The Role Of Recidivism In The United States
The United States has the largest prison population in the world (see Figure 1). “The United States contains less than five percent of the world’s population, but twenty-five percent of all those behind bars… one in every nine American prisoners is serving a sentence of life with little chance of parole.” (Blinder, 2015, p.3). On top of having the highest prison population, we also have to highest recidivism rates in the world. Recidivism refers to an offender recommitting a crime after they are released from prison. Our country has a criminal justice system that is more worried about punishing offenders instead of rehabilitating them.. According to the National Institute of Justice, “Within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent)
of released prisoners were rearrested. Within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested” ("Recidivism", 2016). One of the reasons we have such a high recidivism rate is because our prisons are often referred to breeding grounds for crime. The central idea behind this is that incarcerating offenders makes them worse than when they went in because they learn new tricks of the trade and make more criminal connections than before they were incarcerated.
of released prisoners were rearrested. Within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested” ("Recidivism", 2016). One of the reasons we have such a high recidivism rate is because our prisons are often referred to breeding grounds for crime. The central idea behind this is that incarcerating offenders makes them worse than when they went in because they learn new tricks of the trade and make more criminal connections than before they were incarcerated.