Recidivism In Louisiana

Approximately 15,000 state offenders are released from prison each year in Louisiana (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013). Within five years, nearly half will find themselves back behind bars. As Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world, this State is faced with serious challenges in handling its prison population. The recidivism rate is reasonably high, and the costs for taxpayers are billions of dollars; reducing recidivism in Louisiana is one of the first objectives of the current administration. As the incarceration population continues to grow, the state budget shrinks. Many inmates enter prison lacking education and adequate work experience, and are release with little more than a bus ticket. If inmates leave prison with
The duration taken between the time of discharge and reoffending is not constant, but has to be specified depending on the needs, controls, or other situations of the research in question. Elderbron & King (2014) identifies at least fourteen definitions, with the most common ones being arrest, reconviction, resentence, and any type of return to prison with or without a new sentence. Arrests and convictions have been the most widely used measures, and the main reason for this is their relative ease of measurement because they require no active cooperation of subjects. Whatever the measure that is ultimately chosen, it has been shown that recidivism is not a chance event, but can be predicted using certain variables (Louisiana Department of Corrections, 2013). Such variables include race, gender, duration of stay in custody or state supervision, offense type, any prior substance abuse and criminal
These findings offer a foundation for understanding the recidivism patterns for female prisoners as far as the following: First, it would be expected that the lower crime rates for women overall would translate into lower recidivism rates post-release. Second, prior findings suggest that the context and experience of female offending (for example, histories of personal abuse, the chronic nature of substance abuse, lack of social and economic resources, and on-going relational responsibilities and conflicts) also shapes parole performance. (Carson, E.A,