Recidivism

About 40% of people on probation or parole right now will return to prison in the future for another crime they commit. Why is this? Don't they get enough of it the first time? It's like once they commit one crime, they are stuck in a continuous loop they can never get out of.

There are several reasons why people become repeat offenders. First of all, for some, prison is better than any sort of life they could have outside in the real world. Prison offers a place to sleep, 3 meals a day, and recreational activities like television, basketball, and reading. For someone who has been in prison their whole life, getting released might seem scary. They will no doubt have a stigma attached to them and probably have a hard time finding a job. This might eventually lead to homelessness and could be a reason for them to commit another crime because their life in prison was better than what they have now.

Another reason for recidivism is that for some people, a life of crime is all they have ever known. I work in the Electronic Monitoring Program for Family Court of Jefferson County. I see tons of kids that are on house arrest for months go straight back to detention once they have been released because they commit another crime. Most of them have had to fend for themselves their entire lives. A lot of them also have parents who are also criminals. They just don't know what it's like to live life without being a criminal.

Recidivism is a huge problem because it proves that our prisons are not really doing anything to rehabilitate people. They are just punishing them and then releasing them. We need a system that not only punishes people but also helps them to improve themselves. I don't know if or when the system will ever be improved, but if something doesn't change the statistics will just stay the same or possibly get worse.


2011. Repeat Offenders. The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/27/AR2011022703275.html