Prevention History of Corrections—Punishment or Rehabilitation? - Rehabilittion Or Punishment—publicgoals And Recidivism

According to a 1996 survey conducted by the College of Criminal Justice (CCJ) of Sam Houston State University in Texas, about half of the public sees the goal of prisons as rehabilitation (48.4%). A minority (14.6%) sees the goal as punishment, while the remaining third (33.1%) holds the opinion that prisons should prevent and deter crime.

Recidivism rates are an indirect indicator of the correctional system's performance in achieving the public goal of rehabilitation. The recidivism rate measures the relapse of a person into criminal behavior after incarceration. Unfortunately, no approach to prison reform has had much effect on the recidivism rate among released prisoners. Table 1.1 presents the recidivism rates for state prisoners released for the years 1983 and 1994 as published by Patrick A. Langan and David J. Levin in Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2002). Because of the long-term nature of a recidivism study—time must pass between a prisoner's release and rearrest—statistics on recidivism often lag several years behind other criminal justice statistics.

This sample, based on 108,580 state prisoners released in 1983 and 272,111 prisoners released in 1994, shows that nearly two-thirds of prisoners (62.5%) released in 1983 were arrested again within three years. Among those released in 1994, more than two-thirds (67.5%) were rearrested. The rearrest rate thus increased during the period studied. The highest recidivism rate was for property offenses for those released in 1994—73.8%, up from 68.1% for those released in 1983. The lowest rate was for violent offenses, 61.7% in 1994, up from 59.6% in 1983. Drug rearrests experienced the largest percentage growth, climbing from 50.4% in 1983 to 66.7% in 1994 for a change of 16.3%. In contrast, rearrests for violence grew 2.1% during that same time-frame.

Recidivism Report: Inmates Released from Florida Prisons July 1995 to June 2001 (Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of Corrections, Bureau of Research and Data Analysis, July 2003) provides more recent statistics on prisoners released in that state. This report shows that recidivism rates rise with the length of time a prisoner has been released. In the first six months following release, only 12.5% of male prisoners and 8.4% of female prisoners had committed a new offense, but by sixty months (five years) following release, those who had committed a new offense had risen to 48.7% for males and 42.8% for females. (See Table 1.2.)

A November 2003 study by Patrick A. Langan, Erica L. Schmitt, and Matthew R. Durose of the Bureau of Justice Statistics analyzed the recidivism TABLE 1.1
Recidivism rates of state prisoners released in 1983 and 1994
SOURCE: Patrick A. Langan and David J. Levin, "Recidivism Rates by Offense Type and Year of Release," in Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 2002, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rpr94.pdf (accessed March 30, 2005)

Most serious offense for which released	Percent of prisoners released in—		Percent rearrested within 3 years, among prisoners released in—		Percent reconvicted within 3 years, among prisoners released in—
	1983	1994	1983	1994	1983	1994
All released prisoners	100%	100%	62.5%	67.5%	46.8%	46.9%
Violent	34.6	22.5	59.6	61.7	41.9	39.9
Property	48.3	33.5	68.1	73.8	53.0	53.4
Drug	9.5	32.6	50.4	66.7	35.3	47.0
Public-order	6.4	9.7	54.6	62.2	41.5	42.0
Other	1.1	1.7	76.8	64.7	62.9	42.1
Number of released prisoners	108,580	272,111

rate specifically for sex offenders released from state prisons. Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994 tracked 9,691 male sex offenders who had been released from prisons in fifteen states in TABLE 1.2
Recidivism rates for inmates released from Florida prisons, July 1995–June 2001
SOURCE: Recidivism Rates, in Recidivism Report: Inmates Released from Florida Prisons July 1995 to June 2001, Florida Department of Corrections, July 2003, http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/recidivism/2003/exec.html (accessed March 30, 2005)

Follow-up period (months since release)	Reoffense		Reimprisonment
	Male	Female	Male	Female
6	12.5%	8.4%	1.3%	0.6%
12	21.5%	15.2%	6.4%	3.0%
18	28.2%	21.1%	12.5%	6.3%
24	33.2%	25.7%	18.0%	9.1%
36	40.5%	33.3%	26.7%	15.5%
48	45.4%	39.1%	33.2%	20.2%
60	48.7%	42.8%	38.1%	24.6%

TABLE 1.3
Recidivism rate of sex offenders released from prison in 1994, by type of recidivism measure, type of sex offender, and time afterrelease
[Cumulative percent of sex offenders released from prison in 1994]
SOURCE: Patrick A. Langan, Erica L. Schmitt and Matthew R. Durose, "Table 9. Recidivism Rate of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994, by Type of Recidivism Measure, Type of Sex Offender, and Time after Release," in Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2003, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rsorp94.pdf (accessed March 30, 2005)

Time after 1994 release	All	Rapists	Sexual assaulters
Rearrested for any type of crime within—
6 months	16.0%	16.3%	15.8%
1 year	24.2	25.8	23.4
2 years	35.5	38.6	34.0
3 years	43.0	46.0	41.5
Reconvicted for any type of crime within—a
6 months	3.6%	4.3%	3.3%
1 year	8.6	10.0	8.0
2 years	17.2	19.9	15.9
3 years	24.0	27.3	22.4
Returned to prison with a new sentence for any type of crime within—b
6 months	1.8%	1.9%	1.8%
1 year	4.0	4.1	3.9
2 years	8.0	9.0	7.5
3 years	11.2	12.6	10.5
Total released	9,691	3,115	6,576
Note: The 9,691 sex offenders were released in 15 states.
aBecause of missing data, prisoners released in Ohio were excluded from the calculation of percent reconvicted.
a"New sentence" includes new sentences to state or federal prisons but not to local jails. Because of missing data, prisoners released in Ohio and Virginia were excluded from the calculation of percentage returned to prison with a new sentence.

1994. Sex offenders include those arrested for rape, statutory rape, sexual assault, and child molestation. The study found that in the first three years following their release from prison, 5.3% of the released sex offenders were rearrested for a sex crime. However, during this same three-year period, a total of 43% of all released sex offenders were rearrested for any type of crime or for violating the terms of their parole. Within three years of their release 38.6% of the sex offenders in the study had been returned to prison following conviction on a new crime or because of a parole violation. Statutory rapists were more likely to be rearrested (49.9%) than child molesters (39.4%). (See Table 1.3 and Table 1.4.)

Recidivism rates for federal prisoners were lower. In a study published in September 2000, Offenders Returning to Federal Prison, 1986–97, William J. Sabol and his colleagues at the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that the recidivism rate during that TABLE 1.4
Recidivism rate of child molesters and statutory rapists released from prison in 1994, by type of recidivism measure and time after release
[Cumulative percent of sex offenders released from prison in 1994]
SOURCE: Patrick A. Langan, Erica L. Schmitt and Matthew R. Durose, "Table 10. Recidivism Rate of Child Molesters and Statutory Rapists Released from Prison in 1994, by Type of Recidivism Measure and Time after Release," in Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2003, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rsorp94.pdf (accessed March 30, 2005)

Time after 1994 release	Child molesters	Statutory rapists
Rearrested for any type of crime within—
6 months	16.0%	18.5%
1 year	22.9	29.8
2 years	32.9	42.4
3 years	39.4	49.9
Reconvicted for any type of crime within—a
6 months	3.0%	4.5%
1 year	7.1	13.6
2 years	14.5	24.4
3 years	20.4	32.7
Returned to prison with a new sentence for any type of crime within—b
6 months	1.5%	0.9%
1 year	3.1	4
2 years	6.5	9.3
3 years	9.1	13.2
Total released	4,295	443
Note: The 4,295 child molesters were released in 15 states; the 443 statutory rapists in 11 states. Because of overlapping definitions, all statutory rapists also appear under the column "child molesters."
aBecause of missing data, prisoners released in Ohio were excluded from the calculation of percent reconvicted.
b"New sentence" includes new sentences to state or federal prisons but not to local jails. Because of missing data, prisoners released in Ohio and Virginia were excluded from the calculation of percentage returned to prison with a new sentence.

TABLE 1.5
Offenders returned to federal prison within 3 years of release, by sentencing policy and offense, 1986–97
SOURCE: William J. Sabol, William P. Adams, Barbara Parthasarathy, and Yan Yuan, "Table 2. Offenders Returned to Federal Prison within 3 Years of Release from a U.S. District Court Commitment, by Applicable Sentencing Policy and Offense of Conviction, 1986–97,"in Offenders Returning to Federal Prison, 1986–97, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/orfp97.pdf (accessed March 30, 2005)

		Applicable sentencing policy
	All offenders		Old law		New law
Offense of conviction	Number of first releases	Percent returned	Number of first releases	Percent returned	Number of first releases	Percent returned
All offenses*	215,263	15.7%	111,577	13.7%	103,686	17.9%
Violent	13,036	32.4	9,094	32.1	3,942	33.0
Robbery	8,880	36.3	6,646	35.8	2,234	37.9
Other violent	4,156	23.9	2,448	21.9	1,708	26.6
Property	48,428	16.6	27,451	13.6	20,977	20.6
Fraud	23,970	13.2	13,064	9.2	10,906	17.9
Other property	24,448	20.0	14,387	17.6	10,071	23.5
Drugs	72,728	13.4	40,063	11.7	32,665	15.4
Public-order	79,202	14.7	33,744	11.4	45,458	17.2
Weapons	9,203	24.2	4,372	16.3	4,831	31.3
Immigration	49,709	14.7	17,714	12.3	31,995	16.0
Other public-order	20,290	10.7	11,658	8.1	8,632	14.1
*Includes offenses with indeterminable offense category.

period was 15.7% within three years of release. A total of 215,263 released prisoners were tracked. The highest recidivism rate was for prisoners sentenced originally for robbery, 36.3%. (See Table 1.5.)