Recidivism is an extreme yet critical concept in the criminal justice system. This term is used to describe an offender that has replicated an undesirable behavior after they are rehabilitated, or have experienced the consequences of that said behavior. Recidivism creates a costly challenge to our society particularly in the United States. In the United States the recidivism rate is that of approximately 60% of released offenders (Grassel, Maxwell, Viscuso, Isorena, & Reyes 2012, p 17). Recidivism is assessed by an offenders unlawful acts that have resulted in a re-arrest, reconviction and or a return to incarceration with or without new sentencing during the three-year interval following the offender’s release.
Overview
Incarceration systems are referred to as being schools for crime. There is a general idea that the incarceration of offenders creates a more
…show more content…
These Offender’s recidivate as they do not know a different way of life (Gendreau & Goggin, 1999, p.4). Offenders that are incarcerated need to distance themselves from the environment that lead to the incarceration by strengthening their relationships with others that support them and support their recovery. Bales and Mears (2008), conducted a study with over 7,000 Florida inmates. The researchers tested the influences of visitation on recidivism. The offenders reason for incarceration, age, and gender sex, as well as if visitation transpired, who the visitors were and the frequency of the visits were studied. The results proved that visitation did have an impact on the amount of time recidivism was delayed. One interesting note, when the visitation occurred closer to the end of the incarceration time frame, and the visitor was a spouse, there was a greater effect on the amount of time between recidivating than if the visitor is a family member and or friend