Recidivism Rates and Causes
The objective of this research is to examine recidivism rates and causes for recidivism. According to the work of Moak, Lawry, and Webber (2007) "The United States prison system is one of the worst prison systems in the world. In comparison to other countries, the United States has more individuals incarcerated per person than any other." (Moak, Lawry, and Webber, 2007) The incarceration rate in the United States as of 2006 is reported to be at a rate of "1 out of 136 adults." (Moak, Lawry and Webber, 2007) The 'World Prison Population List' demonstrates that while some countries have similar incarceration rates, most of the countries in the world have rates that are much lower rates. (Moak, Lawry and Webber, 2007, paraphrase) It is reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that researchers "…following a cohort of state prison inmates released in 1994 found that 67.5% of those discharged were rearrested within three years. This represents an increase of 5% over a similar study of prisoners released in 1983. Additionally, 46.9% of released prisoners were reconvicted for a new crime within three years and 51.8% were reincarcerated, either serving a new sentence or having committed a technical violation of their parole conditions. The decreasing emphasis on prison programs intended to provide skills training and counseling for prisoners for their eventual reentry into the community is leaving released inmates largely unprepared to successfully reintegrate into society." (The Sentencing Project, 2009) Furthermore, most arrests are reported to happen within the first year of the offender's release and "a significant portion of arrests results in a conviction and the individual's return to prison." (The Sentencing Project, 2009)
I. Release of Prisoners Back Into Society & Reintegration
This high rate of incarceration indicates that many adults will be relapsed in the near future back into society however, "due to the stigma that has been associated with having spent a portion of a life in prison, or even just having a criminal record in general, these newly released ex-prisoners are finding it increasingly difficult to reenter the workforce." It is reported as well that "Ex-offender reintegration programs, whether they start during or after incarceration, are a major challenge that have not achieved much progress or success in the United States in the past twenty years, as shown by the high recidivism rate of approximately 70%." (Moak, Lawry, and Webber, 2007)
When an individual is released from prison, it only makes sense that the system should assist them with integration back into the society to enable them to become a productive member of the workforce instead of simply becoming a "..drain on the economy. The harder this is for someone who has lived a life a delinquency, the easier it is for them to give up and go back to what comes easy." (Moak, Lawry, and Webber, 2007) The work of Joel Dyer entitled "The Perpetual Prisoner Machine" states that prisons are filling up faster with no effort being made to stop this trend and that this trend can be blamed on "fiscal reasons, cultural outlook and extreme punishments for many non-violent offenders." (cited in: Moak, Lawry, and Webber, 2007)
Dyer holds that the primary reason that no effort is being made to prevent incarceration are financial related "…due to money being put towards making prisons to deal with the large prison population instead of towards rehabilitation. He not only explains that there is not much being done to change this, but also that he believes that at the rate we are going, in 20 years our funding for prisons will rise to the point where it will "…result in… the consumption of most of the tax dollars now being collected by our state governments." (Moak, Lawry, and Webber, 2007)
The right to vote has been removed in 48 states for those who are serving time for felonies and upon the release of the offenders some states are continuing to deny the right to vote while the individuals are on probation or parole. Moreover, two U.S. states permanently deny the right to vote following incarceration. This results in much less pressure being placed on politicians to assist ex-offenders The high recidivism rate could be attributed to this lack of representation since those affected by the problem are not able to actively participate in government." (Moak, Lawry, and Webber, 2007)
Moak, Lawry, and Webber (2007) state that the prison industrial complex "…is not only a set of interest groups and institutions; it is also a state of mind. The lure of big money is corrupting the nation's criminal-justice system, replacing notions of safety and public service with a drive for higher profits. The eagerness of elected officials to pass tough-on-crime legislation -- combined with their unwillingness to disclose the external and social costs of these laws -- has encouraged all sorts...
Areas that have minority groups like African America and Hispanics are known to have high incidences of gang related crimes than the other all white neighborhood (Rice 1975).Gang crime is deeply rooted in such neighborhoods, making it very easy for the residents, especially the young people to fall prey to gang related crimes. People living in such areas have a high tendency of recidivism than other areas, because once
Recidivism This proposal is conducting a study using intervention and community orientated strategies to reduce recidivism rates. According to the Justice Department, these levels are at 43.8%. This is because the individual breaks the conditions of their parole / probation or commits new crimes within three years of their release. ("State of Recidivism," 2006) To reduce recidivism a new approach must be taken that will concentrate on dealing with the root
Since GPS tracking costs around $300 plus a monthly service fee that is similar in price to a pager or cellular phone, it would be very expensive to outfit everyone requiring electronic monitoring with a tracking device (Under, 2001). As has been mentioned, the main problem with electronic monitoring is the fact that it can only do so much. it's really very limited in what it can tell the police.
The other brochure would be addressed to the prison counselors. These would contain research findings and the actual causes of recidivism. The third brochure would be distributed to relevant agencies like the state prison department. This brochure would contain facts on recidivism and urge the department to target the main sources of recidivism directly. We would like to draw their attention towards psychological aspect of recidivism. According to Quinsey
Prison Life and Recidivism Generally, recidivism in the justice system context entails the tendency amongst former prisoners or criminals to go back to their criminal lives mainly upon release from prison. In this case, recidivism rates are measured by having a look at the number of former prisoners re-incarcerated within a given time period. It can be noted that in basic terms, high recidivism rates are in most cases associated with
Arizona State Legislature Recidivism The topic of recidivism in the Criminal Justice System has actually been long researched. It has actually likewise been suggested over for numerous other aspects regarding the degree of its efficiency. Recidivism is specified as the duplicating of an unfavourable activity after experiencing unfavourable results from that activity or getting treatment for that activity. In concerns to the criminal justice system, recidivism happens when one individual is arrested
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