Recidivism Issues

Background
According to four major national research organizations there are several ways of illustrating recidivism.

Ultimately recidivism is the act of a criminal reoffending after being released from prison. Over the years there have been several studies conducted in order to show recidivism rates in the United States. The four major national research organizations consist of The Pew Center on the States, The Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Sentencing Commission, and The National Institute of Justice. All four of these organizations interpret recidivism in different ways. With recidivism many issues arise that affect the community and law

enforcement.
There a several studies that have been conducted to illustrate recidivism.

One of most recent studies conducted was The Pew Center on the States report in April 2011. Another study that was conducted was by The Bureau of Justice Statistics This report defines recidivism as the act of reengaging in criminal acts despite having been punished. The study focused on offenders for a period of three years after their release. It was concluded that offenders are returned to prison for the following reasons, one reason is for committing new crimes that result in a new conviction or for a violation of not reporting to their parole or probation officer or failing a drug test. Overall the report concluded that more than four in ten offenders nationwide return to state prison within three years of being released. Another study conducted was by The Bureau of Justice Statistics defines recidivism as criminal acts that resulted in the rearrests, reconvictions, or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner’s release. A study was conducted that tracked 404,638 prisoners in 30 states after their release from prison in 2005. It was found that within three years of being released, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Within five years of their release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Of those prisoners who were rearrested, more than half (56.7 percent) were

arrested by the end of the first year. Property offenders were most likely to be rearrested, with 82.1 percent of released property offenders arrested for a new crime compared with 76.9 percent of drug offenders, 73.6 percent of public order offenders and 71.3 percent of violent offenders.

According to The U.S. Sentencing Commission, there are two definitions used to describe recidivism, one is defined the first occurring of any one of the following three types of events during the offender’s initial two years back in the community, which are reconviction of a new offense, a re-arrest with no conviction, or a probation revocation. The second definition applies only if the offender was reconvicted during the two years back in the community. The U.S. Sentencing

Commission released a report in 2004 called Recidivism and the First Offender, which basically said who should be considered a first offender when being sentenced. Lastly, The National Institute of Justice defines recidivism as a persons relapse into criminal behavior after receiving some kind of punishment or intervention program for a particular crime. The focus was based how majority of crimes are committed without being detected which meant that in order to measure recidivism certain factors had to be taken into consideration. For example, what determines that a re-offense has occurred, when the offender recidivates, and how risk is factored into the research design.
Recidivism is a major issue for the community and law enforcement due to multiple reasons. For example, allowing prior offenders out in the street will lead to an increase in crimes and violence. Since majority of offenders have previously been incarcerated its not an issue if they end back in prison. Recidivism is the outcome of several aftermaths, and one of them is prison over crowding. First of all, if offenders were analyzed correctly before being released then the recidivism rate would most likely decrease. Overall criminals are more likely to reoffend when they come out of prison than before due to not being rehabilitated and just being released out to the community. Therefore, due to the crime and violence rates increasing it correlates that recidivism is increasing.
Recidivism creates an issue for the community, because if offenders are released due to early release or prison overcrowding they are more likely to reoffend causing the community to have more violence and be unsafe. Ultimately it is the prisons system fault for releasing these individuals. Even though not all individuals being released reoffend, the ones that do can easily be deterred. If prisons offered more opportunities for rehabilitation offenders would most likely turn their life around and not return to prison.
In addition, recidivism creates an issue for law enforcement, once offenders are released due to early release or prison overcrowding criminals tend to reoffend but the second time they reoffend the crimes they commit tend to be more serious. This is an issue because it makes it more dangerous for officers out in the field. In addition, criminals don’t really care of the consequences which leads them to reoffend because they know that eventually they will be released with a slap on the hand instead of being incarcerated.