Similarities Between Norway's Incarceration And Recidivism

In 1790, the first penitentiary named Walnut Street Jail was created in Philadelphia (“The Prison Reform Movement”). The prison was founded on the Quaker beliefs of treating prisoners humanely while allowing them to do physical labor as a punishment for crime (“The Prison Reform Movement”). The prisons gave jobs to convicts to allow for reconciliation and gave them the benefits of healthcare, education, and religious worship (“The Prison Reform Movement”). However, despite these adjustments, Walnut Jail still failed to effectively take use of the new penology. The prison did not have enough solitary confinement cells leading overcrowding(48) and the creation of more penitentiaries (Barnes 49) Auburn Penitentiary became a reformed version of the failed Walnut Street Jail; they were structured to
Norway’s recidivism rate was measured to be 20% over a two-year period in 2005 (Fazel) and continues to keep their rates under 30% today (Kofman). Per 100,000,000 people, only 72 people are incarcerated per year in Norway. In comparison, The United States was measured to arrest 710 people per 100,000 people in 2013(The Hamilton Project) and to have a 60% recidivism rate (Kofman). America is in the lead in incarceration and recidivism as shown in Figure 1 (Appendix A). Being lead in incarceration rates (Petersilia), the United States has over 2.2 million Americans in prison whereas Norway’s prison population in 10% of that on a per capita basis (Kofman). For the past forty years, two-thirds of released convicts are rearrested for a serious crime they have not committed before and more than half of released prisoners are re-incarcerated over a three year period which has led to former convicts making up 20% of all adult arrests (Petersilia). The high incarceration rate ruins American