Rate Of Recidivism

Have you ever wondered how many people actually get arrested in a year? According to the U.S Department of Justice, a staggering estimate of over 14 million people were arrested in 2005. Of those 14 million people that were arrested, about 1.53 million of them were sentenced to a jail term. That same year a study was done on 404,638 newly released prisoners in 30 states. The study showed that within three years, about 67.8 percent of released prisoners were rearrested and within five years about three-quarters of them were arrested. The rate of recidivism very important. Not only can it measure the effectiveness of certain prisons, but it also shows how hard it is for a newly released inmates to return to a normal civil life due to so many

I find that kind of intriguing that the same system that is supposed to be allowing these prisoners a second chance at life is possibly the one putting them back in the jail house which in turn raises the rate of recidivism. Jessica Glazer wrote an article titled “Why it Might Be Time to Rethink the Rules of Parole” back in 2014. In this article, Glazer expresses the need to find a balance between the rules that are associated with parole and parolees themselves. She takes into account that parole conditions vary from state to state and further vary from officer to officer. This practically means that their freedom lies in the hands of their probation officer. States use the parole system to contend with the high costs of incarceration. While on parole or probation, individuals are required to follow a set of guidelines. This is normal, except that their rules come in massive amounts and are very austere. It gets to the point where it’s almost impossible to abide by it. Some of which include no alcohol, no use of illegal substances, no more than 3 unrelated persons living in a household, meeting with your parole officer a certain number of time a week and so on. In a little study done on 558 recommitted parolees Pennsylvania, it showed that 56 percent of them were back due to technical violations. The remaining 44 percent committed a new crime. This shows that lots of people are re-incarcerated

This includes the expensive bill they receive when they come out of jail and the strict rules associated with the parole system. The government needs to find a way to “Help parolees reenter society while managing risk to the public” (Glazer 2). In Rosenberg’s article, a guy named Constantino saw this problem of ex-cons and their debt and started a program called “The Clapham Set” which helps these individuals learn different skills and trades that could potentially land them a job. Carlos (a formal inmate) came into the program with over $300 worth of debt and started as a dishwasher. He now is the supervisor of the kitchen. This is one of many testimonies. As far as parole rules go, officers should be a little bit more lenient towards their parolees; especially if they are trying to make things right. Also, the rules that officers follow in determining whether the parolee is guilty or not should be a bit more organized and not fluctuate from officer to officer. If simple stuff like this can be implemented, it will in turn benefit America as a whole. If less people are committing crime and being arrested, neighborhoods become more safer and less funding would go to correctional facilities and could be spent somewhere