Recidivism

Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to extinguish it. Recidivism is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense.
The term is frequently used in conjunction with criminal behavior and substance abuse. Recidivism is a synonym of relapse, which is more commonly used in medicine and in the disease model of addiction.

Causes

A 2011 study found that harsh prison conditions, including isolation, tended to increase recidivism, though none of these effects were statistically significant. Various researchers have noted that prisoners are stripped of civil rights and are reluctantly absorbed into communities – which further increases their alienation and isolation. Other contributors to recidivism include the difficulties released offenders face in finding jobs, in renting apartments or in getting education. Owners of businesses will often refuse to hire a convicted felon and are at best hesitant, especially when filling any position that entails even minor responsibility or the handling of money, especially to those convicted of thievery, such as larceny, or to drug addicts. Many leasing corporations routinely perform criminal background checks and disqualify ex-convicts. However, especially in the inner city or in areas with high crime rates, lessors may not always apply their official policies in this regard. When they do, apartments may be rented by someone other than the occupant. People with criminal records report difficulty or inability to find educational opportunities, and are often denied financial aid based on their records.

Prediction

The likelihood of recidivism for a previously convicted criminal can be predicted using structured professional judgement tools in an effort to reduce recidivism by measuring protective factors such as stable work, attitudes towards authority and living circumstances. Two tools used for SPJ include the HCR-20 and the newer SAPROF developed in the late 2010s. SPJ tools are also used in forensic psychiatry.

Effect of employment

Most research regarding recidivism indicates that those ex-inmates that obtain employment after release from prison tend to have lower rates of recidivism. In one study, it was found that even if marginal employment, especially for ex-inmates over the age of 26, is offered to ex-inmates, those ex-inmates are less likely to commit crime than their counterparts. Another study found that ex-inmates were less likely to re-offend if they found and maintained stable employment throughout their first year of parole.
African Americans are disproportionately represented in the American prison system, representing approximately half the prison population. Of this population, many enter into the prison system with less than a high school diploma. The lack of education makes ex-inmates qualify for low-skill, low-wage employment. In addition to lack of education, many inmates report a difficulty in finding employment prior to incarceration. If an ex-inmate served a long prison sentence, they have lost an opportunity to gain work experience or network with potential job employers. Because of this, employers and agencies that assist with employment believe that ex-inmates cannot obtain or maintain employment.
For African American ex-inmates, their race is an added barrier to obtaining employment after release. According to one study, African Americans are more likely to re-offend because employment opportunities are not as available in the communities they return to in relation to whites.

Effect of education

s in prisons have demonstrated significant benefits, particularly in reducing recidivism rates and improving post-release employment outcomes. As of 2014, approximately 67.8% of inmates were rearrested after three years and 76.6% after five years. However, when participating in educational programs, inmates can reduce their chances of recidivism anywhere from 5.1% to 43%. Inmates, in regards to partaking in educational programs, can improve cognitive ability, work skills as well as being able to further their education upon release. Moreover, inmates with higher educational levels lower their odds of recidivism. For instance, inmates who have attained a certificate of vocation reduce recidivating by 14.6%, and inmates who have attained a GED reduce recidivating by 25%. However, inmates with an Associates in Arts or Associates in Science reduce recidivating by 70%.
Additionally, while taxpayers are adversely affected as their tax money goes into the prison system, educating inmates is cost effective. Investing in education can drastically reduce incarceration costs. For a one dollar investment in educational programs, there would be a reduction of costs of incarceration by nearly five dollars. Also, the Three State Recidivism Study found that two dollars are reduced for every dollar saved on correctional education. One of the states studied, Maryland, benefited from almost $23.3 million in returns, as they had a budget of $11.7 million allocated for correctional education. Overall, education reduces recidivism rates which can reduce cost of incarceration as well as reduce the number of people who commit crime within the community.
Three State Recidivism Study
Maryland, Minnesota and Ohio were involved in a study pertaining to education and recidivism. This study was conducted by the Correctional Education Association for the U.S. Department of Correctional Education from 1997 to 1998 and published in 2001. Stephen Steurer, Ph.D., a researcher and the Executive Direction of the CEA, was the Project Director. The lead researcher, Linda Smith, Ph.D. and project manager, Alice Tracy, Ph.D. were main researchers as well. Over 3,600 released inmates were examined in how educational participation while incarcerated impacted their post-release behavior. To determine the influence of education on recidivism, researchers interviewed inmates, collected their criminal history and educational data, and post-release data. With this information, it was determined that participants in prison education, reduced recidivism 29%.

Institutions and Correctional Facilities

Across the United States 20% to 80% of incarcerated individuals have not earned a high school diploma or its equivalent. Thus, all U.S. prisons have basic and remedial education programs that are designed to provide incarcerated individuals with the opportunity to attain the knowledge and skills equivalent to a high school diploma.
Some prisons offer vocational training. Vocational education directly prepares students for specific occupations rather than broad intellectual cultivation; common vocational training programs can include carpentry, electrical work, landscaping, office services, and welding. Correctional facilities can offer reading and writing groups. This form of education is meant to use literature and writing as a form of therapy and can be referred to as "bibliotherapy". Such programs can encourage interpersonal skills and social engagement within incarcerated individuals.
Degree-granting education programs are another form of educational opportunity available in correctional facilities. These programs are typically offered by institutions with well-established academic reputations, many of which are listed in the National Directory of Higher Education in Prison Programs. These institutions work to ensure that incarcerated students receive the same level of educational quality as their on-campus counterparts. Despite being a powerful tool for reducing recidivism, these programs remain uncommon in prisons due to financial and institutional constraints.

Mental disorders

Psychopaths may have a markedly distorted sense of the potential consequences of their actions, not only for others, but also for themselves. They do not, for example, deeply recognize the risk of being caught, disbelieved or injured as a result of their behaviour. However, numerous studies and recent large-scale meta-analysis cast serious doubt on claims made about the ability of psychopathy ratings to predict who will offend or respond to treatment.
In 2002, Carmel stated that the term recidivism is often used in the psychiatric and mental health literature to mean "rehospitalization", which is problematic because the concept of recidivism generally refers to criminal reoffense. Carmel reviewed the medical literature for articles with recidivism in the title and found that articles in the psychiatric literature were more likely to use the term recidivism with its criminological connotation than articles in the rest of medicine, which avoided the term. Carmel suggested that "as a means of decreasing stigmatization of psychiatric patients, we should avoid the word 'recidivism' when what we mean is 'rehospitalization. A 2016 followup by Peirson argued that "public policy makers and leaders should be careful to not misuse the word and unwittingly stigmatize persons with mental illness and substance use disorders".

Law and economics

The law and economics literature has provided various justifications for the fact that the sanction imposed on an offender depends on whether he was convicted previously. In particular, some authors such as Rubinstein and Polinsky and Rubinfeld have argued that a record of prior offenses provides information about the offender's characteristics. However, Shavell has pointed out that making sanctions depend on offense history may be advantageous even when there are no characteristics to be learned about. In particular, Shavell argues that when "detection of a violation implies not only an immediate sanction, but also a higher sanction for a future violation, an individual will be deterred more from committing a violation presently". Müller and Schmitz show that it may actually be optimal to further increase the deterrence for repeat offenders.
Economists use the term recidivism to refer to the behaviour of states who repeatedly engage in IMF economic programs such as SBAs. For example, South Korea, Zaire, Liberia and Panama each spent well over 12 years under consecutive IMF agreements.