Millions of people go through the United States prison system each year, and once you go to prison, no matter how long ago or how trivial the offense, it follows you around for the rest of your life. Many do not expect much from prisoners after their release and presume they will fall back into the same patterns and are bound to go back to prison. The likelihood of reoffending is referred to as recidivism. “Recidivism is measured by criminal acts that resulted in rearrests, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner's release” (“Recidivism”, 2014). It is a key topics of incapacitation, specific deterrence and rehabilitation for criminals and their success after release. …show more content…
First it is determined which offenders have the highest and lowest risk “using observational data from correctional systems” (p.57) to establish where the most resources, such as supervision, need to be focused. Next are risk/protective factors which “predict the outcome in the absence of control and correctional responses” (p.62) to guide the development of community supervision plans. After is the implementation of the supervision plan both in while in prison and after release. An issue with this theory is that it did not account for environmental factors or allot for the predication of recidivism, only to determine the risk after a criminal has previously offended