Essay on Recidivism Rates

By the lack of rehabilitation programs in the state and federal prison systems, the chances of convicts releasing and returning back to prison increases rapidly. The lack of rehabilitation is one of the most leading causes to an offenders relapse or to a new crime that will be committed within 3 years from the offender’s release. A rehabilitation program

Many offenders will be released from prison and yet approximately 60% will return for violating the law (Beard, Johnson, & Kemp, 2003). An inmate that has an education equivalent to a

The correctional educational programs plays a role in reducing recidivism. Recidivism remains high nationally, with four in 10 inmates returning to prison within three years of release. Most inmate that goes to prison had less education than the general population. I feel that it's

The article "The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on Adult Offenders: Learning Behind Bars" by Howard Gordon and Bracie Weldon (2003) studies of how prisoners receiving educations in prison reduces the recidivism rate. Gordon and Weldon studied the inmates who were participating in the educational programs at the Huttonsville Correctional Center in West Virginia and claimed that inmates who participated in the educational programs were less likely to recidivate once released back into the population as compared to inmates who did not participate in these programs (Gordon & Weldon, 2003). This study provides valuable information as to the effectiveness of educational programs in prison and how they affect prisoner's lives

One of the most talked bout problems on the definition of recidivism is how unclear it can be. It has such a broad measure due to it not being broken down to one topic (ex. just convictions, just arrests, or even more importantly just acknowledging the amount of returns to prison). The BJS mentioned earlier (Bureau of Justice Statistics) studies the measures that the rate of recidivism by number of arrests, yet the one problem with it is just because you’re arrested doesn’t mean you are found guilty. Professor Edward Latessa, director of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati claims “If you define it as a return to prison and you follow for a year, you’ll have a much lower rate,”

Inmates need to be educated and rehabilitated in order to be released back into society. If prisoners receive a good education they are less likely to commit misconduct in the future. The Three State Recidivism Study

Moreover, the studies had also been conducted to evaluate correctional programs’ effects on recidivism. All studies point to one conclusion; offenders who participate in correctional education programs are less likely to return to prison after being released. For example, researchers at the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) evaluated correctional education’s effect on inmates who participated in the programs offered in IDOC and compared their results with a group that had not

Many of the petty crimes and minor violations are therefore, reduced because the need to commit those crimes on a financial basis is no longer there if the inmate can find a job. If the prisoner has also been educated, they will more than likely have a broader moral compass than if they were “just doing their time”. Some inmates, upon their release, make similar mistakes and commit crimes; with an educated prison populous, this potentially becomes eliminated for most inmates. With a decrease in crimes, the prison population decreases, as does “the cost” to house them in prisons. The increased revenue is then used in educating first time offenders, thus reducing the risk of them becoming repeat offenders.

would teach offenders a lesson and reduce their chances to recidivate. Stevens and Ward (1997) said that “retuning unprepared, uneducated, and unusually individuals to the community is the biggest threat to the public safety” (p. 106). Stevens and Ward conducted an experiment to examine the effects of education on incarcerated offenders. The experiment contained 60 student-inmates who had earned their associate or bachelor degree while incarcerated. The participants were inmates release from the North Carolina Department of Corrections (p. 108). The participants were tracked and their recidivism rate were compared with nonstudent inmates. Also, they gathered data from education and recidivism studies of thirty states. The result demonstrated

There are numerous studies that examine the recidivism rates in various states and in the nation. The studies come back with similar results. A Department of Justice study of recidivism in 30 states found that more than two-thirds (67.8%) of released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within three years and more than three-fourths (76.6%) were arrested within five years (DOJ Recidivism 2010). Other studies give similar numbers, including the fact that over half (51.8%) of people released from prison end up back behind bars (Jonson and Cullen 2015). These numbers indicate serious problems with prisoner reentry into society. Some scholars go so far as to claim that the results of various studies “reveal that inmate reentry is marked by widespread failure. High proportions of released offenders have contact with the law, often soon after reentry, and about half are reincarcerated,” (Jonson and Cullen 2015).

The United States justice system can be described as a cycle, where people enter the prison system, are released, and upon failure to integrate into society soon find themselves back behind bars. Although the means in which the cycle is perpetuated can be argued, the rate of re-offenders is constantly trying to be reduced. One term used to define this type of convict is recidivism, which is the repeat criminal action of a convicted inmate. Recidivism is fastly becoming a issue in the United States as it has been shown that 70% of convicted offenders have been reconvicted within three years of release (Esperian, 2010, p. 322). As crime of any background can be detrimental to society, this high rate of reentry into the justice system has stimulated

that on average 50% of prisoners within 2 years of release will reoffend. Hence this

Over many years there has been great debate about whether rehabilitation reduces the rate of recidivism in criminal offenders. There has been great controversy over whether anything works to reduce recidivism and great hope that rehabilitation would offer a reduction in those rates. In this paper I will introduce information and views on the reality of whether rehabilitation does indeed reduce recidivism. Proposed is a quasi-experiment, using a group of offenders that received rehabilitation services and an ex post facto group that did not? I intend to prove that rehabilitation services do

Education reduces the recidivism rate. According to www.ed.gov, “Employment after release was thirteen percent higher among prisoners who participated in either academic or vocational education programs than among those who did not.” Education gives

This paper explores the benefits provided by educational programs in jails and prisons. Included are the reasons inmates need education in order to successfully reenter society once they are released and use the knowledge and skills they have learned to obtain a job in order to support themselves and their families. Also examined in the paper are the financial benefits of incorporating educational programs instead of cutting them, as well as the effect these programs play on the recidivism rate. Lastly is a focus on understanding the importance of education and job training, even though the recipients are criminals.