Crime prevention has been a focus for a long time, but what most people do not think about is crime relapse, or recidivism. 275,400 out of 405,000 criminals let out of prison in 2005 committed another crime after three years of freedom outside of the prison gates, and 311,850 out of 405,000 criminals let out of prison were reconvicted after five years of freedom (Slifer). In other countries, prisoners are not kept inside of prison for as long as they are in the United States. Instead of having better rehab programs, the Unites States keeps prisoners in for longer without aid to help them get better, which is what is leading to the higher relapse once let out of prison (Dunec). The question now is: How can recidivism best be prevented? Based …show more content…
Humans as a whole are prone to judging people. By offering prisoner rehab while serving their prison sentence may end up working in the long run, but the effect humans have on each other can hinder that. The inmate that was recently released could be completely fine and ready to go back to living within the community, but is The community okay with the ex-inmate joining them again (Prison Rehabilitation). Rehabilitation itself is not the problem in some cases. People who believe that it should not be an option in imprisonment are the problem. These certain people believe that rehab is an easy way out for offenders and that they do not deserve to be helped when they are supposed to be punished. Protesters also claim that rehab does not work and that it is a waste of money, time, and effort (Cullen). Angering the public with the change of rehabilitation can cause an unhealthy atmosphere for ex-inmates and can increase the chance of them relapsing. As the “Prison Rehabilitation” article stated, if a society does not accept a person ; it may be difficult for the individual to heal and may decrease their chances of getting healthy and being able to live a normal life outside of the prison