies to increase their level of 

access, despite the structural constraints of poor public transportation services they experience. 

8 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Qualitative methods have the ability to reveal women’s agency. For instance, Susan 

Batchelor (2005) conducted in-depth oral-history interviews with 21 young women convicted of 

violent offenses. The women spoke of constraints on their agency such as being mistreated by 

friends or family (Batchelor, 2005, p. 366). However, what emerges from the interviews are the 

examples of agentic women who are empowered, in charge of their lives, in control of their fate, 

and deserving of respect. One woman says, “You can’t rely on other people. You’ve only got 

[yourself] (2005, p. 369).” Another young woman explains the importance of being seen as 

powerful and in charge, stating that “If you let people walk all over you, people will and people 

do...If you hit them back, then they usually stop (2005, p. 369).” Batchelor recommends that 

positive change in women’s lives may be optimized when correctional practitioners maximize 

women’s agency by increasing their involvement in programming so they feel that they are 

valued and respected partners in their own treatment. 

Qualitative methodologies are appropriately suited to exploring women’s strategies for 

coping with transportation deprivation and the agency they exercise. For example, the research 

may reveal that women use effective strategies for making transportation arrangements, despite 

not having access to automobiles or money to pay for public transit. 

Purposes, Goals & Objectives

 The broad purpose of this study – to explore transportation deprivation in a sample of 

women offenders – grew out of work being performed as a research assistant on a three-wave 

NSF-funded study of 402 women on probation and parole (referred to as the NSF Women 

Offenders Study hereafter). Arranging face-to-face interviews for women in this study provided 

early indications that transportation access was a problem for these women. The initial research 

plan involved scheduling interviews to coincide with women’s parole/probation reporting days; 

9 

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
the assumption being that these would be the best days for women because they would already 

have made transportation arrangements to get to parole or probation offices and presumably had 

openings in their schedules. However, it became apparent that even getting to agents’ offices was 

challenging for women. Several women reported that their rides would not wait the two hours 

needed to complete the interview. One agent in a rural area required that her financially-stressed 

clients, who lacked transportation, receive vouchers for the on-call bus service to avoid 

additional hardship in getting to the interview. These experiences led to scheduling interviews 

near women’s homes or offering transportation funds to decrease no-shows and increase the 

participation rate. 

Other interactions with supervision agents (parole or probation officers) revealed that 

many may be unaware of the transportation problems facing women and, as a result, could be 

penalizing women for transportation deficits. For example, preliminary data analysis conducted 

on a partial data set before the dissertation research began, suggested that agents’ lack of 

awareness may be problematic for women. One woman in the study was required to attend AA 

meetings but, at the time, did not have car insurance and her probation agent simply advised her 

to, “Go to find a way.” Without help or understanding from the supervision agent, they women 

knew that she must attend AA and that the penalty for failure would likely be a supervision 

violation. Another woman in the study explained that, “it’s discouraging when [agents] tell you, 

‘You have to get there regardless, or you’re gonna to end up back in prison.’” 

A corrections practitioner who develops programs and policies for corrections agencies 

explained that, in response to callous responses of agents, she recently “conducted a client 

sensitivity training that required staff to travel using public transit to make appointments...and 

complete the day’s schedule of a client. Staff persons reported errors in scheduling of the 

10

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
buses...missing transfers and enduring long wait times” (Personal Correspondence with Lusanne 

Green, International Community Corrections Association). This comment indicates that 

probation and parole agents may be unaware of the issues women face with regards to 

transportation and suggests a transportation access assessment tool may assist them to address 

women’s needs. The lack of awareness and understanding about transportation deprivation may 

also result in the imposition of violations or other sanctions when women’s transportation 

arrangements are unreliable. Adequate training for agents and assessment of women’s 

transportation needs, however, may improve women’s transportation situations. As a result of 

this new knowledge, the key transportation-related predictors for the dissertation were developed 

and collected as part of the wave three interview.

The specific design and goals of the research project were developed. The research 

project was a mixed-methods study of transportation deprivation and its effects on recidivism 

using existing quantitative data for a sample of 402 women on probation and parole. The goals 

for the quantitative analysis of available wave three data were to (1) describe the extent and 

distribution of transportation access of women offenders, (2) examine the reliability of selected 

measures of transportation access and the feasibility of creating a composite access score, (3)

show how well resources (e.g., family support, individual mobility) predict transportation access, 

(4) show whether transportation access moderates the association of criminogenic needs with 

recidivism, and (5) show the degree to which transportation access adds to the prediction of 

recidivism outcomes. The outcomes of interest were supervision violations, new arrests and 

convictions (i.e., rearrest and reconviction data), and transportation-related illegal activity (e.g., 

driving without a valid license). 

 The quantitative data allowed for identification of statistical associations involving 

11

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
transportation resources and access, but were limited in their ability to explain the presence, or 

absence, of associations. For example, the available quantitative data did not explain why a 

woman without her own car and no alternative transportation (i.e., she had low resources) reports 

no difficulty getting to necessary appointments (i.e., she reported that she had high access). 

 Therefore, the research project also integrated qualitative follow-up interview data from a 

subsample of the women (n=75). The goal for the qualitative component of the research was to 

capture women’s insights, experiences, and strategies regarding transportation resources and 

access and to show whether transportation deprivation contributed to failure to attend needed or 

required programs (e.g., substance abuse treatment). Specifically, the qualitative analysis 

increased understanding of (1) the types and intensity of transportation problems women 

experienced while under supervision, (2) their use of additional resources, not captured by 

quantitative measures, that increased their transportation access, (3) strategies women used to 

increase transportation access and whether these strategies brought women into conflict with the 

law (e.g., driving without a license or riding with a friend who has a felony conviction) and (4) 

the contribution of transportation problems to any violations or new offenses. 

Findings of this research are expected to inform the development of a useful measure of 

transportation access that combines knowledge gained from both quantitative and qualitative 

methodologies. 

 

12

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design 

The project used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design (Creswell, 2008; 

Ivankova, Creswell, & Stick, 2006). Consistent with this design, in Phase I, the quantitative data

from the NSF Women Offenders Study, an available dataset, was analyzed first. This analysis 

addressed several research questions, raised several others, and provided the basis for selecting 

potential participants for the Phase II qualitative data collection. The responses provided by 

women interviewed in Phase II were analyzed to allow for interpretation of, explanation of, and 

additions to the quantitative results. 

Phase I: Available Data and Sample Design for Quantitative Analysis 

The sample for the quantitative data analysis included 402 drug-involved women on 

probation or parole who were convicted of a felony offense. The rationale was to study druginvolved women because they account for the most common subgroup of women offenders 

(Harer & Langan, 2001; Morash, 2010; Peters, Strozier, Murrin, & Kearns, 1997), and, as such 

represent the typical female offender. The sample was recruited beginning in fall 2011 by first 

selecting 16 counties located within a ninety-minute drive from the research office. These 

counties encompass 68.5 percent of the 2011 state population, all major population centers (e.g., 

Detroit, Grand Rapids), and a mix of rural and suburban areas. 

In these 16 counties, 73 parole and probation agents were recruited. Michigan is 

innovative in that it is already taking strides to address the unique needs of women offenders by 

offering women-only supervision caseloads for agents. Of the 73 recruited, 71 were female and 

two were male. Parole agents were oversampled in relation to probation agents, to increase 

parolees to 25 percent of the total sample. Then, approximately eight clients were recruited from 

13

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
each agent’s caseload. The plan was to interview women after two, five and eight months of 

supervision had passed. At the fifth month, 97% (390) were reinterviewed, and at the eighth 

month, 94.3% (379) were reinterviewed; these are remarkably high response rates for a social 

science sample. Although 379 women participated in the wave three interview, 12 of them were 

institutionalized (i.e., in jail, prison or inpatient substance abuse treatment) and one woman was 

too physically ill to leave her home. As a result, the sample for this study is restricted to the 366 

women from wave three who could appropriately answer questions about transportation access. 

Table 1 shows the means for both the full sample (n =402) and the reduced sample (n=366). 

Independent sample t-tests examining differences between the means revealed there were no 

significant differences between the two samples.

Women in the NSF Women Offenders Study have extensive criminal histories and exhibit 

a constellation of needs (See Table 1). Indicating risk for recidivism, for the reduced sample at 

wave one, more than a third of the sample (36.6%) reported they were sentenced for a felony 

Table 1. Risk Factors & Criminal History for Women on Probation & Parole

n = 402 n=366

Criminal History

 Prior Felony Sentences 37.3% 36.6%

 Prior Misdemeanor Sentences 60.2% 59.8%

Risk Assessment Tool Items

 Has Educational Needs 17.9% 17.8%

 Lives in Unsafe Housing 9.2% 9.8%

 Has Low Levels of Family Support 55.5% 55.5%

 Has Low Parental Involvement 22.1% (n=208) 23.3% (n=189)

 Experiences Parental Stress 32.7% (n=208) 33.3% (n=189)

 Low Self Efficacy 29.9% 29.0%

 Has Problems with Anger/Hostility 17.9% 18.6%

 Has Experienced Depression/Anxiety, Ever 74.4% 73.5%

 Has Experienced Psychosis, Ever 33.6% 33.1%

Overall WRNA Score mean = 19.9 mean = 19.8

 Low Risk (0-12 pts) 21.9% 23.0%

 Medium Risk (13-24 pts) 48.8% 47.8%

 High Risk (25 + pts) 29.4% 29.2%

14

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
conviction besides the one for which they were currently on probation or parole and 59.8% of the 

sample had been sentenced for misdemeanor crimes. The gender-specific needs assessment tool, 

Women’s Risk/Needs Assessment: Probation/Parole Interview (Van Voorhis et al., 2008), 

administered in wave one indicates that sizeable proportions of women should receive assistance

in the areas of education (17.8%), housing safety (9.8%), family support (55.5%), parenting 

skills (23.3%), self efficacy (29.0%), anger/hostility (18.6%), depression and anxiety (73.5%), 

and clinical psychosis (33.1%). Prior research shows that these needs predict recidivism 

(Hardyman & Van Voorhis, 2004; Salisbury et al., 2009; Van Voorhis et al., 2008). The risk 

instrument also indicates women’s overall level of need. A substantial portion of women are high 

risk (23.0%) and the mean score (19.8) indicates that a considerable number of women are very 

close to the cut-off value for being high risk (25). 

Addressing and treating criminogenic needs often requires that women travel to receive 

treatment or services. Yet, the majority of the women earn less than $10,000 per year (80.9%). 

An income of $10,000 per year breaks down to $192 per week. Experts predict expenditures in 

excess of 15-20% of one’s income present financial hardship (Litman, 2011). This translates to 

$28.80 - $38 per week which may cover gas or bus fare but is unlikely to pay for car insurance, 

vehicle registration, a driver’s license, and car repairs. Thus, there was a reasonable expectation 

that women offenders lacked resources needed to get to and from treatment or services.

Quantitative measures. Figure 1 depicts the Phase I quantitative data used for the 

dissertation research. Those data contained quantitative measures of (1) individual, 

family/friends, and community levels of resources for getting from place to place, (2) 

transportation access, (3) supervision agents’ reports and official records of compliance with 

supervision requirements and of rearrests and reconvictions, and (4) criminogenic needs known 

15

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
to predict women’s recidivism. Measures of transportation resources and access were added to 

the third wave of the study specifically for the dissertation and the criminogenic needs and 

recidivism measures were already available in the NSF Women Offenders Study. The 

hypothesized relationships between these measures, and examples of each measure, are 

illustrated in Figure 1. It is hypothesized that transportation resources influence women’s access 

to transportation. Transportation access is believed to impact recidivism events. And, the 

relationship between criminogenic needs and recidivism is hypothesized to be moderated by 

access to transportation such that the impact of criminogenic needs on recidivism may be 

attenuated, or amplified, by variation in access to transportation.

16

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework for Relationship between Transportation Resources, Access and Recidivism Outcomes, and Sample 

Measures 

 

 

 

 (Interaction) 

 

TRANSPORTATION 

ACCESS

*Ease & Stress of Travel

*Cost & Time of Travel

*Safety of Travel 

*Self-rating of dependable 

transportation

RECIDIVISM (12 mo.)

*Rearrest

*Reconviction 

*Supervision violation

CRIMINOGENIC NEEDS

*Educational Needs 

*Unsafe Housing

*Self Efficacy

*Depression

TRANSPORTATION 

RESOURCES

Individual-Level Factors

*Access to Automobile

*Physical Health

Family/Friends Factors

*Transportation-Related Support

Community-Level Factors

*Neighborhood Accessibility 

17

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Resources hypothesized to predict transportation access. The resources hypothesized to 

impact transportation access can be grouped into three levels: individual, family or friends, and 

community. Figure 1 depicts the relationship between the variables; the complete list of variables 

and questionnaire items can be found in Appendix A. At the individual level, access to an 

automobile is determined from responses to questions about owning/leasing or borrowing a car, 

registration/insurance, and having a valid driver’s license. Following measures used by Dupuis et 

al. (2007), physical health questions focus on ability to walk, see, and on overall health. At the 

family and friends level, the number of people providing transportation-related support was 

available from (1) add-on item to the Social Network Inventory (Estroff & Zimmer, 1994) that 

elicited information about who would provide help to a woman (e.g., give a ride or bus money), 

and (2) women’s ratings of agreement that they could count on family and friends to (a) help 

them get to places, (b) help their children get to places, or (c) give them money to get to places. 

At the community level, four measures were available for accessibility and safety of 

neighborhoods. Women’s residential addresses were collected at each interview. The address 

women provided at the third interview was linked to two sources of publicly available data on 

“accessibility” that rate neighborhoods by availability of goods and services as well as 

neighborhood safety, cost of living, education, employment, housing and weather. First, Walk 

Scores range from 0 to 100 and measure the walkability of a given address utilizing a variety of 

data sources (e.g., Google, Open Street Map); the higher the score, the better the location. 

Second, Livability scores provide a measure of overall accessibility of a community in terms of

amenities, cost of living, crime rates, education, employment, housing, and weather. Scores 

range from 0 to 100; the higher the score, the better the location. Sub scores were also available 

for each Livability dimension and two were utilized; the (1) proximity of amenities and (2) crime 

18

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
dimensions. For proximity of amenities, the distance from the address to places such as grocery 

stores, pharmacies, and schools were used to generate this score. The crime dimension was 

derived from Uniform Crime Report data on two main categories of crime: violent crime 

(murder, rape, robbery, and assault) and property crime (burglary, theft, and vehicle theft). The 

Livability website calculates the total crime index based on all crimes; higher weights are given 

to violent crimes, and the score is based on comparisons to both state and national averages. 

Transportation deprivation. The literature on transportation deprivation, which focuses 

primarily on city planning efforts and the needs of elderly people, was the basis for identifying 

measures appropriate for assessing women offenders’ access to transportation. Litman (2011) 

wrote that transportation deprivation is indicated by expenditures greater than 20 percent of 

annual income and by greater than 90 minutes of travel time per day. Following Litman’s (2011) 

measurement approach, available data included women’s reports of travel time and costs in a 

typical week. Other researchers have noted the importance of considering safety, ease (Solomon 

& Titheridge, 2006) and stress related to travel (Gottholmseder et al., 2009). Thus for each trip in 

a typical week, women rated safety, ease, and stress of traveling (see Appendix A for list of 

variables). Finally, women provided an overall rating of their agreement that they had access to 

dependable transportation (specifically, they had money for bus fare, gas for a car, a dependable 

car when they need it). These measures were combined into a composite score indicating overall 

level of access in the quantitative analysis.

Criminogenic needs. Measures developed and validated by Van Voorhis and colleagues 

(Hardyman & Van Voorhis, 2004; Salisbury et al., 2009; Van Voorhis et al., 2008) for use with 

women offenders assess the following needs which have been found to predict recidivism events: 

poverty and unemployment, education, unsafe housing, family support, parental involvement, 

19

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
parental stress, adult victimization, relationship dysfunction, self efficacy, anger/hostility, and 

depression/anxiety and psychosis symptoms. Reliabilities for scales (e.g., self-efficacy, child 

abuse) are ≥0.75. 

Recidivism. Recidivism is operationalized as an arrest or conviction for a new offense 

(i.e., a rearrest or reconviction) or a formal violation of probation or parole (i.e., a supervision 

violation). Data on rearrests and reconvictions were obtained electronically from the Michigan 

State Police (MSP) criminal history database. The main limitation with using these data was that 

they measured only arrests and convictions that occurred in Michigan. Because neither source 

included arrests or convictions occurring in other states, the findings likely underestimate the 

true recidivism rates (i.e., rearrests and reconvictions). This limitation is considered relatively 

minor because most women, while on probation and parole, must reside in Michigan and must 

ask permission before traveling outside the state greatly reducing the likelihood of being arrested 

or convicted in other states. Another limitation of these data were that incarceration information 

was not available. To accurately measure the amount of time that offenders are actually at risk to

recidivate, for survival analyses, researchers should account for, and adjust “at-risk periods” for 

time spent in jail/prison and or the time after death by deducting the amount of time spent in 

jail/prison or deceased from a person’s total at-risk period. Failure to deduct time spent away 

from the community artificially increases the length of the at-risk period for these offenders. 

For rearrest and reconviction only, the recidivism period was calculated as number of 

months between the wave three interview, when transportation access, the main predictor of 

recidivism, was assessed, and the date the recidivism data were obtained from MSP, December 

3, 2013. Since the wave three interviews were conducted from May 2012 to May 2013, the 

follow-up period was 7 to 18 months with a mean of 7.16 months and standard deviation of 2.49 

20

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
months. In this time period, 66 (18%) women experienced rearrests and 60 (16.4%) experienced 

new convictions. Most studies of recidivism attempt to utilize a three-year follow-up period. 

However, because transportation resources and access are fluid, that is, they could greatly change 

over a three-year time period, the shorter window of recidivism is appropriate for use in this 

study, to examine whether a woman’s wave three transportation description is linked to 

subsequent recidivism events.

Finally, for the third type of recidivism event, supervision violations, data were obtained 

from reading supervision agents’ case notes which were obtained from the Michigan Department 

of Corrections. These notes were coded to reflect supervision violations for up to 6 months 

following the wave three interview. Data were further coded to reflect “any” supervision 

violation and “transportation-related” supervision violations. Case notes were requested for the 

full sample of 379 women. However, 79 of the 379 women (or 21.6% of the full sample) were 

not on supervision at any time during this six-month period and, as a result, did not have case 

note data for any part of the observation period. These 79 women were excluded from the 

supervision violation analyses (but remained in the rearrest and reconviction analyses) because

they were not on supervision at any time during this six-month period. This was most often the 

case because they had been discharged from probation or parole before the third interview. This 

means they were never “at risk” for this type of recidivism event and should not be included in 

supervision violation analyses. This reduced the original sample of 366 to 287 women for the 

supervision violation analysis.

Further, there were an additional 104 women who were absent during part of the 

observation period, meaning they had less than 6 months of data for various reasons (i.e., they 

were discharged, went to jail/prison, died, or data were not available). As a result, their “at risk” 

21

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
period was adjusted appropriately. For these women, their “time at risk” was calculated as the 

time from their wave three interview until the end of the risk period occurs when they are 

discharged (n=60), abscond (n=6), die (n=2), go to jail or prison (n=1), or to the point at which 

notes are not available (n=36). The remaining women (n=183) had the complete six months of 

case notes available. Using this method, the average follow-up period, or “at risk period” for 

women in the supervision analyses (n = 287) is 125.92 days or approximately 4 months. During 

that time period, 72 (19.7%) women experienced at least one supervision violation and 10 of 

those were for transportation-related supervision violations (e.g., driving without a license or 

failure to report due to car troubles). Alternatively, 216 (59%) women did not experience a 

supervision violation. The range of supervision violations was one to five; just one women 

experienced five supervision violations. 

It is worth noting that for women who are right-censored from the supervision violation 

analyses due to incomplete case notes, their notes can be considered missing at random. There is 

no logical reason that women who were recruited into the sample later (and therefore did not 

have case notes available because not enough time had passed) would be any different than 

women who were recruited earlier. All women were interviewed within 12 months of each other 

so it is unlikely that anything happened during that short window of time; for example, no new 

legislation was passed in that year that would impact the hazard of recidivism. There is no 

requirement in survival analysis that everyone be followed for the same period of time, so the 

varying follow-up periods, or at-risk periods, do not violate any assumptions of survival analysis 

(DeMaris, 2004). 

Quantitative data analysis strategy. For quantitative analysis, first, the extent and 

distribution of women offenders’ transportation deprivation was established using descriptive 

22

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
statistics and bivariate correlations. Second, data analysis was used to explore the reliability of 

extant measures of transportation access and the feasibility of creating a composite transportation 

access score. Conceptualizations of transportation deprivation in the literature (Gottholmseder et 

al., 2009; Litman, 2011; Solomon & Titheridge, 2006) suggested that multiple indicators could

be used to create a composite score. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify whether the 

multiple indicators collectively represent the underlying concept of transportation deprivation

suggested by the literature. Based on the findings, a composite score was created to indicate level 

of transportation access. 

A multivariate linear regression was used to address the third research question, how well 

do resources (e.g., proximity to community goods and services, family support, individual 

mobility) predict access? The composite transportation access score was the dependent variable 

and was regressed on the independent variables representing resources hypothesized to influence 

access. Fourth, criminogenic needs were hypothesized to have an indirect impact on recidivism,

dependent on whether women had transportation to get to the services needed to address their

needs. Logistic regression was used to determine whether the relationship between criminogenic 

needs and recidivism (rearrest, reconviction, supervision violation) was moderated by women’s 

level of transportation access. 

In the logistic regression models, an interaction term, or a cross-product term of the 

continuous variables transportation access scale with the total need scale, was utilized, along 

with the main effect variables for each scales. This was to test the significance of the focus 

variable, criminogenic needs, at particular levels of the moderator variable, transportation access. 

The interaction term is not grand mean centered, as is common practice, because an 

interpretation of each scale, at its zero level, is preferred given the skewed nature of the sample 

23

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
toward high levels of transportation. That is, the sample is skewed such that it is comprised of 

women with high levels of both need and transportation access, so using a mean-comparison 

interpretation, when the mean is skewed, in place of a zero-level interpretation was not desirable.

Fifth, the degree to which transportation access adds to the prediction of recidivism 

outcomes (rearrest, reconviction, and supervision violations) was examined. Logistic regression 

was used to predict whether the transportation access score can predict the occurrence of 

recidivism events. Because many women offenders eventually recidivate, it becomes important 

to incorporate the amount of time until a woman recidivates into the analysis. To this end, 

survival analysis models (Cox proportional hazards model) were employed to predict the time 

until recidivism events occurred. 

Missing data. For any given variable, less than 3% of the sample had missing data, most 

often due to the respondent having skipping a question during the interview. Missing data were 

set to the mean value for the variable and are not expected to significantly alter outcomes.

Phase II: Data Collection and Sample Design for Qualitative Analysis 

A purposive subsample of 75 women were recruited from the NSF Women Offender

Study participants who completed the wave three interview (n=379). Three subgroups, of 25 

women each, were assembled based on women’s responses to Phase I quantitative indicators of 

transportation resources, access and recidivism using the six months of recidivism data available 

at that time. A preliminary analysis of the quantitative data suggested that the correlation 

between resources and access was not as robust as expected and six-month recidivism figures did 

not appear to be highly correlated with either resources or access. Research questions were 

developed, and groups of women who could speak to the unexpected findings, were sampled. 

To place women into the three groups, based on available quantitative data, women were 

24

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
first rated as low or medium/high in each of three areas: resources, access, and recidivism,. 

Women characterized by certain combinations of resources, access and recidivism were believed 

to be better able to address the emergent research questions are listed below as well as the 

subgroup name and the main research question for that subgroup. All but 14% of the wave three

sample fit into these three groups. 

Transportation Troubled 

Characteristics: Low Resources, Low Access, Med-High Recidivism (n=70) 

Main RQ: Did transportation problems lead to recidivism? How?

Transportation Untroubled 

Characteristics: Low Resources, Low Access, Low Recidivism (n = 140) 

Main RQ: Why didn’t transportation problems lead to recidivism? 

Transportation Strategizers 

Characteristics: Low Resources, Med-High Access, Low Recidivism (n=140) 

Main RQ: How did women gain access in the absence of resources? Did strategies 

used contribute to a positive outcomes? How?

The first group of women, Transportation Troubled, were chosen because they 

represented the expected finding, that women who had low resources would also have low access 

which would lead to recidivism problems. The main research question for these women was 

whether, and how, limited transportation resources and/or access led to recidivism events. 

Interestingly, this group had the smallest number of women, only 70 of the 379 women who

completed the wave three interview, whereas the second and third groups each had 140 women, 

which underscores that preliminary data analysis which informed the dissertation research design 

did not support the main hypothesis. 

25

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The second and third groups of women, and the questions they were asked, were chosen 

because these women did not demonstrate a link between transportation problems and 

recidivism, the expectation of the main hypothesis. The second group of women, Transportation 

UnTroubled, were those for whom transportation did not appear to be related to recidivism at all; 

that is, despite low levels of both access and resources, recidivism rates remained low. This 

group behaved in a way that was opposite the main hypothesis. The main question here was, why 

didn’t transportation problems lead to recidivism events? The third group of women, 

Transportation Strategizers, were chosen because, for them, transportation resources did not 

appear to be linked to transportation access. They had achieved medium to high levels of access 

despite low levels of resources. For these women, the questions were related to how they were 

able to gain greater access and whether the strategies they used resulted in positive outcomes.

The decision to recruit only 25 women from each group was based on an effort to balance 

the practical issue of keeping the sample to a size feasible for in-depth, in-person interviewing 

but large enough to provide useful information. To recruit only 25 women from each of these 

three groups, women’s primary contact numbers were called, but not the numbers for their 

collaterals (i.e., friends or family members for whom they provided contact information in 

previous waves). For the second and third groups, those with low recidivism, this strategy was 

sufficient to garner 25 women in each group. In these groups, about 70% of eligible women were 

called and the first to return the calls were scheduled for interviews. However, for the first group 

of women, this strategy was enhanced by also sending letters to women’s home addresses. 

Again, no collaterals were contacted but enough women responded that 25 women were 

scheduled for interviews. None of the women, in any of the three groups, who were contacted 

declined an interview. The main challenge in scheduling was overcoming outdated contact 

26

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
information. 

This recruitment protocol yielded 75 women from 14 of the 16 counties originally 

sampled and therefore provided a statewide sample. Each woman identified for recruitment, 

when called, was given an explanation of the Phase II study, the consent process was again 

explained, and if there was consent, a face-to-face interview was scheduled at either women’s 

homes, if the interviewer knew the woman well, or at a public location close to the women’s 

home (e.g., a coffee shop, restaurant or public library), contingent on the woman’s preference. 

A monetary incentive, of similar size as the ones utilized and found to be very important 

in recruiting women for the NSF Women Offenders Study ($50), was offered as well as small 

amounts of cash to offset bus fare or to give gas money to people who provided rides. At the 

time of the interviews, most women were on probation or parole for 12 to 24 months. Interviews 

were audio-recorded and transcribed.

Qualitative measures. A semi-structured interview format (see Appendix B), which 

allowed for considerable probing, was used to provide women wide latitude in describing their 

perceptions of transportation access. To place transportation in context with women’s other 

needs, women were asked over the past five years: whether they could recall three significant 

events that had occurred; during which months they were institutionalized (times during which 

transportation was not relevant); during which months they received help from family, friends or 

social services for transportation, and also for things other than transportation such as food, 

money, or housing. The use of the life history calendar (Roberts & Horney, 2010) helped women 

recall events with more accurate timing and allowed the researcher to see whether transportation 

problems coincided with recidivism or other problems (e.g., lack of food). 

To develop and refine the interview template, five pilot interviews were conducted with 

27

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
women who were not placed into one the three subgroups of interest. This process ensured that 

the question wording was clear and that the ordering of questions was appropriate. The initial 

and final instruments were approved by the MSU IRB. 

Women from all three groups were asked the same series of open-ended questions to 

engage them in sharing their insights, examples, and reports on the nature of transportation 

challenges, any strategies or resources used for overcoming them, and the result, especially as it 

related to recidivism. However, certain areas of the interview required probing depending on 

women’s group membership, for example, if there was a recidivism event, women were asked to 

explain it and probes were used to see if transportation was also related. To alert the interviewer 

to when probes should be used, interview questions incorporated data provided by women in 

earlier waves. For example, if in the wave three quantitative data collection a woman reported 

she had little family support, lived in a rural area where buses did not travel, but did not indicate 

problems getting to needed services, the interviewer would explicitly mention the gap between 

these resources and her apparent level of access and ask her to describe her strategies and 

resources for getting where she needs to go. To increase validity, self-reported recidivism data 

was triangulated with official data (e.g., rearrest and reconviction data obtained from the 

Michigan State Police and case notes from supervision agents). 

Qualitative data analysis strategy. Interviews were transcribed and formatted into 

specialized templates that could be read into the qualitative data analysis software, NVivo. The 

software was primarily used to organize, code, establish inter-coder reliability for, and analyze 

all Phase II data. Once the data were in NVivo, the data were segmented into sections that 

corresponded with the four research questions. These research questions include: (1) the types 

and intensity of transportation problems that women described since supervision began; (2) 

28

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
resources for transportation, including those not tapped by quantitative measures; (3) strategies

used by women to increase transportation access and ways that strategies brought women into 

conflict with the law (e.g., trading drugs for a ride, riding with a friend who has a felony 

conviction), and (4) the different ways that transportation problems contributed to recidivism. 

To segment the data, all the responses in the interview related to a given research 

question, for example, questions related to types of transportation problems women experienced, 

were grouped together such that each woman’s responses to the series of questions were listed 

together in a “node.” Next, all 75 women's responses to these groups of questions were read to 

determine which types of transportation problems women were experiencing. A list of these 

problems, or themes, was compiled and an initial codebook was created that directed the coder 

what types of problems should be coded under that theme. For example, reports that women’s 

family and friends were always late to pick them up should be coded under the problem, or 

theme of, “Unreliable Help.” 

With the help of an additional coder, an iterative process of establishing intercoder 

reliability began (Hruschka et al., 2004; Weston et al., 2001) to ensure that codes were developed 

and applied in a reasonable manner. A random sample of transportation problems was selected 

for both the student and additional coder to independently code. The pair compared the codes 

they had applied, discussed the adequacy of the initial codebook, and refined it where needed. 

Once agreement was reached, the pair independently coded a larger number of, for example, 

transportation problems (approximately 30) and used SPSS software to calculate a Cohen's 

Kappa statistic (Hruschka et al., 2004). Once an acceptable kappa level was obtained, the author 

continued coding the remainder of the data. Intercoder reliability was established, in this manner 

for several sections of the dissertation. 

29

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
After data are coded, NVivo is able to provide a count of the number of women (i.e., 

cases) and the number of passages that reflect, for example, each type of transportation resource 

women report using. From these data, the student can describe and provide examples of the 

distribution of the transportation resources, or themes. For example, one part of the analysis 

could determine whether women provided examples of transportation resources that were not 

reflected by their quantitative scores. If this is the case, the findings would inform future 

development of better concept measurements of resources. Qualitative data has an advantage 

over a chi-square table in SPSS, for example, because it is able to contextualize information by 

clicking on each box in a query and immediately linking to the full text detailing the new 

resource discussed. 

30

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS FOR QUANTITATVE ANALYSIS

Descriptive Statistics

Transportation resources. Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics for the 

transportation resource variables and bivariate correlations between those variables and the 

transportation access measure (the composite transportation access score). This table addresses 

the first research question regarding the extent of transportation deprivation among women 

offenders. Table 2 shows that significant numbers of women have limited individual level 

resources for gaining transportation access. 

Sixty-eight percent of women do not own or lease their own vehicle, 37% do not have access to 

someone else’s vehicle and 58% of the sample does not have a valid driver’s license. In short, 

access to a personal vehicle is quite limited for these women. Further, significant numbers of 

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Transportation Resources Indicators, Wave 3 (n = 366)

Mean/Percent Min/Max Coding

Individual Level

 Do not own/lease vehicle 68.0%*

 Do not have access to registered and insured vehicle 37.0%**

 Do not have a valid driver’s license 58.0%

 Poor or very poor physical well being 13.1%**

 Difficulty walking one block in summer 23.0%

 Poor vision, even with contacts/glasses 29.0%

Family and Friends Level - Transportation-Related Support

 Number of friends/family who can help 3.05* 0 to 13

 Have help from friends/family for self 3.14** 1 to 4 1(SD) to 4(SA)

 Have help from friends/family for children (n=228) 3.37* 1 to 4 1(SD) to 4(SA)

 Money from friends/family 2.85** 1 to 4 1(SD) to 4(SA)

Community Level Accessibility Scores

 WalkScore - Overall 41.5 0 to 91 High Score = 

 Livability Score - Overall 69.5 53 to 84 More Accessible

 Livability Score - Proximity of Amenities 6.1 1 to 9

 Livability Score - Safety 3.3 1 to 9

***p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05

Note: Asterisks indicate significant correlation with Composite Access Score

31

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
women report physical health limitations, such as difficulties walking or seeing, or being in poor 

health (23%, 29%, and 13%, respectively), that could present problems with utilizing alternate 

forms of transportation such as walking or biking. At the bivariate level, three resources are 

significantly related to access: owning/leasing a vehicle (+), having access to a vehicle (+), and 

poor physical health (-). 

At the friends and family level, women on average report they can rely on 3.05 friends or 

family members to help them with transportation-related needs. The other three indicators are 

Likert scale items ranging from strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (4) indicating that, in 

general, women can rely on their family and friends for transportation-related support for 

themselves or their children. Women, on average strongly agree that friends or family will help 

them (3.14) or their children (3.37) with transportation needs. Although, women showed less 

agreement (2.85) that family and friends would provide them money for transportation, women 

across all three measures agree that they can rely on others for help (scores of greater than 2 

indicate agreement). Further, all four measures of family and friend level resources are 

statistically significant at the bivariate level, meaning they all impact transportation access at the 

zero-order level. 

At the community level, women are living in areas in which grocery stores may not be 

close, they may not have sidewalks, or buses may not come frequently or at all. The average 

WalkScore for women in the sample was 41.5 points which is very low. The actual values ranged 

from 0 to 91 in the sample but there are 100 points possible on this scale. Similarly, Livability 

scores indicated that overall accessibility was 69.5 out of a possible 100 points with actual scores 

ranging from 53 to 84. The overall Livability score (69.5) and Livability score for proximity of 

amenities (6.1) indicate that women are living in areas that are less desirable. In other words, 

32

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
they are living in places in which grocery stores, restaurants, bars, shopping, coffee shops, 

schools, parks, libraries, book stores, entertainment, public transportation and fitness facilities 

are far away from their homes.

Also important to note is the low rating for neighborhood safety (3.3 out of 9). This 

indicator of crime examines both violent and property crime, applying a higher weight to violent 

crimes. This subscore is based on comparisons to both state and national averages. In other 

words, women in this sample, compared to women living elsewhere in the state and in country, 

live in areas of high crime which further suggest that it may not be safe for women to walk or 

take buses to and from their homes. None of these four measures was significantly related to 

transportation access at the bivariate level. Taken together, these results suggest that women in 

this sample have significant transportation deficits in the areas of individual and community 

resources but receive substantial levels of support from family and friends. 

 Transportation access. Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics for the individual 

transportation access measures that comprise the composite transportation access score. The first 

item in the table, overall access to dependable transportation, was developed for this study. A 

score of one would indicate that women do not have dependable transportation whereas four

indicates strong agreement that women do have dependable transportation. The average score of 

3.2 means that most women agree that they have dependable transportation, on average, despite 

the low level of resources reported in Table 2. 

The next five items in Table 3 were derived from transportation and gerontology research 

as well as research focused on low-income individuals. To obtain these items, in the third 

interview, women were asked about all the places they traveled in the past seven days. The 

number of trips ranged from one to seven trips, per week, per woman. The averages in this table 

33

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
represent the average stress/ease/cost for all trips – so, for example, the cost of an individual trip, 

on average, is $5.10. Table 3 shows that, on average, most women report that it is easy to get 

from place to place (4.3 out of 5). Most disagree that their travel is stressful (2.1 out of 4).

The average trip time is 17.9 minutes which is reasonable but the wide range is more 

problematic; at least one woman reported an average trip time of 2 hours. The average cost of 

travel is reasonable ($5.10) and, surprisingly, even though the community accessibility measures 

show that women live in unsafe neighborhoods, a score of .9 indicates that women said they 

almost always felt safe when they traveled. Of course, it is quite possible that when women 

would not feel safe traveling, they do not, and so those avoided trips would not appear on their 

travel inventories. Collectively, despite the low resource levels reported in Table 2, the 

accessibility indicators in Table 3 show that women report they have moderate to excellent 

access to dependable transportation. 

Confirmatory Factor Analysis 

Analysis to address the second research question explores the reliability of measures of 

transportation access in Table 3 and the feasibility of creating a composite transportation access 

score from those measures. The first step in this process is to explore, using confirmatory factor 

analysis, the reliability of the six items presented in Tables 4 and 5 to see if they, together, 

represent the underlying latent concept of transportation access. 

Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Transportation Access Indicators, Wave 3 (n = 366)

Mean/Percent Min/Max

Overall, has dependable transportation 3.2 1 (SD) to 4 (SA)

Ease of travel, average 4.3 1 (Not) to 5 (Very)

Stress of travel, average 2.1 1 (Not) to 4 (Very)

Time spent in travel, average (in minutes) 17.9 2.5 to 120

Cost of travel, average (in dollars) 5.1 0 to 51

Safety of travel, average 0.9 0 (Unsafe) to 1 (Safe)

34

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Confirmatory factor analysis is a theory-testing model as opposed to a theory-generating 

model (Stapleton, 1997). It is utilized when a researcher begins with a hypothesis, for example, 

based on measures used in prior research, that represent the researcher’s understanding of a 

given construct, in this case, transportation access. The objective of the confirmatory factor 

analysis is to test whether the data collected fit the researcher’s hypothesized model, in this case,

the five variables identified based on a review of the extant literature and the one new item 

created for this study. 

The data were evaluated using the AMOS extension in SPSS. Model fit was evaluated

and sufficient fit was determined using cutoff values outlined by Hu & Bentler (1998). The ChiSquare test of exact fit (10.649, df=9, p=0.301) tests whether a residual fit index is statistically 

different from zero. A non-significant Chi-Square value is desirable. The Comparative Fit Index

was also examined (CFI = .991) and found to be at a suitable level; values higher than 0.9 are 

indicative of sufficient fit. Also, the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) point 

estimate (in which values lower than 0.1 are indicative of sufficient) also showed good fit at 

0.023. Upon achieving sufficient fit, these six latent factors were then combined together in a 

scale (described in next section). 

Creation of Composite Transportation Access Score

To combine the six items into a composite score, first, the most common method of 

standardizing the items was investigated. This involved generating z-scores for each item and 

then averaging them together because the scales for each variable are different. For example, as 

shown in Table 4, the first and third items have values ranging from one to four whereas the 

second item ranges from one to five. The ranges for the fourth through sixth items have even 

greater variation. 

35

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The creation of the composite score using standardized variables (z-scores) presented two 

problems, one related to interpretability and one related to the skewed nature of the items. First, 

the interpretation of having a standardized score did not make sense with this sample because the 

sample means for each item do not provide useful comparison points. 

As shown by the lack of transportation resources women reported in Table 2, the whole sample 

is transportation deprived, so the average level of deprivation for the sample is not a useful 

metric for which to compare other women in the sample. That is, to say that a given independent 

variable results in a change in transportation access of about one standard deviation higher than 

mean transportation deprivation does not make sense if the mean level is skewed toward 

deprivation already. By contrast, for example, if one were comparing test scores for a group of 

local high school students a national sample of high school students, a z-score interpretation

would be advantageous. It would indicate whether local students score higher or lower, in terms 

of standard deviations, than the national average. But, because average levels of transportation 

access in this study’s sample do not have the same interpretability, an alternate strategy was 

explored. 

The second reason z-scores were not optimal is because many of the composite scale 

items were not normally distributed. Table 4 shows the skew, kurtosis and Shapiro-Wilk values 

for each indicator. The Shapiro-Wilk values of zero indicate that all six variables are not from a 

Table 4. Composite Access Score Measures

Mean Min/Max Skewness Kurtosis Shapiro-Wilk

Overall, has dependable transportation 3.2 1 to 4 -1.004 0.293 0.000

Ease of travel, average 4.3 1 to 5 -1.4 2.6 0.000

Stress of travel, average 2.1 1 to 4 0.389 0.944 0.000

Time spent in travel, average (in minutes) 17.9 2.5 to 120 3.2 14.9 0.000

Cost of travel, average (in dollars) 5.1 0 to 51 2.5 14.0 0.000

Safety of travel, average 0.9 0 to 1 -5.5 30.1 0.000

36

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
normally distributed population. Skewness captures the degree of symmetry, or the extent to 

which values on a variable are symmetrically arranged around the mean (Walker, 2013). A 

skewness value of zero indicates the variable has a symmetric distribution and there is no skew 

in the data. A distribution is considered skewed if the skewness is outside the range of -1 to 1. In 

this case, efforts should be made to bring the distribution closer to normal. Kurtosis is a measure 

of peakedness or flatness of a distribution; a kurtosis value of 0 means the distribution is close to 

normal shaped whereas extreme positive values mean the sample is distributed around the tails 

instead of around the mean (flat) and extreme negative values indicate the distribution is more 

peaked than normal (Walker, 2013). Similar to skewness, kurtosis values between -1 and 1, 

ideally as close to 0 as possible, indicate a more normal distribution. In Table 4, the four nonnormal, or problematic, variables are highlighted in grey. Efforts should be taken to move these 

variables closer to a normal distribution. 

A technique for creating a composite access score, for non-normally distributed items, is 

to examine the distribution for each item and place women in categories based on where they 

stand on the items. For each item, women were given a score out of three (1 = low access, 2 = 

average access, 3 = high access). For example, for the average safety item (originally coded 1= 

safe, 0 = unsafe), the average safety values of .75 to 1 were assigned a value of 3, indicating high 

access; values of .25 to .75 were assigned a value of 2; and values of 0 to .25 were assigned a 1 

indicating low access. In this manner, all items were coded into three point scales and then all six

items were summed together. The resulting scale could theoretically range from 6 to 18 but has 

actual values ranging from 9 to 18. It has a mean of 15.4 and a standard deviation of 1.87. 

One strength of creating a composite score based on the distributions of the individual 

items is that, similar to z-score coding, it solves the problem of each variable having a different 

37

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
range of values (a different scale). That is, once summed together, each item has the same weight 

in the composite score. However, one limitation is that this method assumes each individual item 

matters the same amount to the underlying construct of transportation access (which the loadings 

on the CFA would not completely support). The two methods were triangulated to ensure that the 

composite score based on distributions was not dramatically different from the composite score 

derived from z-scores; both scores were regressed on the same set of independent variables and 

they performed similarly. Therefore, the more interpretable summed composite access score that 

adjusts for non-normally distributed data is retained for use in the analyses.

Multivariate Analysis of Transportation Access on Transportation Resources

The goal of addressing the third research question is to address how well transportation 

resources predict transportation access. The summed composite transportation access score is the 

dependent variable and is regressed on the variables representing transportation resources. To 

avoid multicollinearity problems in the multiple regression model, or high correlations between 

the independent variables, Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) were examined for all variables in 

Table 5. All values were much greater than the cutoff value of .10; in fact, the VIFs ranged from 

one to two indicating multicollinearity was not a problem. Further, I selected only one of the four 

community accessibility scores, the Walkscore, which had a higher correlation with the 

composite access score (Pearson correlation coefficient = .038) than the other three accessibility 

items (Pearson correlation coefficients=.021, .009, -.009). 

 Looking at Table 5, the F-statistic, which is the ratio of unexplained variance to explained 

variance, shows the model has good fit (9.388, p = .000). The R-squared adjusted statistic shows 

the variables in the model explain about 19% of the variation in transportation access. This is an 

acceptable score for social science research but falls below a more desirable score (e.g., 0.5). 

38

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Looking at the individual predictors, four items significantly predict transportation 

access. Women who say they do not have access to a vehicle, on average, score .594 points 

lower on the transportation access score than women who do have access to a vehicle. Women 

who report poor physical health also have lower levels of transportation access. Specifically, a 

one unit increase in poor physical health, or a one-unit decrease in health, lowers the access score 

by 1.038 points out of 18. Or, looking at the standardized beta, for a one standard deviation

increase in poor health, there is a drop of .187 standard deviations on the access score. On the 

other hand, women who receive transportation-related help from family and friends have higher 

levels of transportation access as well as women who receive money from family for 

transportation. The largest impact on transportation access is for women who obtain 

transportation assistance from friends and family, the standardized beta (.215) indicates that for a 

one standard deviation increase in help from family, there is a .215 standard deviation increase in 

Table 5. Multivariate Regression of Transportation Access on Transportation Resources (n = 366)

b β

Intercept 13.173 0.000

Individual Level

 Do not own/lease vehicle -0.082 -0.020

 Do not have access to registered and insured vehicle -0.594 ** -0.152

 Do not have a valid driver’s license 0.149 0.039

 Poor or very poor physical well being -1.038 *** -0.187

 Difficulty walking one block in summer 0.228 0.051

 Poor vision, even with contacts/glasses -0.140 -0.034

Family and Friends Level

 Number of friends/family can help with transportation needs 0.003 0.004

 Transportation-related help from friends/family 0.474 ** 0.215

 Money for transportation from friends/family 0.290 * 0.139

Community Level Accessibility Scores

 WalkScore - Overall 0.006 0.065

F 9.388 ***

R2 0.209

R2 adjusted 0.187

***p<.001 **p<.001 *p<.05

39

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
access, which is the largest standardized beta in the model. Standardized betas allow for 

comparison between independent variables, in the same model, to show which has a greater 

impact on the dependent variable when independent variables employ different units of 

measurement. 

Several measures were not significant predictors of transportation access: whether a 

woman owned or leased a vehicle, had a valid driver’s license, had difficulty walking, had poor 

vision, had friends who could help with transportation needs, or lived in an area with a low 

community accessibility score.

Logistic Regression Analyses of Recidivism, Testing Moderation of Criminogenic Needs by 

Transportation Access

Analysis to address the fourth research question examines whether the effect of 

criminogenic needs on recidivism (i.e., rearrest, reconviction, and supervision violations) 

depends on whether women have transportation to get to the services they need (i.e., varying 

levels of transportation access). In other words, this hypothesis examines the potential 

moderation effect of transportation access on the relationship between criminogenic needs and 

recidivism. To address this question, rearrest is first considered as the dependent variable (Table 

6), then reconviction (Table 7), and finally supervision violation (Table 8). 

Rearrest. For the rearrest analysis, the dependent variable is whether women were 

arrested (coded yes/no) within the follow-up period of 7 to 18 months, with a mean of 7.16 

months and standard deviation of 2.49 months. The two independent variables of interest are 

total need score, the WRNA measure of women’s risks minus women’s strengths, administered 

at wave one, and the composite transportation access score, measured at wave three. 

To address the question of whether the impact of criminogenic needs on rearrest is 

moderated by level of transportation access, first we must examine whether criminogenic needs, 

40

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
as measured by the total need score, has a direct impact on recidivism. Model 1 of Table 6 shows 

that for every one-unit increase in total need score (for every additional point on the WRNA 

scale), there is a .037 increase in the log-odds of rearrest, or a 3.7% increase in the odds of 

rearrest. This effect is statistically significant (p=.015). In other words, as expected, greater 

levels of criminogenic needs do significantly increase odds of rearrest.

 

The intercept, in logistic regression models, can be interpreted as the expected value of the logodds of rearrest when all of the predictor variables equal zero. However, the value of zero on the 

criminogenic scale is not a realistic value and so the interpretation of the intercept is not 

particularly useful here or in the models for reconviction or supervision violations. The 

likelihood ratio (-2 Log Likelihood ratio) is non-significant indicating the model fit is not 

significantly better than the intercept-only model. 

The next step is to examine the moderation effect to determine whether the relationship 

between needs and rearrest is dependent on women’s levels of transportation access. The 

justification for expecting these two factors to interact is the hypothesis that the impact of 

criminogenic needs (total need) on rearrest is exacerbated for women who have lower levels of 

Table 6. Logistic Regression Models Predicting Rearrest

Measure B Exp(B) B Exp(B) B Exp(B)

Intercept -2.285 0.102 -0.461 0.630 3.003 20.137

Total Needs Score (Wave 1) 0.037 1.038 ** -0.166 0.847

Composite Access Score (Wave 3) -0.069 0.934 -0.343 0.709 *

Total Need*Access Score 0.013 1.013 *

Likelihood ratio (-2 Log L) 339.450 344.471 336.176

R2 0.027 0.004 0.041

Number of parameters 2 2 4

N 366 366 366

****p<.001 ***p<.01 **p<.05 *p<.10

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

41

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transportation access, or mitigated for women who have higher levels of transportation access.

The statistically significant regression coefficient for the interaction effect supports the 

conclusion that transportation access moderates the relationship between criminogenic needs and 

rearrest. An interaction term, or a cross-product term of transportation access with total need, is

introduced in Model 3 of Table 6, along with the addition of the direct effect of transportation 

access, to test the significance of the focus variable, criminogenic needs, at particular levels of 

the moderator, transportation access. 

The results in Table 6 show that, for women who have high levels of transportation 

access (a value of 16; the median between 12 and 18 which indicate high levels of access), the 

effect of criminogenic needs on the log odds of rearrest is exp[-.166 + .013(16)] = exp (.042) = 

1.04. In other words, there is an increase in odds of rearrest of 100[exp.042) - 1] = 4, or 4%. 

Whereas, for women who have low levels of transportation access (a value of 3; the median 

between 0 and 6 which indicates low levels of access), the effect of criminogenic needs on the 

log odds of rearrest is exp[-.166 + .013(3)] = exp (-.127) = 0.88. For these women, there is a 

decrease in odds of rearrest of 100[exp(-.127) - 1] = - 12, or 12%. 

In other words, the impact of criminogenic needs on rearrest varies significantly by 

women’s levels of transportation access. The hypothesis was that higher levels of transportation 

access would aid women in addressing their criminogenic needs and thus lower the incidence of 

rearrest. For example, women who have substance abuse problems and who need to attend 

treatment, would have lower levels of rearrest if they had greater access to transportation. 

However, the results presented here suggest the opposite, that women with similar levels of need, 

who have higher levels of transportation access, have 4% greater odds of rearrest. And women 

42

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
who have lower levels of transportation access, and similar levels of need, actually have a 12% 

lower odds of rearrest. This is considered a disordinal interaction effect.

Reconviction. The relationships between criminogenic need, transportation access score, 

and reconviction are examined in the second part of the fourth research question. Again, the two 

independent variables of interest are total criminogenic need and the composite access score. 

Model 1 of Table 7, shows that for every one-unit increase in total need score (or, for every 

additional point on the WRNA scale), there is a .027 increase in the log-odds, or a 2.7% increase 

in the odds of reconviction. This effect is statistically significant (p=.015). In other words, as 

expected, greater levels of criminogenic needs do significantly increase odds of reconviction. 

The next step is to examine whether this relationship is dependent on women’s levels of 

transportation access. An interaction term is introduced in Model 3 of Table 7, along with the 

addition of the direct effect of transportation access, to test the significance of the focus variable, 

criminogenic needs, at particular levels of the moderator, transportation access.

In contrast to the rearrest analyses, in which there is a disordinal interaction effect, the 

interaction effect for the reconviction model (b = .005), although non-significant, is ordinal and 

Table 7. Logistic Regression Models Predicting Reconviction

Measure B Exp(B) B Exp(B) B Exp(B)

Intercept -2.191 0.112 *** -1.189 0.304 -0.465 0.628

Total Risk Score (Wave 1) 0.027 1.028 * -0.045 0.956

Composite Access Score (Wave 3) -0.029 0.972 -0.112 0.894

TotalRisk*AccessScore 0.005 1.005

Likelihood ratio (-2 Log L) 323.569 326.422 323.192

R2 0.014 0.001 0.016

Number of parameters 2 2 4

N 366 366 366

****p<.001 ***p<.01 **p<.05 *p<.10

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

43

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
in the hypothesized direction. That is, the effect of criminogenic needs appears to vary across 

levels of transportation access such that higher levels of transportation access lower odds of 

reconviction; but, the relationship is not statistically significant. Nonetheless, the interpretation is 

provided. For women who have low levels of transportation access, there is a small decrease in 

the odds of reconviction of 3% (exp[-.045 + .005(3)] = exp (-.03) = .970, or a 100[.970 - 1] = 

3%). But, for greater levels of transportation access, the decrease in odds of reconviction is 

greater, as hypothesized. For women who have high levels of transportation access, there is an 

decrease in odds of reconviction of exp[-.045 + .005(16)] = exp (-.125) = .882, or a 100[.882 - 1] 

= 11.8%. This effect is in the opposite direction as in the rearrest analyses (Table 6) but, again, 

the moderation effect is not statistically significant.

Supervision violation. For the third part of the fourth research question, supervision 

violations were utilized as the dependent variable. Again, the two independent variables of 

interest are total need and the composite access score. Model 1 of Table 8 shows that for every 

additional point on the WRNA scale, there is a .045 increase in the log-odds of supervision 

violation, or a 4.5% increase in the odds of a supervision violation. This effect is statistically 

significant (p=.003). In other words, as expected, greater levels of criminogenic needs do 

significantly increase odds of supervision violation. 

The next step is to examine whether this relationship is dependent on women’s levels of 

transportation access. An interaction term is introduced in Model 3 of Table 8, along with the 

addition of the direct effect of transportation access, to test the significance of the focus variable, 

criminogenic needs, at particular levels of the moderator, transportation access.

The results of the supervision violation analysis are congruent with those in the rearrest 

analyses, such that both display a disordinal interaction effect, and in contrast to the results of the 

44

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
reconviction model in which the interaction effect was ordinal. However the results are not 

statistically significant. Nonetheless, the interpretation of the interaction term is provided. For 

women who have low levels of transportation access, there is a increase in odds of supervision 

violation of exp[.032+ .001(3)] = exp (.035) = 1.035, or a 100[1.035- 1] = 3.5%. But, for greater 

levels of transportation access, the increase in log odds of supervision violation is greater, which 

is the opposite of what was hypothesized. 

For women who have high levels of transportation access, there is an slightly larger increase in 

log odds of supervision violation of exp[.032+ .001(16)] = exp (.048) = 1.049, or a 100[1.049- 1] 

= 4.9%. This effect is in the same direction as in the rearrest analyses (Table 6), and the opposite 

of the reconviction analyses (Table 7) but, again, the moderation effect is not statistically 

significant.

To summarize, the moderation effect examined in the fourth research question is 

supported for rearrest analyses but not in the reconviction or supervision violation analyses. The 

moderation of criminogenic needs on rearrest, by transportation access, is partially supported 

because the interaction term for the rearrest analysis was significant. The results for the 

Table 8. Logistic Regression Models Predicting Supervision Violation

Measure B Exp(B) B Exp(B) B Exp(B)

Intercept -2.014 0.134 0.648 1.911 -0.440 0.644

Total Risk Score (Wave 1) 0.045 1.046 *** 0.032 1.033

Composite Access Score (Wave 3) -0.113 0.893 -0.099 0.906

TotalRisk*AccessScore 0.001 1.001

Likelihood ratio (-2 Log L) 314.367 320.948 313.131

R2 0.045 0.012 0.052

Number of parameters 2 2 4

N 287 287 287

****p<.001 ***p<.01 **p<.05 *p<.10

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

45

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
reconviction analysis were in the opposite direction and, although non-significant, contradict the 

rearrest finding. And the results of the supervision violation analyses were non-significant but in 

the same direction as the rearrest analyses. In response to the inconsistent results, additional 

models were run to tease out the discrepant findings. 

Part of the problem may be that the total needs score combines many subscales which 

could interact with transportation access in different ways. When combined, the subscales could 

produce confusing effects. The criminogenic needs scale, or total needs scale, is comprised of 25 

subscales that measure: antisocial attitudes, criminal history, educational strengths, educational 

needs, employment/financial, housing safety, antisocial friends, anger/hostility, mental health 

history (overall, depression/anxiety, and psychosis), current mental health (overall, 

depression/anxiety, and psychosis), abuse and maltreatment as children and as adults (4 scales), 

substance abuse history, current substance abuse, relationship stability, parenting involvement, 

family support, family conflict, self-efficacy and parenting stress.

An interaction term was created for each subscale that was multiplied by the 

transportation access scale and was used to predict odds of rearrest. Three of these interaction 

Table 9. Logistic Regression Models Predicting Rearrest, Significant Moderation Effects Shown

Measure B Exp(B) B Exp(B) B Exp(B) B Exp(B)

Intercept -3.054 0.047 -5.131 0.006 2.526 12.500 0.822 2.275 *

Composite Access Score (Wave 3) 0.108 1.114 ** 0.222 1.249 ** -0.250 0.779 ** -0.159 0.853 *

Antisocial Friends 4.484 88.618 *

Maltreatment as Child 6.314 552.470 **

Family Support -5.342 0.005 **

Self-Efficacy -4.031 0.018 *

Antisocial Friends*Access Score -0.306 0.736 **

Maltreatment as Child*Access Score -0.393 0.675 **

Family Support*Access Score 0.324 1.383 **

Self-Efficacy*Access Score 0.292 1.339 *

Likelihood ratio (-2 Log L) 339.55 338.50 337.49 339.02

R2 0.026 0.031 0.035 0.028

Number of parameters 4 4 4 4

N 366 366 366 366

****p<.001 ***p<.01 **p<.05 *p<.10

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

46

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
terms were significant and one other approached significance: antisocial friends (p = .039), 

maltreatment as a child (p=.040), family support (p=.027), and self-efficacy (p=.053). Table 9

shows that the direct effects for each subscale are in the expected direction – the impact of 

‘antisocial friends’ and ‘maltreatment as a child’ increase the odds of rearrest whereas family 

support and self-efficacy both reduce the odds of rearrest. 

Women who score highly on the antisocial friends scale (i.e., they have friends who have 

been in trouble with the law, done prison time, been on community supervision; or they have 

committed offenses with a friend, spent time with people who abuse drugs/alcohol), compared to 

women who score lower on the scale, experience a 9,213% increase in their odds of rearrest, 

[exp(4.484 -.306) = exp(4.534) = 93.13, or 100(93.13-1) = 9,213%]. At specific levels of 

transportation access the disordinal or ordinal nature of the interaction effect can be explored.

Women at low levels of transportation access experience a 3,437% increase in odds of rearrest 

whereas women at high levels of transportation access experience a 34% decrease in odds of 

rearrest. This is a disordinal interaction effect, the effect changes in direction (i.e., increase 

versus decrease) over levels of the moderator variable, but results are in the expected direction. 

That is, lower levels of transportation access lead to higher levels of rearrest and higher levels of 

transportation access lower odds of rearrest.

Similarly, women who experienced high levels of maltreatment as a child have 37,178% 

increase in their odds of rearrest [exp (6.314 -.393) = exp(5.921) = 372.78, or a 100(372.78-1) = 

37,178%], compared to women with lower levels of maltreatment as a child. Women at lower 

levels of transportation access experience a 16,886% increase in the odds of rearrest [(exp (6.314 

-.393(3)) = exp(5.135) = 169.86, or a 100(169-1) = 16,886%] whereas women with higher levels 

47

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
of transportation have a much smaller, 2.6%, increase in their odds of rearrest [(exp (6.314 -

.393(16)) = exp(.026) = 1.026, or a 100(1.026-1) = 2.6%]. 

Women who have high levels of family support and high levels of transportation access 

experience a 98.74% decrease in odds of rearrest, compared to women with lower levels of 

family support. Women who have high levels of family support and low levels of transportation 

access experience only a 15% decrease in odds of rearrest, compared to women with lower levels 

of family support. 

Women who have high levels of self-efficacy and high levels of transportation access 

experience a 99.96% decrease in odds of rearrest, compared to women with low levels of self 

efficacy. Women who have high levels of self-efficacy and low levels of transportation access 

experience a 89% increase in odds of rearrest, compared to women with low levels of self 

efficacy. This interaction effect is disordinal but in the expected direction. 

The models in Table 9 better explain the nature of the disordinal interaction effect for the 

relationship between overall criminogenic needs and rearrest which is moderated by 

transportation access. It is clear that the overall moderation effect, when teased out, does not 

show that, for women with similar levels of criminogenic need, those with higher levels of 

transportation access have greater odds of rearrest and those with lower levels of transportation 

access have lower odds of rearrest. In fact, the subscales that comprise the larger criminogenic 

needs scale, when examined individually, reveal that greater levels of transportation access 

actually lower odds of rearrest.

Impact of Transportation Access on Recidivism Outcomes 

To address the fifth research question, regarding whether transportation access adds to 

the understanding of recidivism (rearrest, reconviction and supervision violation) both logistic

48

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
regression and survival analysis are employed.

Rearrest. Model 2 of Table 6 shows that, for every one-unit increase in composite access 

score, or for every additional point in access score, a .069 decrease in the log-odds of rearrest is 

expected. This is in line with the expectation that better transportation access should lower odds 

of recidivism events. In terms of the odds ratio, each unit increase in the composite access score 

lowers the odds of rearrest by 100[exp(-.069) - 1] = - 6.67, or 6.67%. But this effect is not 

statistically significant (p=.325). 

Reconviction. Looking at Model 2 of Table 7, every one-unit increase in composite 

access score, or every additional point in access score, translates to a .029 decrease in the logodds of reconviction. This is in line with the expectation that better transportation access should 

lower odds of recidivism events. In terms of the odds ratio, each unit increase in the composite 

access score lowers the odds of rearrest by 100[exp(-.029) - 1] = - 2.8, or 2.8%. But this effect is 

not statistically significant (p=.697).

Supervision violation. The results of the analyses (Table 8) were in the same direction 

and magnitude as the analyses for rearrest and reconviction. For every one-unit increase in 

composite access score, or every additional point in access score, translates to a .113 decrease in 

the log-odds of supervision violation. This is in line with the expectation that better 

transportation access should lower odds of recidivism events. In terms of the odds ratio, each 

unit increase in the composite access score lowers the odds of rearrest by 100[exp(-.113) - 1] = - 

10.7, or 10.7%. But this effect is not statistically significant (p=.121).

Survival analysis with Cox Regression. To further address research question 5, Cox 

regression could be used because the recidivism data contained the specific date when offenders 

were rearrested or reconvicted for a new offense, or if they experienced a supervision violation. 

49

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The coding for the rearrest and reconviction analyses is first discussed, followed by the coding 

strategy for supervision violations which differed slightly from the rearrest and reconviction 

analyses. 

As a type of survival analysis, Cox regression is preferable to Logistic Regression in that 

it utilizes time-dependent data, which are important in determining not only whether offenders 

recidivate, but also when they recidivate while allowing individuals to have different ‘times at 

risk.’ It allows for comparison of women with, for example, 7-month follow-up periods to those 

with 18-month follow-up periods. To do so, Cox regression utilizes both “time” and “status” 

variables in estimating the impact of the independent variables on recidivism outcomes. The 

“time” variable measures the amount of time (days) from the date of the wave three interview 

until the date of first rearrest or reconviction, or December 3, 2013 for those who did not 

recidivate. Smaller time units provide more time intervals which reduces ties (e.g., two women 

with same amount of time until rearrest; which lowers variance to be explained) and increases 

the statistical power of Cox Proportional Hazard models (Garson, 2013). Therefore, the unit of 

time was coded as days. 

For supervision violations the “at risk period” is calculated differently and the sample 

size is different. The sample of 366 was reduced for the supervision violation analysis to 287 

women. The process for achieving this number is explained in greater depth in the methods 

section. To summarize, 79 women, or 21.6% of the 366 women, were removed from the analysis 

because they were not on supervision at any time during this six-month period, most often 

because they were discharged from probation or parole before the third interview. This means 

they were never “at risk” for this type of recidivism event and should not be included in a model 

predicting an event for which they could not experience (supervision violation). For the 104 

50

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
women who were absent from part of the observation period, meaning they had less than 6 

months of data for various reasons (i.e., they were discharged, went to jail/prison, died, or data 

were not available), they were included in the analysis and their “at risk” period was adjusted 

appropriately. Using this method, the average follow-up period, or “at risk period” for women in 

the sample (n = 287) was 125.92 days or approximately four months. During this time period, 72 

of the 287 (25%) women experienced at least one supervision violation and ten of these were for 

transportation-related supervision violations (e.g., driving without a license or failure to report 

due to car troubles); 216 (74.9%) women did not experience a supervision violation. 

For all three types of recidivism, the “status” variable was a dichotomous variable that 

measured whether one of the three recidivism events had occurred (i.e., rearrest, reconviction, or 

supervision violation). Lack of variance in the status variable (i.e., the low number of women 

who experienced recidivism events) is not a problem for Cox Regression since what is analyzed 

is the time until an event occurred, not the variance of the event variable itself (Garson, 2013, 

Chapter 4, Section 2, para.2). Because variance on the time variable is more important than 

simple event occurrence, Cox Regression is the appropriate model for accounting for varying 

lengths of follow-up times and overdispersion of data. 

The independent variable, or main focus variable, access to transportation, is grand mean 

centered (i.e., the woman’s score minus the mean) to aid in creating more accurate baseline

hazard rates, which are the time-only rates when all covariates are zero, that are estimated at the 

mean instead of at zero. This strategy also allows for interpretation at mean values instead of 

zero, which is helpful when zero is not a realistic value. As discussed earlier, this is not a 

primary goal for these analyses, for which mean transportation access is not a useful comparison 

point. 

51

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
In Table 10, the hazard ratios are presented. It is calculated by exp(b) where b is the Cox 

regression coefficient (not shown in table). The hazard ratio is an effect size measure used to 

assess the direction and importance of the effect of the predictor variable on relative risk of the 

event, controlling for other predictors in the model (Garson, 2013, Chapter 4, Section, 23, para. 

1). The role of the predictor variables is better assessed by looking at hazard ratios than looking 

at Cox regression b coefficients. In short, the hazard ratio reveals the amount of change in the 

hazard of rearrest occurring for each unit increase in transportation access score. A hazard ratio 

of greater than 1 would mean that the access score increases the odds that a rearrest will occur 

and decreases time until the rearrest. On the other hand, as shown in Table 10, the hazard ratio 

for transportation access (.946) is less than 1 and indicates that, for each unit increase in 

transportation access, the hazard of rearrest decreases by .946, or the greater the transportation 

access score, the lower the odds of rearrest and longer the time until rearrest. Further, each unit 

increase in access lowers rearrest rate by 5.4% (100*(.946-1)). However, the results from the 

Cox regression models show that the covariate for transportation access did not have a 

statistically significant impact on the hazard of rearrest (p=.368, not shown). Similarly, in the 

reconviction and supervision violation models, the impacts of transportation access on 

Table 10. Cox Proportional Hazards Model: Time Until Three Recidivism Events

Rearrest Reconviction

Supervision 

Violation

Measure

Hazard ratio 

(Exp[B])

Hazard ratio 

(Exp[B])

Hazard ratio 

(Exp[B])

Transportation Access Score (centered) 0.946 0.981 0.912

Likelihood ratio (-2 Log L) 755.828 689.738 774.861

df 1 1 1

N 366 366 287

****p<.001 ***p<.01 **p<.05 *p<.10

52

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
reconviction and supervision violations were non-significant (p = .772 and p = .144, 

respectively). 

The likelihood ratio (755.828), if significant, would indicate the model as a whole is 

significant. Because only one covariate is in the model for rearrest, this statistic indicates that the 

model with transportation access, compared to the null model (the time-only model when all 

covariates are 0), does not contribute significantly to the explanation of rearrest because the pvalue is not significant (p=.368). Similarly, transportation access does not contribute to the 

explanation of reconviction (p=.772) or supervision violations (p=.144). 

Despite the non-significant covariates, it is worth examining the survival functions at 

different levels of transportation access. Women in the sample only reported medium to high 

levels of transportation access; that is, there were no women in the sample who reported low 

transportation access. Figure 2 shows that the survival curve is steeper for women with lower 

levels of transportation access (i.e., at medium levels, the bottom line) than for women with 

higher levels of transportation access. At the end of the observation period, about 73% of women 

with medium levels of transportation access had not been rearrested. Yet, at the same time point, 

about 83% of women with higher levels of access had not been rearrested. Although the 

covariate for transportation access was non-significant, this finding suggests that higher levels of 

transportation access do slow time until rearrest. The results were the same for the reconviction 

and supervision violation analyses (not shown); women with lower levels of transportation 

access (medium levels), compared with women who had higher levels of transportation access 

(high levels), had more incidents of recidivism and experienced shorter times until the recidivism 

event. These results, although non-significant, are in the expected direction. That is, higher levels 

53

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
of transportation access result in lower levels of recidivism and longer times until recidivism 

events occur. 

Figure 2. Survival Function for Levels of Transportation Access 

To obtain a more refined measure of recidivism that may be more closely linked to 

transportation access, survival analyses were also run in which reconvictions were coded as 

transportation-related (rearrest data do not contain the reason for rearrest) Using this procedure, 

only 12 women had transportation-related recidivism events (about 10% of all reconvictions) 

such as driving without a license or while intoxicated. Cox Regression can handle these low 

54

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
event numbers and was used. The results showed that transportation access was not a significant 

predictor of transportation-related reconviction (results not shown). 

The findings of the quantitative analysis answered four main research questions. First, the 

scope of transportation deprivation was found to be quite extensive for women who were found 

to lack many resources needed to get from place to place. Women reported low levels of 

individual and community level resources. Second, an instrument (a composite score) was found 

to capture women’s level of transportation access. Third, preliminary data analysis suggested that 

despite the low levels of resources women had at their disposal, they still reported high levels of 

access to transportation in terms of stress, ease, cost, and time associated with travel. However, 

the results of multivariate analysis revealed that several resources do significantly predict 

transportation access. Yet, explanations for the low correlations between resources and access is 

explored in greater depth in the following chapter. Fourth and fifth, transportation access, and its 

relationship to criminogenic needs, was found to lower the odds of experiencing recidivism 

events and the time until these events occurred. Further, the findings indicate that transportation 

access is especially important for women with certain criminogenic needs – those with antisocial 

friends, histories of child maltreatment, greater family support and greater self-efficacy.

These analyses raised questions about how women view both resources and access. The 

next chapter explores women’s use of additional resources not captured in the quantitative 

analysis and also attempts to improve the conceptualization of access. The quantitative data and 

findings are instrumental in providing the sampling frame for women who can best address 

questions raised in this section of the dissertation analysis. 

55

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
CHAPTER 5: RESULTS OF QUALITATVE DATA ANALYSIS

Descriptive Statistics

The goal for the qualitative component of the research was to capture women’s insights, 

experiences, and strategies regarding transportation resources and access and to more fully 

understand whether lack of access contributed to recidivism. Specifically, four main research 

questions were examined with the qualitative data: (1) the types and intensity of transportation 

problems women experience while under supervision, (2) women’s use of additional resources, 

not captured by quantitative measures, that increased transportation access, (3) strategies women 

used to increase transportation access and whether these strategies brought women into conflict 

with the law and (4) whether transportation problems contributed to any violations or new 

offenses. 

Table 11. Transportation Indicators, Comparison of Full Wave 3 Sample to Three Subgroups

Wave 3 

(n = 366)

Mean/Percent

Resources: Individual Level

 Do not own/lease vehicle 68.0% 72.0% 80.0% 68.0%

 Do not have access to registered and insured vehicle 37.0% 16.0% ** 56.0% 24.0%

 Do not have a valid driver’s license 58.0% 64.0% 76.0% 52.0%

 Poor or very poor physical well being 13.1% 12.0% 13.1% 12.0%

 Difficulty walking one block in summer 23.0% 20.0% 26.0% 17.0%

 Poor vision, even with contacts/glasses 29.0% 28.0% 21.0% 24.0%

Resources: Family and Friends Level

 Number of friends/family can help with transportation needs 3.1 4.2 ** 2.2 ** 3.3

 Transportation-related help from friends/family 3.1 3.4 3.0 3.3

 Transportation-related help from friends/family for children 3.4 

(n=228)

3.62 

(n=13)

3.25 

(n=16)

3.13 

(n=15)

 Money for transportation from friends/family 2.9 3.1 2.7 3.3 *

Resources: Community Level 

 WalkScore - Overall Accessibility 41.5 40.2 38.8 33.7

Access

 Composite Access Score 15.4 15.2 15.2 16.2 **

Recidivism (Approximately 6 months after Wave 3)

 Rearrest 18.0% 36.0% 8.0% 4.0% *

 Reconviction 16.4% 36.0% * 4.0% * 4.0% *

 Technical Violation (n = 287) 25.0% 35.0% 17.0% 18.0%

Note: Asterisks indicate significant difference between the subgroup and wave 3 sample (without that subgroup included)

***p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05

Follow-up Interview (n = 25 each)

Transportation 

Untroubled

Mean/Percent

Transportation 

Troubled

Mean/Percent

Transportation 

Strategizers

Mean/Percent

56

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
To ensure that sufficient numbers of women were included in the follow-up interview 

sample to address these four research questions, three purposively sampled groups of women 

(total n = 75) from the quantitative portion of the study (n=366) were interviewed. Descriptive 

statistics are presented to illustrate how these subgroups differ from the larger sample from 

which they were recruited. 

The first group of women, Transportation Troubled, was characterized by Low 

Resources, Low Access, Medium-High Recidivism; 70 women in the group of 366 met these 

criteria. Women with these characteristics were chosen because they represent the expected 

finding, that women who have low resources will also have low access which will lead to 

recidivism problems. Table 11 shows that, overall, the 25 women who were interviewed from 

this group did have lower transportation resources at the individual and community levels (but 

had higher resources at the family/friends level), had lower access, and did have much higher 

rates of recidivism. The main research question for these women is whether and how limited 

transportation resources and/or access lead to recidivism events. 

In the second and third groups, findings counter to the main hypothesis are examined. 

The second group of women, Transportation Untroubled, are those for whom transportation does 

not appear to be related to recidivism at all; that is, despite low levels of both access and 

resources, recidivism remains low. Table 11 shows that, overall, women in this group had greater 

transportation resources at the individual level but fewer resources at the family/friends and 

community levels than the full sample of 366 women. Their level of access was slightly lower 

and their recidivism was much lower than the full sample. This group behaves opposite what 

would be predicted by the main hypothesis. The main question here is, why don’t transportation 

problems lead to recidivism events?

57

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The third group of women, Transportation Strategizers, were chosen because, for them, 

transportation resources do not appear to be linked to transportation access. They have achieved 

medium to high levels of access while still retaining low levels of recidivism, despite low levels 

of resources. Women had lower levels of individual and community transportation resources, 

slightly higher family/friends resources, but significantly higher rates of access and significantly 

lower rates of recidivism. For these women, the questions are related to how they were able to 

gain greater access and whether the strategies they used resulted in positive outcomes.

 Table 11 shows, then, that more or less, the sampling goals were met for each group and, 

therefore, there are sufficient numbers of women in the sample (n=75) to address each research 

question. Beyond achieving sampling goals, the group differences are not intended to provide a 

framework for the qualitative analyses. Each woman in the study, regardless of sampling group, 

was asked the same series of open-ended questions. As such, women’s narratives (i.e., the 

complete transcripts from the interviews) are most often analyzed together for each research 

question; that is, group differences are only examined when relevant to a research question. 

One final note is that, because these are purposively sampled groups, even though 

regression analyses are performed as part of the analyses, it is important to interpret those results 

remembering that these groups are not representative of a larger population. Appropriate 

interpretations are provided. These results should not be generalized to all women offenders 

without running appropriate sample selection models (which would not be appropriate because 

of the extremely small sample sizes of 25 women in each group). The ability to generalize to a 

larger group of women offenders should be addressed with future research.

Types, Intensity, and Comparative Importance of Transportation Problems 

The first research goal of the qualitative data analysis was to investigate the types and 

58

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
intensity of transportation problems impacting women. This question was partitioned into three 

subquestions addressed in the follow-up interview. Because so few women reported having 

problems with dependable transportation in the third wave of data collection (17.5% of 379 

women), but also reported low levels of transportation resources (See Table 2), the primary

question and subquestions were designed to explore the nature of transportation problems in 

three important ways. First, to understand why most women reported high levels of access to 

transportation at wave three, women were asked to talk about any transportation problems they 

had experienced in the past five years. Second, to investigate whether women reported high 

levels of access to transportation because they were minimizing the amount of transportationrelated hardship they were experiencing, the intensity of each transportation problem women 

reported was rated from minor to severe by coders. Because the intensity was not assessed by 

women, but instead by coders, the rating approach should avoid women's attempts to minimize 

their problems. Third, to look at whether women were reporting high levels of transportation 

access, or low levels of deprivation, because they were situating the level of difficulty their 

transportation problems present in relation to other problems they encounter, women were asked 

to report their top three concerns, which takes into account women's perspectives on their 

problems. Answering these three subquestions illuminates why women seem to be experiencing 

hardship (e.g., they are reporting low levels of resources) but do not report experiencing hardship 

(i.e., they are reporting high levels of transportation access).

Data used to answer these three subquestions come from responses to several questions 

women were asked in the in-depth follow-up interview: "Looking back, over the past five years, 

when you did have transportation problems, what were they? Currently, would you say that the 

way you get to and from supervision appointments, grocery stores, appointments, etc. is stressful 

59

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
or complicated – or easy and not worrisome? Currently, do any of your arrangements for getting 

around place you in danger or in a difficult situation? Overall, thinking about the ways you 

arrange transportation, now or in the past, what is hard or easy about it?" Intercoder reliability 

was established for the types of problems (Cohen’s kappa = .912) women reported and for the

intensity of each problem reported (kappa = .735). Consistent with Cicchetti (1994), these kappa 

values represent excellent and good intercoder agreement, respectively (see Hruschka et al. 2004 

for a comprehensive analysis of acceptable cutoff values for Cohen's kappa). Responses to two 

other items were included in the analysis; but, due to the straightforward nature of the responses, 

intercoder reliability was not established. 

Two other measures of transportation problems were used. Women were asked at wave 

three and at follow-up interview to indicate the extent to which they agreed that they have access 

to dependable transportation. This generated two measures of dependable transportation –one 

from each time period. Finally, women were asked, at the end of the follow-up interview, to 

Type of Problem Row Totals

Minor Moderate Severe

Weather 8 3 2 13 (2.5%)

Car Problems 27 22 18 67 (13.3%)

Inadequate Buses 22 18 14 54 (10.7%)

Direct Cost of Transportation 18 23 9 50 (9.9%)

Coordinating Help 65 37 23 125 (24.8%)

No Help 4 10 6 20 (3.9%)

Unreliable Help 13 22 13 48 (9.5%)

Legal Problems, Legal Costs 31 21 29 81 (16.0%)

Health Problems 12 2 2 16 (3.2%)

Safety 10 14 7 31 (6.1%)

Column Totals 210 (41.5%) 172 (34.1%) 123 (24.4%) 505

Table 12: Transportation Problems, and Intensity Level, Reported at Follow-up Interview

Intensity of Problem

60

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
report their top three concerns at that moment. To minimize priming effects, women were 

reminded that transportation need not be a top concern. 

Table 12 was generated using NVivo software; the unit of analysis is transportation 

problems, not women. The 75 women in the sample collectively reported experiencing 505 

transportation problems. The most commonly reported type of problem was coordinating help 

(24.8% of problems), followed by legal problems/legal costs (16% of problems), and car 

problems (13% of problems). The most pressing or intense problems were also in the areas of 

legal problems, coordinating help, and car problems. Types of problems and intensity of 

problems are discussed separately and in greater detail in the next two sections.

Analysis of types of transportation problems. To address the first subquestion, whether 

women are experiencing transportation problems, women's responses to the in-depth interview 

questions were coded to identify the types of transportation problems women reported 

experiencing. Although women overwhelmingly reported having high levels of access to 

dependable transportation at wave three (140 agree and 162 strongly agree), at the follow-up 

interview, 71 of 75 women reported experiencing at least one of ten different types of 

transportation problems. 

For example, one older woman [628] reported she had high access to transportation (she 

uses a special bus service for older and disabled individuals) at wave three, but her follow-up 

interview makes clear that she has at least four problems: inadequate bus service, weather, 

safety, and coordinating help. Specifically, answering a question about whether she ever had any 

problems with transportation, she says:

There was a couple bus drivers who were kinda sleazy, but – I eventually got 

them to stop. [They were] trying to cop a feel...and talking about just like 

something like, about how good it was to be between my legs and just crap like 

that...You'd be surprised how many little old lady hunters there are. This one guy, 

61

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
I’m not kidding. I know this man is a predator. I thought he was nice at first. I saw 

– and he helped me carry my groceries in, and he picked up my key to my 

apartment – my extra key that I have. He’s – nobody lives here but me. It was 

setting over there where I – probably sounds stupid, but I wear them around my 

neck. I don’t wanna lose them. I locked myself out there one time, and since then, 

I’ve put them around my neck. But I have a spare key, and I saw him do it, and he 

left, and I called him, and – you know? “I didn’t do that.” Yeah, well, I wouldn’t 

– they changed the locks so I know he doesn’t have it, but there’s – this guy is – 

this ain’t no nice man. He’s apparently done something else because he did get 

fired, but I don't know. That was not a nice guy. 

 When the interviewer asked for further clarification about problems with transportation, 

the women further explained that she did not consider her experience a transportation 

problem, emphasized again that she is grateful for her access to this special bus, but then 

continued to explain problems with the service: 

Yeah, well, it’s – no, no problem. That’s – I really am grateful. I wouldn’t go as 

far as to say stressful, but it’s not entirely easy and uncomplicated. You have a set 

time that they’re coming, but within that, they have 45 minutes to get there. And 

you have to sit, and watch, and wait, watch – and if you’re not there, they will 

leave you...So, I have to go outside, and if it’s raining, or it’s whatever, there I 

am sitting out there. 

Although this woman says she has no real transportation problems, in the process of her 

travels, she was actually verbally assaulted, had her house key stolen and felt fearful the 

bus driver would return, has had to wait outside in bad weather, and spends a great deal 

of time waiting for the bus. This women’s account illustrates that just because women 

initially report high levels of transportation access, it remains necessary to dig deeper to 

discover what they consider high access and whether they still may be experiencing 

transportation problems.

Many women reported experiencing more than one problem; the range was zero to six 

types of problems. Four women (5.3%) reported experiencing zero types of problems, 16 

(21.3%) reported experiencing one type of problem, 28 (37.3%) reported two types, 17 (22.7%) 

62

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
reported three types, nine (12%) reported four types and one woman (1.3%) reported six 

different types of problems. Women who reported a greater number of types of problems were

significantly more likely to have reported lower levels of transportation access at wave three

(Pearson Correlation Coefficient -.242; p-value = .037). However, recall that women reported 

their level of access to dependable transportation at both wave three and the follow-up interview 

and the latter measure was not correlated with number of problems. 

The results of the analysis of the 75 follow-up interviews showed that, in order from most 

to least commonly reported, the ten types of problems women reported were: difficulty arranging 

rides (56% of women), experiencing legal problems and related costs (33.3%), having car 

problems (32%), bus service is inadequate (22.7%), has help but from unreliable people (22.7%), 

direct costs of transportation are prohibitive (20%), safety concerns (12%), not having people to 

provide transportation help (8%), and experiencing weather issues (4%) or having health 

problems that impede travel (8%). 

To evaluate whether women who experienced specific types of transportation problems 

were more likely to report lower levels of transportation access (at either wave three or at followup interview), bivariate correlations were calculated for the ten types of transportation problems 

women reported (see Table 12 for list). The expectation is that women who report lower levels of 

transportation access may also report certain types of problems. This would indicate that certain 

types of problems, or combinations of problems, may result in greater transportation deprivation 

than other types. Significant and negative correlations are therefore expected. 

 Several significant findings emerge. Women who reported they had access to dependable 

transportation at wave three reported fewer problems with direct costs of transportation (Pearson 

Correlation Coefficient = -.236; p = .041) and fewer problems with unreliable help (Pearson 

63

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Correlation Coefficient = -.285; p = .013), at the follow-up interview. Women who reported they 

had access to dependable transportation, at the follow-up interview, reported fewer problems 

with direct costs of transportation (Pearson Correlation Coefficient = -.304; p = .008) and fewer

safety concerns (Pearson Correlation Coefficient = -.257; p = .026); however, they reported 

greater problems with legal costs or issues (Pearson Correlation Coefficient = .255; p = .027). 

 Across both time periods then, problems with direct costs of transportation were more

highly correlated with reports of access to dependable transportation. For women, having money 

to pay for bus fare, or to give to rides for gas money, was significantly correlated with whether 

they reported having access to dependable transportation. At only one of the two interviews, 

women's ratings of dependable transportation hinge on whether they have reliable help (wave 3) 

or feel safe while traveling (follow-up interview). The one perplexing finding is that, at the 

follow-up interview, women who reported they had dependable access also reported greater 

levels of legal problems such as not having a valid license. This finding warranted closer 

analysis. 

There were 30 instances in which women reported legal problems; in only two instances 

did women equate legal problems with lack of dependable transportation. For the 28 instances in 

which women reported both having dependable access and experiencing legal problems with 

transportation, there were 23 women involved. The responses for these 23 women were read and 

grouped by type of legal problem into three areas: women does not have a license but does not 

drive (n=2 women); woman does not have a license but does drive (n=17); and woman has other 

legal problem such as vehicle not having plates or being street-legal (n=4). Looking at the 

narrative accounts, then, it appears that the main legal problem women face is that they do not 

have a valid driver's license. However?, women do not view this as a transportation problem. 

64

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
These seemingly inconsistent findings explain why women would report they have high levels of 

access but also high levels of legal problems. One woman with legal problems but who says she 

has high access to transportation explains her situation is stressful because, "I have a car and 

have no license." Similarly, another woman admits it is not ideal but a lack of license does not 

mean lack of transportation, in response to the question, "Was transportation ever a problem for 

you?" 

"No... Just because I always had a car. No license, but a car... I don't like doing 

it, but I have three kids, and I have to work. Transit can't do it out here...I have no 

way to work." 

Finally, a third woman explains that, even though her license was not valid, she still needed to 

drive and: 

"...that was scary because I was still on parole. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh my Gosh, 

if I get stopped. Here goes another year on parole. Here goes a violation.’ So that 

was very worrisome. I was always looking in the rear view mirror. A cop would 

go by. I sort of had a stroke." 

Therefore, the significant bivariate correlation, in the opposite direction as expected, is present 

because women do not equate legal barriers with lack of access to transportation. This suggests 

that the current wording of the dependable access question [To what extent, do you agree that, 

“Most days I have access to dependable transportation?” Dependable transportation means you 

have money for bus fare, gas for your car, your car will start and run without a problem, and you 

have access to it when you need it if you share it.] should be revised, in future studies, to include 

phrasing targeting legal ability to drive.

Analysis of intensity of transportation problems. The second subquestion investigates 

whether women minimize the severity of hardship, or intensity of problems, they experience 

related to transportation access. To assess this dimension, the coders rated the intensity of each 

transportation problem women reported. The level of intensity for each transportation problem 

65

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 

been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
was evaluated and categorized as minor (i.e., woman gets where she needs to be but experiences 

minor annoyance or inconvenience, usually shorter term); moderate (i.e., woman gets where she 

needs to be but may be quite late, getting there requires high levels of effort and inconvenience), 

or severe (i.e., woman does not get where she needs to go or must violate the law to get there, 

often longer term; transportation is a barrier). Because this was not assessed by women, it should 

not be confounded by their tendency to minimize their problems. In the follow-up interview, 

49% of women reported at least one minor transportation problem; 39% of women reported at 

least one moderate transportation problem; and 29% of women reported at least one severe 

transportation problem. This indicates that, despite few women reporting overall lack of 

dependable transportation, significant numbers of women recount transportation problems with

high intensity levels. 

To tease out whether the intensity of problems women reported was related to women’s 

self-reported ratings of access to dependable transportation (at either wave three or at the followup interview), bivariate correlations were calculated to show the connection of ratings of 

dependable transportation with an ordinal variable reflecting the three levels of problem coderrated intensity (minor, moderate or severe). The expectation is that women who report that they 

have access to dependable transportation will report less severe transportation problems than 

women without dependable transportation. 

The results of this analysis support the hypothesis. Intensity of problems was correlated 

with women’s ratings of access at both wave three and the follow-up interview, in the expected 

directions (results not shown). That is, women with lower levels of access are describing more 

intense transportation problems than women who describe higher levels of access. 

66

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Consider, for example, the problems two women for whom, as access decreases, intensity of 

problems increases. First, one woman [653] explains the financial problems she encounters 

arranging transportation: 

It’s iffy, it just varies on, you know, if we can come up with the money just to 

take the bus because my kids are right at that point where you have to pay for 

them now so it’s like my income’s only $100.00 a month and I gotta put that to 

[the electric company] so it’s just – and I’ve been sick so I can’t donate [plasma] 

no more so it’s like it’s iffy on – 

Another woman [673] with lower access than the first woman reports a higher intensity issue; 

she explains that her transportation problems resulted in her being mugged and suffering a 

concussion, "Yes. Case in point, I was mugged...It was when I was trying to get on the bus.” 

The findings suggest that the types of problems low-access women report are more intense than 

those described by higher-access women. 

Analysis of comparative importance of transportation problems with other 

problems. The third subquestion is designed to reveal whether women may be reporting high 

levels of transportation access, or low levels of deprivation, because they are perceiving that the 

level of transportation difficulty they face is relatively less severe compared to the severity of 

other problems they encounter. To assess this question, which takes into account women's 

perceptions of their problems, women were asked to report their top three concerns. Out of 75 

women, 32 (42.6%) reported transportation as one of their top three concerns; in fact, it was the 

most common area of concern given. This result should be interpreted with some degree of 

caution due to priming effects, because women had just been asked about transportation concerns 

earlier in the interview. 

From the most commonly reported concerns to the least commonly reported, women's 

other areas of concern were: finances in general (40%), others' health and wellbeing (32%),

67

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
personal health and safety including addiction (29.3%), housing (25.3%), employment (25.3%), 

going back to jail or not meeting terms of probation/parole (24%), education (18.7%), repairing 

or maintaining personal relationships (16%), and personal improvement (13.3%). 

 One could expect that women who report transportation as a top concern would also 

describe lower levels of access to dependable transportation. Bivariate correlations revealed that 

whether women ranked transportation as a top three concern was not significantly correlated 

with their own self-reported access to transportation. The expectation that women who reported 

less access to dependable transportation at either wave three or the follow-up interview (two 

separate variables) would report that transportation as a top concern was not supported. 

Resources Used To Increase Transportation Access

The second research goal of the qualitative data analysis was to investigate women's use 

of additional resources, not captured in the quantitative measures, to increase their access to 

dependable transportation. This goal addresses whether the low correlation between women's 

transportation resources and access is due, in part, to omitted variable bias. That is, measures of 

transportation resources that were omitted from the list administered in the wave three interview 

may contribute to the low correlation between measured resources and measures of access. To 

explore this issue, questions in the time 4 in-depth interview were designed to elicit responses 

about all the resources women use for getting from place to place. Due to the straightforward 

nature of these questions, intercoder reliability was not established.

 In the follow-up interview, women were asked which of the original list of transportation 

resources, from wave three, they made use of; they also were asked to comment on whether they 

rely on "other people" or "other programs" for help with transportation. This direct line of 

questioning generated a list of resources not previously included in the wave three closed-ended 

68

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
data collection instrument. In all, 49 women discussed using at least one resource; 26 women did 

not report using any resource. The first, and most common, resource women discussed was 

receiving gas cards/bus tokens given to them by mental health providers (n=16), parole or 

probation officers (n=10), or job search services (n=11). Women also reported receiving rides 

from professionals in their lives (n=12) or members of their extended support network (n=14), 

aside from family and friends previously asked about in wave three. A less common resource, 

utilized only by women in the sample with physical disabilities was discounted bus passes (n=2). 

Also, included in Table 13, a major resource for women was having an accommodating 

supervision agent – one who made notes about women's transportation problems but did not 

violate them for missing scheduled appointments. 

Also, in the follow-up interview, a second attempt was made to elicit additional resources 

women use to augment their access to transportation. Women were asked to look at the complete 

list of resources from wave three and were directly asked (1) whether other resources were 

missing from the list and, because all women included in the follow-up interviews reported low 

resources at the wave three interview, they were asked (2) how they were able to gain access to 

transportation despite having limited resources. Several women did not understand the question, 

Women 

N (%)

Receiving gas cards or bus tokens to attend:

Mental and general health providers (Medicaid) 16 (21.3%)

Parole or probation meetings 10 (13.3%)

Employment or job help services 11 (14.7%)

Receive rides from other professional (caseworker) 12 (16.0%)

Receive help from extended network (co-workers) 14 (18.7%)

Supervision agent is accommodating (reschedules appt) 14 (18.7%)

Receives discounted bus fare (disability status) 2 (2.7%)

Table 13. Additional Resources Women Use to Increase Access to 

Transportation (n=75)

Resource

69

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
but for those that did, useful information was generated; 21 new resources were suggested by 15 

women in this section of the interview and were incorporated into Table 13. 

Taken together, these findings highlight that there are resources available to women, 

albeit they are patchwork in nature, for getting to and from some needed services such as 

employment help, medical care and supervision appointments. However, more comprehensive 

resources that help women with several needs simultaneously are lacking. Women were quick to 

identify holes in services such as limited availability of friends or family, or unreliable sources 

for bus tokens or limited bus routes and travel times. However, that women are making use of 

these resources suggests they do have utility, even if limited. 

Strategies Used to Increase Transportation Access

 The goal for this component of the qualitative research was to capture women’s insights, 

experiences regarding strategies they use to increase transportation access and whether these 

strategies bring women into conflict with the law (e.g., driving without a license or riding with a 

friend who has a felony conviction). Because so few women reported having problems with 

dependable transportation in the third wave of data collection (17.5% of 379 women) yet also 

reported low levels of transportation resources (See Table 2), the primary goal of this research 

questions is to explore possible strategies women use to increase resources and access that were 

not measured in the wave three interview.

To engage women in a conversation about their use of strategies, women were asked, 

"Thinking about the ways you arrange transportation, now or in the past, what is hard or easy 

about it?" Next, women were asked whether they have missed a required supervision 

appointment, or another important appointment, and what strategies they use to avoid missing 

important appointments. This line of inquiry was helpful in highlighting both strategies that work 

70

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
for women and those that do not— that is, those strategies that resulted in missing scheduled 

appointments. Women also discussed whether their strategies for arranging transportation were 

stressful or easy to use and whether they placed women in danger or a difficult situation. 

There were only seven women who were unable to recall using any strategy to increase 

access to transportation. The remaining 68 women reported using one to six strategies. Women 

commonly reported using nine types of strategies (see Table 14) previously unknown to the 

researcher to increase their access to transportation. Examples of each strategy are provided in 

Strategy Examples of Strategy Women N (%)

1. Planning in advance Leaves early for appointment; arranges rides 

ahead of time with people or agencies; 

purchases bus passes ahead of time; knows 

schedule or uses planner to keep organized 39 (52%)

2. Building extended and extensive 

support networks

Has several people lined up to help as back 

ups 21 (28%)

3. Utilizing several modes of 

transportation

Has several modes of transportation available 

for each errand; Uses bus as back up for car 

if broken 21 (28%)

4. Living close Lives close to places she needs to go 20 (26.7%)

5. Exclusively relying on romantic 

partner

Relies primarily on romantic partner for 

transportation and not on other people; could 

indicate involvement in utilitarian romantic 

partnership 14 (18.7%)

6. Driving illegally Drives without a license or without a 

registered or insured vehicle 14 (18.7%)

7. Trading goods & services Pays people; trades childcare, food stamps, 

hairstyling; companionship; not really taxable 

employment 10 (13.3%)

8. Limiting travel Indicates her strategy is to stay home or 

otherwise limit range of travel; reduce reliance 

on others 6 (8.0%)

9. Panhandling & other odd jobs Includes plasma donation, posting 

advertisements on Craigslist; can be counted 

as employment activities 5 (6.7%)

Table 14. Strategies Women Use to Increase Access to Transportation

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
the table. Intercoder reliability was established for the coding of strategies (Cohen’s kappa = 

.706); this kappa value represents good intercoder agreement (Hruschka et al., 2004). 

The most common strategy women utilized was planning in advance for appointments 

(52%). Other common strategies were building extensive support networks and making use of 

several modes of transportation, for example, planning for a ride but having a bus pass available, 

for appointments. More than a quarter of the sample used these two methods (28%). Other 

strategies women used included living close to where they needed to travel (26.7%), relying 

exclusively on romantic partners (18.7%), driving illegally (18.7%), trading goods and services 

(13.3%), limiting travel (8%), and panhandling or working other odd jobs to pay for 

transportation (6.7%). 

Many women used a combination of strategies, often simultaneously. For example, using 

narratives as the unit of analysis, a common combination of strategies was to live close to 

necessary destinations (24 narratives) as well as planning ahead (15 of 24 narratives) and using 

multiple modes of transportation (15 of 24 narratives). It was common for women to say that to 

ensure they did not miss a required supervision appointment, they, “Just called ahead of time and 

let, you know, whoever was going to know what time I had to be there. And if not, if that failed, 

ride the bus.” This example illustrates women’s use of planning in advance as well as using 

multiple modes of transportation (i.e., arranging a ride ahead of time and also making sure she 

could use the bus).

Similarly, women who arranged for several people to be available to take them places (32 

narratives) also used multiple modes of transportation (14 of 32 narratives) and planned ahead 

(24 of 32 narratives). Because women are utilizing several strategies simultaneously, qualitative 

interview methods are able to capture these various methods and how they complement one 

72

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
another. By contrast, if women were asked, in a checklist format, for example, whether they use 

any of these nine strategies, the interplay between the various strategies would likely be lost. 

Further, women may not recognize that they are using several strategies at once. 

Although not quantifiable here, the interviewer used several alternative words for 

“strategies” to help women see that what they were doing (e.g., calling several people days ahead 

of an appointment to arrange transit) is considered strategizing. Most women did not appear to 

understand their behavior as being a purposive and agentic act. Some strategies highlight 

women’s use of agency better than others. For example, planning ahead of time involves leaving 

early or arranging for multiple people to be available to take the woman to her appointment. 

Similarly, when plans fall through, calling agencies to notify them of missing appointments and 

asking about rescheduling all show that women are exercising agency. That is, they are acting 

within a confined social structural position (lacking transportation) but are not passive victims of 

their situation. Instead, they take steps to influence the outcome of their situation by utilizing the 

nine strategies listed in Table 14. 

Some strategies suggest that women are operating within the constraints of a maledominated social structure by capitalizing on the feminized role of being a caretaker and

romantic partner. For example, 14 women (almost 19%) indicated that they relied on a male 

romantic partner as their exclusive means of transportation. Men in these relationships, in return, 

relied on the women to clean their houses, help them remember appointments, or performed

other duties associated with a romantic, caretaking, partner. For example, one woman (1006) 

explained that she relies on her boyfriend not just for transportation but also for money and 

housing: 

I would not have anything right now if it wasn't for [my boyfriend]...I live there 

free you know. I don't pay for any utilities. The only thing I do is pay for food and 

73

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
gas and then I keep the house clean and take care of the dogs and stuff...And he 

has given me a lot of money for gas because of probation and stuff...because for 

awhile there I wasn't working. They had me doing so many things that I couldn't 

work. And so he was supplying everything for me. (1006) 

Although the nature of women’s relationships was not a focus of the interview, and was 

somewhat of a surprise to discover, some of these women (609) indicated that their relationships 

were more utilitarian than romantic. 

I never had to ask because [my ex-husband] was always there...But I really did 

stop loving him. It wasn’t there no more. My eyes were opened. Because when I 

met him I was in my addiction. So yeah, we did trade, as you said, favors for 

favors. And then after I got clean and I seen, this is not what my life is. This is not 

who I am. That’s when I stopped. Told him I couldn’t tell him I loved him 

anymore. But he still was always there. He was my security.

Future investigations should focus more directly on achieving a better understanding of the roles 

of agency and constraints on women’s strategies. 

The use of some strategies was related to women’s perceptions of their access to 

dependable transportation. Women who engage in some type of trading or employment to gain 

transportation access are more likely to have said, in the follow-up interview, that they did not 

have access to dependable transportation (50% of women who trade goods or services, and 80% 

of women who perform odd jobs) than women who used strategies that did not involve trading or 

working at odd jobs (e.g., planning ahead). This finding could indicate that women who must 

trade or work at odd jobs to gain transportation access are more keenly aware of the challenges 

they face when arranging transportation than women who use other strategies. On the other hand, 

it could indicate that women who must barter or seek odd jobs to gain access to transportation 

may have smaller social networks. These are both hypotheses that should be investigated in 

future research. 

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Not all strategies used by women are prosocial or even legal. The fourth research goal, to 

determine whether women’s strategies to increase transportation access bring them into conflict 

with the law, was addressed to see whether certain strategies increase women’s likelihood of 

failing supervision or even returning to jail/prison. Women's strategies were coded into 

categories indicating whether the strategies were in conflict with the law. Although most 

strategies were found to be prosocial, two strategies were identified as being in conflict with law: 

driving without a license and trading illegal goods or services (see Table 15). These strategies 

add to our understanding of women's continuation of illegal behavior. 

Women who traded goods and services traded childcare (n=1), provided free hairstyling (n=1), 

traded food stamps (n=1), provided companionship (n=1), money (n=4) or didn’t want to say 

(n=2). Women who worked odd jobs or panhandled did not do anything that violates a law or 

would get them in trouble with supervision requirements; women in this category sold plasma (n 

= 2), cleaned houses (n = 1), panhandled (n=1) or exchanged childcare for transportation 

assistance (n = 1). The finding that women were not utilizing strategies that conflicted with the 

law was in contrast to the expected hypothesis that, women suffering from lack of transportation 

would resort to illegal methods of obtaining transportation. The finding may explain why 

transportation issues were not strongly predictive of recidivism in the quantitative data analysis. 

Strategy

Yes No

1. Driving illegally 14 (100%) 0

2. Trading goods & services 4 (28.6%) 10 (7%)

3. Panhandling & other odd jobs 0 5 (100%)

Table 15. Strategies Women Use to Increase Access that 

Conflict with the Law

Conflicts with Law

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There are women for whom the use of the nine strategies did not work as well as for other 

women. For example, planning ahead of time for a ride did not ensure women were able to get 

where they needed to go. Sometimes a ride would not show up:

Yes, there’s been a lot of times I’ve missed going places because it was a change 

of plan or they couldn’t come and take me. Just because those are the only people 

I have to ask to take me someplace don’t mean that they always take me because 

they don’t...Because you don’t never know when somebody’s gonna change their 

mind about coming and taking you. You can ask a week or two ahead of time, you 

know, and those people they done got old now and they forget stuff. They’ll say, 

oh, I forgot that I had to go to a funeral, oh I forgot that I had to go to such and 

such. [633] 

Further, there are women for whom the use of these strategies was not enough to overcome 

social structural deficits. For example, the scheduling of random drug screens, being random, 

made it difficult for this woman to plan ahead to arrange a ride, borrow a vehicle, or use the bus 

(due to the location of the screening center). 

Well, I had to do drunk screens three times a week and it was random so I never 

knew until the morning of. That morning, I would have to make sure I’d get up 

and tell my dad hey, I have to drop today. And then it’s a different time every day 

you have to be here.[500] 

For this woman and others in a similar situation, the requirements of supervision made many of 

the possible transportation strategies challenging to employ. In this case, this information could 

be shared with agents and agencies to help them better assist, or at least make them aware, of the 

transportation problems they create for their clients.

Relationship Between Transportation Access and Recidivism

The goal for this component of the qualitative research was to investigate whether 

transportation problems contribute to recidivism. It was expected that women who were 

transportation deprived would employ strategies that brought them into conflict with the law or 

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
would miss important supervision meetings or other required appointments that could result in 

being arrested, convicted or receiving supervision violations. 

Recall in the quantitative section, transportation access and recidivism were not 

statistically correlated. The fifth research question, in that section, was answered with an 

investigation of the impact of transportation access on rearrest and reconviction. Recall hat 

although the results from the quantitative analysis were non-significant, the effects were in the 

expected direction. That is, greater transportation access lowered the odds (or hazard, in the 

survival analysis models) of rearrest, reconviction, and supervision violation and slowed the time 

until these recidivism events occurred.

First, to investigate the relationship between transportation access and recidivism, using 

qualitative data, the list of transportation problems (see Table 12) was considered indicative of 

“lack of access” and correlated with both self-reported and official recidivism measures such as 

rearrest, reconviction and supervision violation. To ensure that both sources of recidivism data 

covered the same time period and could, therefore, be compared, the time period used for the 

official data was calculated to equal the time from women’s first interview with the study 

through December 2013 which is approximately the time of their last interview. This is because 

women were asked to recount new arrests (rearrests), new convictions (reconvictions) and 

supervision violations occurring since their first interview until their fourth interview (the 

follow-up interview). The two sources of data had similar rates of recidivism for the 75 women 

who completed follow-up interviews. In the official data, 15 women were rearrested, 13 were 

reconvicted, and 31 had supervision violations between their first interview and December, 2013.

In the self-report data, 12 women reported having been rearrested or reconvicted and 17 reported 

having received a supervision violation. 

77

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Table 16 shows the correlations of recidivism indicated by both the self-reports and 

official records with the ten types of transportation problems. Transportation problems, from the 

follow-up interview, are used as a proxy for the “lower access,” women reported experiencing. 

Correlations are expected to be positive indicating that greater problems result in greater 

incidence of recidivism. Only significant correlations are shown in the table. At the bivariate 

level, women who reported having car problems were significantly less likely to self-report that 

they had been rearrested or reconvicted since their first interview. This finding is 

counterintuitive. However, because official data of rearrests is positively, although not 

significantly correlated with car problems (r=.036, p =.972; not shown), this finding should be 

interpreted with caution. A related finding is that women who reported that they had unreliable 

transportation help were more likely to report having had a supervision violation. Again, though, 

this finding is not supported in the official data. Taken together, the lack of significant 

correlations indicates that transportation problems women experience are not resulting in official 

recidivism events such as rearrest, reconviction or supervision violations. 

Type of Transportation Access 

Problem

New 

Arrest or 

Conviction

Supervision 

Violation New Arrest(s)

New 

Conviction(s)

Supervision 

Violation(s)

Weather n.s. n.s. n.s.

Car Problems -.221* n.s. n.s. n.s.

Inadequate Buses n.s. n.s. n.s.

Direct Cost of Transportation n.s. n.s. n.s.

Coordinating Help n.s. n.s. n.s.

No Help n.s. n.s. n.s.

Unreliable Help .239* n.s. n.s. n.s.

Legal Problems, Legal Costs n.s. n.s. n.s.

Health Problems n.s. n.s. n.s.

Safety n.s. n.s. n.s.

Table 16: Correlations Between Transportation Access & Recidivism Outcomes

Self-Reported 

Recidivism (Yes/No) Official Data Recidivism (Number)

78

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Second, women’s responses to three questions directly assessing whether they felt their 

transportation situations led to recidivism events were analyzed. The seventeen women who selfreported experiencing supervision violations and the twelve women who self-reported being 

rearrested or reconvicted since their first interview were asked directly, “Did lack of 

transportation have anything to do with any of these violations?’ Their responses were grouped 

as “yes” or “no.” Two of the twelve women who were rearrested or reconvicted and two of the 

women who had supervision violations reported that transportation was related to their offense. 

The rearrests were for stealing a vehicle and for driving without a license. For one woman, the 

supervision violations occurred when, during a snowstorm, she was unable to report to 

supervision. The other woman was arrested for a traffic violation for driving with a suspended 

license. Because 12% to 16% of women (2 of 17; 2 of 12) who experienced recidivism events 

described transportation as a contributing factor; this finding does provide strong women 

evidence of a relationship between transportation problems and recidivism, though the sample 

size is very small. 

 Third, all women in the follow-up interview were asked to explain how they ensure their 

transportation problems do not result in recidivism. They repeat strategies noted in the previous 

section (see Table 14) such as planning ahead or leaving early for appointments. Additional 

strategies women identified for avoiding transportation-related offenses were ensuring that they 

were riding with non-felons, taking alternate routes to avoid police detection, making others 

aware of their transportation problems, and reducing the amount of trips taken. For example, one 

woman recounts: 

I did not go in a vehicle with somebody that was at risk. Like I won’t ride in a 

vehicle with somebody that does blow and nodding out thing, holding, you know 

what I mean, if I know if that person won’t stash it and blame it on me. 

79

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A second woman explains that, to avoid police detection, she takes alternate routes when she 

must drive without a license, “I do take a lot of different roads, and I take the long way around, 

instead of taking the short way. That's about it and just hope to God...” And the third woman 

finds that making her problems known to others helps ensure she gets where she needs to go. She 

explained, “Oh you know, you just tell people like, “if I don’t get there, I go to prison.” So 

they’re going to be like, “Oh!” Finally, the fourth woman reduces the number of appointments 

she must attend or the places she goes: “I don’t go anywhere. Yeah. I don’t. I don’t go anywhere 

I’m not supposed to go. I don’t go to stores that sell booze. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I 

don’t walk down to my store anymore.”

80

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Transportation deprivation has emerged as a problem among low-income women because 

of its impact on unemployment, stress and lack of medical care. Prior to this study, access to 

transportation had not been examined among correctional populations. Yet, there is reason to 

suspect transportation problems are exacerbated for women offenders, compared to men, because 

women offenders’ pathways to crime are often characterized by victimization, such as childhood 

and adulthood traumas, which serve as precursors to women’s offending. Transportation may be 

particularly important to their recovery, for example, by bridging their needs for substance abuse 

treatment and receipt of those services. Further, women’s use of transportation may present a 

unique pathway into crime via increased rates of transportation-related offenses, compared to 

male offenders. Therefore, transportation deprivation should be studied to discover the extent of 

transportation problems and whether these problems impact recidivism. 

In response to this gap, this study used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design— 

 both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies— to examine transportation 

deprivation in a statewide sample of 402 women. The goals for the quantitative analysis were to 

describe the extent and distribution of transportation deprivation, create a composite 

transportation access score, examine how well transportation resources predict transportation 

access, show whether transportation access moderates the association of criminogenic needs with 

recidivism, and show the degree to which transportation access adds to the prediction of 

recidivism outcomes. The goals for the qualitative component of the research were to increase 

understanding of the transportation problems women experienced while under supervision, their 

use of resources, and strategies to increase their transportation access, and whether these 

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
strategies brought women into conflict with the law as well as the contribution of transportation 

problems to any violations or new offenses. 

In answering the research questions, the study addresses four gaps in existing research. 

First, it focuses on women offenders, a group that has not received adequate research attention. 

Second, it uses available data to discover actual levels of transportation deprivation, which is 

currently unknown. Third, it investigates the strategies women with transportation deprivation 

use to increase their level of transportation access. Fourth, and finally, it assesses whether 

transportation deprivation is related to recidivism.

The concluding chapter begins with a summary of research findings and then offers 

discussion of study limitations and recommendations for future research followed by a brief 

conclusion and presentation of policy implications. 

Summary and Discussion

Quantitative results. The results for the first research question regarding the extent of 

transportation deprivation among women offenders indicated that women, overall, have 

relatively high levels of resources in terms of family and friend support but have very low levels 

of individual and community level resources. Despite low levels of individual and community 

resources, women report moderate to high levels of transportation access. At the bivariate level, 

resources significantly correlated with transportation access are: owning/leasing a vehicle, access 

to a registered and insured vehicle, physical well-being, support from family and friends, and 

women’s agreement that they have help with rides for themselves and their children and can get 

money for transportation. 

 The second research question led to exploration of the reliability of various measures of 

transportation access and the feasibility of combining them into one composite transportation 

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

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access score. The results showed that five transportation access items from the transportation 

literature as well as the one developed for this study are reliable measures of the underlying 

latent construct of transportation access. Thus, they were combined into a composite measure of 

transportation access.

The third research question, how well transportation resources predict transportation 

access, was examined using multivariate linear regression. The results revealed that several 

resources do significantly predict transportation access: whether a woman owned or leased a 

vehicle, had a valid driver’s license, had difficulty walking, had poor vision, had friends who 

could help with transportation needs, and lived in an area with a low community accessibility 

score. Of these, the greatest impact, or the largest effect, was for transportation help from family 

and friends. 

The fourth research question was whether the effect of criminogenic needs on recidivism 

(i.e., rearrest, reconviction and supervision violation) was moderated by transportation access. In 

other words, were the effects of criminogenic needs on recidivism made worse by the lack of 

transportation needed to address criminogenic needs, for example, attending substance abuse 

treatment? The initial results revealed that criminogenic needs did significantly vary over levels 

of transportation access, for rearrest, but not in the expected direction. Specifically, women with 

similar levels of criminogenic needs, who had higher levels of transportation access, had greater

odds of rearrest compared to women with lower levels of transportation access. This was counter 

to expectations that greater access to transportation would help women avoid recidivism events. 

However, suggesting additional analyses were warranted, this finding was not supported by the 

results of tests of the reconviction and supervision violation models; this . Additional analyses 

were undertaken; the overall measure of criminogenic needs was segmented into its 25 subscales 

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and the interaction effects for each of these subscales with transportation access were examined. 

The results revealed that the relationship between four criminogenic needs (i.e., antisocial 

friends, maltreatment as a child, family support, and self-efficacy) did significantly vary over 

levels of transportation access in their impact on rearrest. For women who had antisocial friends 

and who had experienced maltreatment as a child, lack of transportation exacerbated their odds 

of rearrest. Conversely, these same women had significantly reduced odds of rearrest when they 

had greater access to transportation. For these women, access to transportation made a significant 

difference in whether their criminogenic needs resulted in rearrest. Similarly, for women who 

had family support and greater self-efficacy, compared to those who did not, greater 

transportation access aided them in avoiding rearrest whereas transportation deprivation led to 

greater odds of rearrest.

 The fifth research question was used to investigate the impact of transportation access on 

rearrest, reconviction, and supervision violation. The results from test of both the logistic 

regression and survival analysis models indicated that, although the results were non-significant, 

the effects were in the expected direction. That is, greater transportation access lowered the odds 

(or hazard, in the survival analysis models) of rearrest, reconviction, and supervision violation 

and slowed the time until these recidivism events occurred.

 Taken together, the findings pertinent to the fourth and fifth research questions suggest 

that transportation access does lower the occurrence of recidivism, and the time until recidivism. 

Further, the findings indicate that transportation access is especially important for women with 

certain criminogenic needs – those with antisocial friends, histories of child maltreatment, 

greater family support and greater self-efficacy.

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Qualitative results. The first qualitative research question led to examination of three 

dimensions of transportation problems: types of problems, intensity of problems, and 

comparative importance of transportation problems to other problems women currently 

experience. The results showed that women reported experiencing one to ten types of problems: 

difficulty arranging rides, experiencing legal problems and related costs, having car problems, 

using inadequate bus services, relying on unreliable people for transportation help, being 

burdened with the direct costs of transportation, feeling unsafe, lacking a social network of 

people to provide transportation help, and coping with weather issues or health problems that 

impeded travel. Both number of types of problems and specific types of problems were related to 

whether women self-reported transportation deprivation at wave three or the follow-up interview. 

Further, it was expected that intensity of problems women reported would be related to 

women’s self-reported ratings of access to dependable transportation. The results of this analysis 

support the hypothesis. Finally, although 32 women (42.6%) reported transportation as one of 

their top three concerns; and was, in fact, the most common area of concern given, it was not 

related to women’s self- reported levels of access to dependable transportation at either wave 

three or the follow-up interview. Therefore, this particular set of questions did not enhance the 

understanding of how women situate transportation problems among their larger list of concerns. 

The results for the second qualitative research question are that women utilize several 

resources not previously captured in the quantitative interview. Women reported using agencyprovided, or discounted, bus tokens and gas cards; receiving help from an extended network of 

friends, co-workers, and professionals; and benefitting from having an understanding and nonpunitive supervision agent. 

85

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The goal for the third qualitative research component was to capture the strategies 

women use to increase transportation access and discover whether these strategies bring women 

into conflict with the law. Nine previously unrecognized strategies were identified: planning in 

advance for appointments, building extensive support networks, making use of several modes of 

transportation, living close to where women needed to travel, relying exclusively on romantic 

partners, driving illegally, trading goods and services, limiting travel, and panhandling or 

working other odd jobs. 

The findings also showed that many women used a combination of strategies, often 

simultaneously. Not all strategies used by women are prosocial or even legal; however, far fewer 

women than hypothesized resorted to illegal methods of obtaining transportation. There were 

women for whom use of the use of the nine strategies did not work as well as they did for other 

women. There were women for whom the requirements of supervision made many transportation 

strategies challenging to employ. In this particular case, this information could be shared with 

agents and agencies to help them better assist, or at least make them aware, of the transportation 

problems they create for their clients. 

Further, there were women for whom the use of these strategies was not enough to 

overcome social structural deficits. It was hoped that these findings would also reveal women’s 

use of agency despite their constrained positions in the social structure. Discussions with women 

did show that despite having limited transportation resources or access, women exercise agency 

by using what resources they have (phones, friends) to plan ahead of time and arrange for 

multiple people to be available to help with rides. That is, women indicated that, although 

confined in a social structural position (lacking transportation), they are not passive victims of 

their situation. Instead, they take steps to influence the outcome of their situation. Further, 

86

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
interviews revealed that women operating within the constraints of a male-dominated social 

structure sometimes obtained transportation by capitalizing on the feminized role of being 

caretaking/romantic partner. In general, findings from this research question can be shared with 

parole and probation officers, who, in turn can share these strategies with their clients to help 

them find ways to cope with limited transportation resources and/or access.

The goal of addressing the fourth qualitative research question was to investigate the 

relationship between transportation access and recidivism. Although the analyses of the 

quantitative data suggested that transportation access lowered the odds of rearrest, reconviction 

and supervision violation, the findings of the qualitative data were somewhat mixed. The 

findings showed that transportation problems women experienced were not resulting in official 

recidivism events such as rearrest, reconviction or supervision violations. However, when asked 

to describe recidivism events, 12% to 16% of women described transportation as a contributing 

factor lending some support for a relationship between transportation problems and recidivism.

Two potential explanations emerge for the mixed findings. First, the role of agents in 

minimizing the consequences of missed supervision appointments emerged earlier in the data but 

is again relevant here. Many women reported that if they notified agents that they are unable to 

get to an important appointment, they were most often able to reschedule without incurring 

penalties such as supervision violations. Second, women explain that police do not seem to 

ticket, or do not seem to catch, women driving without licenses or properly registered vehicles. 

Therefore, the impact of women’s transportation problems are not resulting in recidivism events. 

Although this finding is not what is expected, it is helpful to women offenders that their 

transportation problems are not translating into jail time.

Limitations and Recommendations

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There are several limitations to this study. First, it is not generalizable to a national 

population because of its focus on substance-involved female offenders in one state. Laws 

regarding driving and garnering of licenses, for example, as a penalty for committing a drugrelated crime, vary from state to state. Michigan is not a very punitive state in terms of its driving 

laws. It can be expected that women residing in other states will experience a more dire climate 

for driving. Studies in these other states will benefit from the measures developed in Michigan; 

the basis for comparative research has been laid by this study. Additionally, the scope of the 

study did not examine the experiences of males. It is known from feminist pathways research 

that understanding the experience of one gender helps illuminate the experience of the other. So, 

it is hoped that the findings presented here will stimulate research to provide some understanding 

of men’s transportation needs. Future studies should be conducted with women offenders 

broadly (not just substance-involved females), male offenders, and in states with different 

sanctions for licensing and with different resources available to women (bus vouchers) and 

weather (important consideration for bus riders and walkers). 

Second, the non-significant relationship between transportation and recidivism can be 

explained in three ways. The length of recidivism utilized in these analyses is much shorter than 

the more typical three-year follow-up period for recidivism analyses and does reduce the 

variability in the recidivism variables that can be explained resulting in a lower likelihood of 

detecting significant recidivism findings. However, because transportation access is fluid and 

changes rather quickly, using a longer follow-up period for recidivism may not increase the 

explained variance. Also, it is worth noting that in the process of coding case notes for the 

supervision violation analysis, it became apparent that although women were missing required 

supervision meetings, court appointments and drug/alcohol tests, agents most often responded by 

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rescheduling appointments or giving warnings. It was unusual that these types of occurrences 

would result in a supervision violation. This suggests that transportation problems may not result 

in supervision violations but may matter more for other outcomes such as ability to attend 

substance abuse treatment, get to work on time, or keep other important appointments. This 

could account for why transportation problems did not significantly predict supervision 

violations. 

The non-significant recidivism findings further underscore the importance of the 

qualitative data which, based on preliminary analyses of these data, indicated that women were 

in fact breaking the law by driving without a license, that is, they should have rearrests and 

reconvictions, but they are not getting caught by the police. Therefore, their illegal behavior is 

not resulting in recidivism events and is therefore not reflected in these analyses. The qualitative 

data reveal the strategies women use to avoid being detected when breaking the law, and 

therefore avoiding recidivism events. Finally, future studies would benefit from a longer followup period for recidivism outcomes. 

Third, there were some limitations with the way questions were asked in the qualitative 

interview. The questions designed to capture the resources women use to increase transportation 

access were confusing to many women despite revisions of the questions and re-training of the 

interviewer. Many women reported being confused by the abstract concepts of resources, access, 

and strategies and, as a result, limited information was collected. This research found that the 

best way to measure transportation resources was not to engage women in conversations but 

rather to ask whether they make use of a list of resources. The limitation is that the list maybe 

incomplete. However, this research has increased the number of items that should be included in 

the list and therefore should produce more valid information. The new information women 

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
provided regarding resources that may have been omitted from the wave three interview will be 

tremendously beneficial to future investigations of women's resources. Future analyses should 

include the new measures of resources (e.g., bus tokens from Medicaid, ride assistance from 

caseworkers), in combination with the original list of resources, and utilize bivariate correlations 

to investigate whether the combined list of resources is better correlated with levels of access to 

dependable transportation.

Conclusion and Policy Implications

 Although research on low-income individuals and transportation is plentiful; the same 

cannot be said for women offenders. Few studies have examined transportation in correctional 

populations and none have examined transportation deprivation among women offenders. The 

present study is improves existing research in several important ways. First, the longitudinal 

nature of the study, examining transportation access over time and situating it within the broader 

concerns in women’s lives, lays the initial groundwork for establishing the extent to which 

transportation impacts the lives of women offenders. Second, the sample sizes, and high 

retention of women in those samples, from the wave one interview through the fourth, follow-up 

interview, provide confidence in the external validity of the study – that the women who were 

retained represent the larger population from which they were sampled. This ensures that the 

study is of great rigor. Third, the diversity of the sample included women living in both rural and 

urban areas and can address varying access to public transportation. Fourth, the use of both 

quantitative and qualitative methodologies strengthened the study by allowing large numbers of 

women (n=366) to be sampled to establish the broad scope of the transportation problem and 

made possible the flushing out of complex topics such as agency with in-depth interviews 

(n=75). Finally, the use of both self-report recidivism data with official recidivism data provides 

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
greater confidence that recidivism events were captured and allows for greater power in 

statistical analyses.

 The results overall suggest that women do encounter a great variety of transportation 

problems but do receive substantial amounts of help from family and friends. In the absence of 

resources such as dependable and reliable public transportation, women exercise agency by 

employing many successful strategies such as planning in advance or utilizing several modes of 

transportation. As hypothesized, women who have greater resources do have greater access. And, 

women with greater access to transportation do better in terms of recidivism outcomes, although 

results were not significant. 

Overall, these findings suggest three major directions for policy. First, supervision agents 

and agencies should be trained and aware of the significant problems their clients face that 

complicate, and in some cases, inhibit them from attending supervision appointments, drug or 

alcohol treatment and obtaining other necessary services. Most of the women in this study 

seemed to have understanding agents who did not penalize them for transportation problems. 

However, there were women who did go to jail when a ride fell through. The information 

provided here, especially with regards to strategies women use to overcome transportation 

deprivation, could be incorporated into this training and shared with other women to help others 

surmount their transportation obstacles. 

 Second, transit authorities should be notified about how their current services, and 

especially reductions in their services, impact women offenders and other low-income 

populations. The findings of this study can help these agencies become aware of safety concerns 

to their services as well.

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Third, programs aimed at increasing women’s access to affordable vehicles or 

dependable public transportation should be considered an important component and included in 

social services such as housing, employment and food aid. This study, and others involving lowincome samples, highlight the particular importance of access to an automobile. 

Fourth, risk and needs instruments that currently assess women’s needs may also 

consider including items related to transportation. Transportation is a stable enough construct 

that an instrument administered semi-annually should provide valuable information to 

supervision agents and other professionals (e.g., healthcare providers) relative to women’s needs 

and abilities to attend necessary appointments.

 

 

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
APPENDICES

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Appendix A

Phase I: Transportation-Related Variables and Questionnaire Items for Quantitative Analysis 

Transportation-Related Variables and Questionnaire Items for Quantitative Analysis

Variable: Description: 

TRANSPORTATION ACCESS

Trip Safety, Ease, 

Stress, Cost, and Time 

NSF Women Offenders Study, Wave three:

For each place a woman traveled in the past 7 days, or in a typical week: 

A. How much time did it take to get there?

B. What was the cost, round-trip?

C. Did you feel safe getting to and from there? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

D. Overall, do you agree it is easy (i.e., not physically challenging) for you to get to this place? 

1. Strongly Disagree

 2. Disagree 

3. Neither Disagree or Agree

 4. Agree 

5. Strongly Agree

 E. How do you feel when you arrive at this place? (probe: the trip was challenging or unsafe)

 1. Very Relaxed 

 2. Relaxed 

3. Stressed

4. Very Stressed 

Note: Address of each location, purpose of trip, and mode of travel are also available.

Dependable NSF Women Offenders Study, Wave three:

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Transportation A. To what extent, do you agree that, “Most days I have access to dependable transportation?” 

Dependable transportation means you have money for bus fare, gas for your car, your car will start and 

run without a problem, and you have access to it when you need it if you share it. 

 1. Strongly Disagree

 2. Disagree 

 3. Agree 

4. Strongly Agree

B. Did you discuss transportation issues with your agent? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

C. Were transportation issues a problem for you? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

D. To what extent did you discuss transportation issues with your agent? 

 1. Hardly at all 

 2. --

 3. --

 4. --

5. As fully as necessary

7. Don’t know

TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES

Individual Level NSF Women Offenders Study, Wave three:

Access to an automobile 

A. Do you own or lease an automobile? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

7. Don’t know

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B. Do you have access to a car that you know is registered and insured?

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

C. Do you have a valid driver’s license? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

Physical Health

A. How would you rate your current state of health? 

 1. Excellent 

 2. Very good 

 3. Good 

 4. Fair 

 5. Poor 

 6. Very poor 

 7. Don’t know 

B. Do you have difficulty walking a block (or 150m) in summer? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

C. Is your vision, even with glasses and/or contacts, poor? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

7. Don’t know

Family & Friends 

Level 

NSF Women Offenders Study, Wave three:

Social Network Inventory

Now I am going to ask you about the people you socialize with and who you spend time with, and who are 

adults age 17 and older...who would provide you with help with transportation (ride or money)? 

*Total number of family and friends who would provide support will be calculated

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Transportation Inventory

A. I can rely on friends and family to help me get where I need to go and get things done (for example, 

they may pick up a prescription for me or bring me to work). 

1. Strongly Disagree

 2. Disagree 

 3. Agree 

4. Strongly Agree

B. I can rely on friends and family to help my children (for example, bring my children to school). 

1. Strongly Disagree

 2. Disagree 

 3. Agree 

4. Strongly Agree

C. I can rely on friends and family to give me money when I need it for travel. 

1. Strongly Disagree

 2. Disagree 

 3. Agree 

4. Strongly Agree

Community Level Note: Because women lived at several residences, possibly in different communities, during the 8 months 

of the study, these measures will be calculated for first, last and average residence.

NSF Women Offenders Study, Wave three:

For the place you are now living: 

 A. Is it a safe neighborhood? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

B. Are there drugs in your neighborhood? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

C. Are there gangs in your neighborhood?

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0. No

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

 D. Do you hear gunshots in your neighborhood? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

E. Are there break-ins in your neighborhood? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

 F. Is there violence in your neighborhood? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

 G. Have you ever been the victim of crime in your neighborhood (i.e., assaulted, burglarized, robbed)? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

 H. Do the police come into your neighborhood a lot? 

 0. No 

 1. Yes 

 7. Don’t know 

Publicly Available Data: 

A. Walk Scores; each residence will be scored

 90-100 Walker’s Paradise: Daily Errands do not require a car

 70-89 Very Walkable: Most errands can be accomplished on foot 

 50-69 Somewhat Walkable: Some amenities within walking distance

 25-49 Car-Dependent: A few amenities within walking distance

 0 -24 Car-Dependent: Almost all errands require a car

B. Transit Scores; each residence will be scored

90-100 Rider’s Paradise: World-class public transportation

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70-89 Excellent Transit: Transit is convenient for most trips

 50-69 Good Transit: Many nearby public transportation options

 25-49 Some Transit: A few nearby public transportation options 

 0 -24 Minimal Transit: It is possible to get on a bus

C. Overall - Livability Scores; each residence will be scored

 100 Very Livable 

 ... 

 0 Not Desirable

D. Crime - Livability Scores; each residence will be scored

 1. A+ 

 2. A 

 3. A- 

 ... 

 18. FE. Amenities - Livability Scores; each residence will be scored

 1. A+ 

 2. A 

 3. A- 

 ... 

18. F99

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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Appendix B 

Phase II: Follow-Up Transportation Interview Questions for Qualitative Analysis

Section 2: Transportation Resources & Modes

5. During which periods of time would you say you had help from other people to help you with 

transportation, for example, a caseworker or co-worker? 

Please explain.

6. During which periods of time would you say you had help from other programs to help you 

with transportation, for example, bus passes or facility-provided transportation to treatment, job 

help, etc.? 

Please explain.

Section 4: Social Support

10. Have you ever missed a required supervision appointment because you did not have 

transportation to or from there? 

 a. If so, explain what happened and what the result/consequences were? 

 b. If not, how do you ensure this doesn’t happen? 

11. Have you ever missed another important appointment (e.g., treatment, medical appointment, 

etc.) because you did not have transportation to or from there? 

 a. If so, explain what happened and what the result/consequences were? 

 b. If not, how do you ensure you don’t miss an appointment? 

Section 5: Current Level of Access to Transportation 

{Interviewer: Look at Transportation Inventory] 

At the last interview, you told us that you did/did not have access to dependable transportation. 

Remember we defined dependable transportation as: you have money for bus fare, gas for your 

car or to pay for a ride; your car will start and run without a problem; and you have access to it 

when you need it if you share it. 

1. As of today, would you say strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree that you 

currently have access to dependable transportation? 

6. Currently, do any of your current arrangements for getting around place you in danger or in a 

difficult situation? [Probe, if needed: For example, driving without a valid license or riding with 

someone you aren’t supposed to be around.]

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If so, please explain. 

7. Thinking about the ways you arrange transportation, NOW OR IN THE PAST, what is hard 

or easy about it? [Probes: How do you feel about your arrangements? Do they work well or 

poorly? If you could change your arrangements, how would you change them?] 

Section 7: Recidivism

Thinking back to when you had your first interview with us, on [Interviewer: Look at calendar 

for month and year]:

1. Have you had any arrests or convictions that were for new crimes (crimes that occurred after 

your first interview)? 

If so, briefly explain them. 

2. Have you had any supervision violations? 

2a. If so, did lack of transportation have anything to do with any of these violations? 

Please explain. 

2b. If not, how you ensure that your transportation problems do not lead to 

violations/arrests?

Section 8: Link Between Access & Resources

The next questions are about the difference between transportation resources and access. Usually 

women who say they have high levels of resources also say they have high levels of access. This 

diagram [Interviewer: Show diagram on blue laminated paper] shows different types of 

resources that might be related to access. 

1. What do you think of the diagram? 

a. Is anything listed that seems odd or like it doesn’t belong?

2. Are there other resources or arrangements you use to get transportation that aren’t listed? 

a. If so, what are the results/consequences of using these other resources or 

arrangements?

3. Were you able to get access to transportation even though you had few resources? 

a. If so, what other resources or arrangements did you use to get where you needed to go? 

b. What was the result/consequence of using these other resources or strategies? 

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4. Do you think your lack of resources and/or access led to any recidivism problems (for 

example, violations)? 

a. If not, how did you ensure that your lack of resources and/or access didn’t lead to 

arrests, violations, etc.?

5. Is there anything else we should know about transportation that I haven’t asked? 

Wrapping Up:

1. What would you say are your top 3 concerns right now? 

Transportation was a top concern:

1a. Please show me when on the calendar when it was. 

[Interviewer: highlight time period in yellow. Note that highlighters are erasable.] 

Transportation was NOT a top concern:

1b. Was there ever a time when transportation was a top concern for you? 

1c. Please explain why or why not. 

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and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.