The answer is: They attributed high crime rates to certain social and physical conditions (first option).
Explanation:
In an article published by the School of Social Service Administration (SSA), in the Summer of 2012, Carl Vogel wrote that the punitive policy of incarceration in the U.S. was resulting in ex-convicts returning to their neighborhoods with little, if any, options (education or specialized training) for them to avoid going back to their criminal lifestyle.
Most of them either with strong substance addiction or with a very complicated economical situation, either of which, leading them to commit a crime again.