Why Recidivism Is a Core Criminal Justice Concern? (Research Paper Sample)

Why Recidivism Is a Core Criminal Justice Concern?
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Why Recidivism Is a Core Criminal Justice Concern?
Introduction
Recidivism is not a new concept in the criminal justice system. Over time, the United States justice system has experienced the return of offenders to criminal tendencies following diversion, punishment or conviction. In general recidivism encompasses the act of a formerly incarcerated person repeating an offence or any other undesirable behavior CITATION Mal84 \l 1033 (Maltz, 1984). It is a fundamental concept in criminology and involves a person’s relapse into criminal behaviors, usually after the person undergoes correction or sanctions for a previous crime (Gendreau, 1996). Within the jurisdiction of the United States, recidivism is measured by the criminal acts that always result in the re-arrest and reconviction of a former convict within a period of three years from his or her release date (Nuffield, 1982).[US Sentencing Cmssn. "Measuring recidivism: The criminal history computation of the federal sentencing guidelines." (2004)]
The Bureau of Justice studies have revealed that the rates of recidivism are on the rise (Clear, 2015). A study conducted by the Bureau of Justice revealed that there were 404, 638 prisoners in thirty states who had returned to prison after they had been released in the year 2005. The government through the National Institute of Justice has made numerous attempts to curb the steady rise of recidivism rates in the United States. In 2012, the NIJ unearthed a campaign strategy that it termed as desistance from crime. Moreover, the government is attempting to lower the rates of recidivism by offering monetary support and awards to institutions that attempt to provide solutions to end recidivism in the nation (Travis, 2012).[Durose and Snyder. (2014). Recidivism of prisoners released in 30 states in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 28.]
The state actors are attempting curb the steady rise of recidivism by considering a number of strategies. The court system has evolved to inculcate particular incentives to deter the reconviction of criminals. The state of California, for instance, has enacted the statute of recidivism that is commonly referred to as the Three-Strikes Law CITATION Dur11 \l 1033 (Durlauf & Daniel, 2011). In the spirit of the statute, recidivism can be reduced by increasing the jail terms of second time offenders. When a person commits a felonious offence for the second time, the sentence for the later offence doubles the offence of the first-time felony. Additionally, if a criminal is convicted for the third time of a violent crime, the criminal will be sentenced triple the sentence of a first-time offence. The court has successfully applied this law on a number of instances. In Ewing v California (2004) and Lockyer v Andrade (2003), the law court failed to overturn this law regardless of pressure from interested parties arguing the cruelty of the laws.
Arguably, there is a general consensus that there are a number of solutions to solve the issue recidivism in the nation. The state actors and other relevant stakeholders can initiate programs to educate the prisoners in their areas of confinement. Moreover, the state can open rehabilitation centers meant to offer training programs to the incarcerated individuals who have the tendency of going back to the same offences CITATION Fab11 \l 1033 (Fabelo, Geraldine, & Seth, 2011). In some instances the state can monitor these individual through electronic monitoring of home confinement.[Di Tella and Schargrodsky (2013). Criminal recidivism after prison and electronic monitoring. Journal of Political Economy, 121(1), 28-73.]
The prevalence of Recidivism in the United States
Since the early 1970s, prisons have served as the most reliable weapon against crime in America. Between 1973 and 2009, the US prison population rose by a great percentage. The rise in the number of inmates came with a lot of impacts on the US government. The estimated spending on the corrections over the past couple of decades was about $50 billion. The crime rate has fallen as a result of imprisonment of offenders.[Cole (2011). Turning the Corner on Mass Incarceration?]
It is important to consider the statistics of recidivism in the United States. Within a period of three years, close to a third of released prisoners are usually rearrested. Moreover, within a span of five years, close to 75 percent of released prisoners are arrested for a second time. Furthermore, the National Statistics Reports in thirty states indicated that more than half the number of released people was arrested by the end of the first year of release. Notably, the number of rearrested property offenders was the highest with the prevalence of over eighty percent.
The United States Sentencing Commission conducted a research in 2005 on 25, 431 offenders to determine the rates of recidivism in federal offenders and came up with formidable conclusions on recidivism. The citizens were essentially citizens of the United States and ha valid FBI numbers that could be used to locate their criminal histories. Moreover, the offenders had pre-sentence investigation reports. The commission found out that more than a third of the offenders were reconvicted within a period of eight years of their release. The commission equally concluded that age was an important factor in determining the rates of recidivism in people. The offenders who were released before the attainment of 21 years had a 67 percent chance of recidivism as compared to the offenders who were released at the age of sixty or more. The older offenders had a sixteen percent chance of recidivism. Other factors that impact on recidivism include the type of the offence and the level of education CITATION Dra09 \l 1033 (Drago, Roberto, & Pietro, 2009).[US Sentencing Commission (2016) “Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview”]
The Interaction between Recidivism and the Criminal Justice System
According to the National Institute of Justice (2008), recidivism is a significant feature of the criminal justice system considering the intersectionality of the two concepts. In practice, the topics of incapacitation, rehabilitation and specific deterrence have found much relevance in recidivism (Andrews, 2010). Incapacitation refers to the complete removal of a person from a community in an attempt to prevent them from committing future offences (Braswell, 2014).
Deterrence is a term coined to denote the ability of a sanction to stop people from committing further crimes in the society when the sanction that was imposed has been completed. Deterrence is the core concern in recidivating individuals. Rehabilitation is an important aspect of the criminal justice system. Moreover, rehabilitation refers to the extent to which a designed program reduces crime by addressing the needs or deficits of the offenders.[Ashworth, A. (2010). Sentencing and criminal justice. Cambridge University Press.]
Another term worth defining is desistance that involves the process by which a person arrives at an irreversible state of non-offending. Simply put, an individual who has undergone desistance is not likely to commit an offence. In effect, a criminal released from prison will either deist or desist. If the later happens to a released offender, the goals of deterrence would have been achieved. The researchers for the National Consortium on Violence Research in 2009 noted that desistance is measures as a “discrete state” considering the fact that desistance is a process that encompasses essential development. Furthermore, the performance and effectiveness of prisons can mainly be evaluated by considering the rates of recidivism among offenders CITATION Che071 \l 1033 (Chen & Jesse, 2007). In practice, if the rates of offenders
The incarceration of offenders in prisons is central in any criminal justice system. Prison experience can impact on recidivism in many respects. The National Institute of Justice’s report in 1994 pointed out that criminal history before imprisonment predicted whether or not detainment would deter the reoffending in a span of three years from the date of release. According to the report 4% of the offenders had a criminogenic impact and this increases the rates of crime after release from prison. Moreover, the report found out that supervision after the release of an individual did not lower the probability of re-arrest. Cumulatively, a conclusion can be drawn from these observations. In essence, criminal history before imprisonment can help correction officers to identify the people who are likely to be deterred from post release reoffending.[Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994]
The security levels that inmates are assigned has a direct impact on recidivism rates. High security level prisons, in practice, are more punitive and hence should decrease recidivism among the offenders. However, other researchers have pointed out that the prisoners who are exposed to fellows who have higher propensities to criminal activities are likely to intensify their criminal behaviors. The impact of drug courts on recidivism is another cross cutting concerning. Recent studies have shown that the drug courts reduce offender recidivism. The judges equally play a very significant role in reducing recidivism among drug offenders.[“Do Harsher Prison Conditions Reduce Recidivism? A Discontinuity-Based Approach,” by M.K Chen and J.M. Shapiro, American Law and Economics Review 9 (1) (2007): 1-29] [A research conducted by the Multisite Adult Drug Court Evaluation.] [According to the Multisite longitudinal recommendations that sampled 1, 800 probationers th...