Visitation in prison is associated with a low recidivism rate after release, but the causality is not clear. This paper tries to estimate the effect of visitation experience on the recidivism outcome of state prisoners in Missouri, using an instrumental variable approach. The instrumental variable used for identification is the distance from a prison to an address before incarceration. The results support that visitation has a causal effect on recidivism in the short run. Further analysis shows that employment is an important channel of the visitation effect. However, no discernible effect on housing stability is found.

中文翻译：

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监狱探视能减少累犯吗？

监狱探视与出狱后累犯率较低有关，但其因果关系尚不清楚。本文尝试使用工具变量方法来估计探视经历对密苏里州囚犯累犯结果的影响。用于识别的工具变量是监狱到监禁前地址的距离。结果表明，短期内探视对累犯有因果影响。进一步分析表明，就业是拜访效应的重要渠道。然而，没有发现对住房稳定性有明显影响。