Analysis of the Problem of Recidivism - Research Paper Example

? Recidivism      Recidivism de s the act of repeating a pattern of behavior or act that is undesirable, especially criminal offences. The rate of recidivism as of 2003 stood at 53% and 39% for arrested males and females respectively. This rate has since then continued to increase and thus causing congestion and deplorable conditions in prison facilities. As such, there is a need to pursue means that will enable the state to prevent repeat offenses by ensuring that convicts are properly rehabilitated and reformed before they are released. This is important because the focus on incarceration as punishment has shown diminishing benefits on the currently imprisoned individuals. Therefore, focus should be directed towards what happens within prisons and not just incarcerating convicts for the sake of punishing them. Recidivism Introduction Recidivism denotes the act of repeating a pattern of behavior that is often undesirable after experiencing negative consequences as a result of the same act or behavioral pattern or after receiving training aimed at extinguishing the behavior (National Institute of Justice, 2013). The term recidivism is drawn from the Latin term recidivus, which means “recurring”. The term is also narrowly used under the correctional realm to denote the percentage of former inmates that get rearrested after a certain period of time on new offenses (Elam, 2008). According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2013), recidivism is a measure of how many criminal acts resulted in a return to prison, reconviction or re-arrest with or without a new sentence within a timeframe of three years following a prisoner’s release. The effect of recidivism on former inmates is a common topic of discussion, and in many cases it is believed that most prisoners may find themselves where they started-in incarceration (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003). According to Christy (2003), 39% arrested females and 53% arrested males in the United States (U.S) are re-incarcerated. These high rates of recidivism coupled by the increasing rates of incarceration in the U.S have caused a dramatic increase of total prisoners and prison facilities have been filled to capacity leading to congestion. As a result, the prison conditions have deteriorated and the environment has become a place of crime and gangs behind bars. The U.S has so much focused on the front end of the correctional system by incarcerating criminals for correctional purposes, but it has forgotten the tail end of this system that churns out released prisoners who are vulnerable of repeating the vicious cycle. The system has little focus on preventing former prisoners from the likelihood of re-offense, and thus the high levels of recidivism rates. This is a significant challenge because at least 95% of inmates will be finally released into the society at some point (Noren, 2013). Social Contributors to Recidivism According to Christy (2003), one national study showed that 7 out of 10 released male inmates were rearrested within a three year period and half of them would be back to prison. According to this study, this rate of recidivism is a result of situational and personal characteristics, which define how well the individual is able to reintegrate into society. The whole situation depends on the individual, family, peers, the social environment and the state policies (Christy, 2003). Correctional observers have for long not given priority to the fact that released prisoners who re-enter society face numerous challenges, which would predictably lead them back to prison. Prisoners are often stripped off their civil rights and reluctantly reabsorbed into society, and this leads to further isolation and alienation, which drives them back into crime. This largely results from the feelings of rejection among family and the society at large (Kristen, 2009). Released prisoners often find it challenging to acquire a job, get an education or rent an apartment. Many private employers are often hesitant when it comes to hiring of ex-convicts, especially those imprisoned because of drug abuse, larceny or thievery (Kristen, 2009). Similarly, leasing corporations that rent out apartments perform background checks upon which they disqualify any ex-convicts from renting an apartment with them. Faced with such challenges the ex-convicts find that they cannot find a place to call home or a job. In the end, most of the released prisoners find that they cannot fend for themselves. The lack of basic physiological needs serves as motivation for such ex-convicts to seek unscrupulous means to achieve their needs. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy physiological needs are the most basic and most humans seek to fulfill them first before any other (McGuire, 2012). Therefore, before seeking acceptance and welcome into society, these ex-convicts have to seek their physiological needs. When such needs are hard to come by the individuals in such situations may simply result to crime, and this is a contributory factor to recidivism (McGuire, 2012). A large number of released prisoners may also lack formal education and professional skills. If these skills were not acquired in prison, then most of them are released into a society where it becomes even more difficult to acquire a professional job that can earn them a decent living (Kristen, 2009). Furthermore, it becomes difficult for such ex-convicts to acquire any formal education because most states offer no government-funded support for the education of ex-convicts. The fact that most of the ex-convicts are unable to receive financial aid implies that very few of them will be able to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty and misery. Faced with such challenges most ex-convicts find that they cannot fit into the ‘normal’ life. As a result, most of them return to high risk areas that can accommodate them, and since these areas are prone to crime, they often find themselves engaging in crime. Repeat offenses are therefore, a result of interplay of several factors, which cumulatively drive ex-convicts back to crime. Effects of Recidivism At the most personal and direct level, the people with the biggest stake in recidivism include the formerly imprisoned convict, their family, especially the children and the victims of the crime that they got re-incarcerated for-if there was a crime. Recidivism negatively affects the re-incarcerated person’s life because they will be unable to get traction on their lives. It negatively affects their life both when imprisoned and when they leave prison because they will have a criminal history to deal with once in society (Sutherland, 2010). Their families also get deprived off their financial support and the love they should offer to their family, and in this regard their dependants suffer the most. The people employed by the justice system, especially those within the correctional facilities are also affected by recidivism because it increases their workload. The police, jail guards, parole officers and even judges face an extra workload in the event that recidivism rates rise in society (Sutherland, 2010). From a broader perspective, recidivism virtually affects everybody in society. Crime is a challenge and problem for every society and any person could a victim of crime. The fact that recidivism is crime driven implies that as its rates rise, innocent people in society suffer from the consequences of crime and victimization. Victimization may take various forms-such as being directly injured in crime, to being robbed or living in a sense of fear for one’s safety as a result of living in neighborhoods where crime exists (Elam, 2008). Finally, the state and the general public also suffer from recidivism because of the high costs that are incurred by the justice and correctional system. All these costs have to be shouldered by the taxpayers and the government has to suffer bearing the cost without returns (Green, 2008). It would thus be arguable that indeed recidivism affects everyone in society because we are all taxpayers and we fund the costs that accrue from all incarceration facilities all round the nation (Green, 2008). Interventions for Recidivism The currently experienced high rates of recidivism point to the fact that the benefits of incarceration are diminishing, and something new needs to be done to curb the high rates of incarceration and recidivism. There are a number of interventions proposed and each has a unique way of assisting released prisoners not to end up in crime again. Cognitive behavioral therapies are part of the suggested solutions that help in raising self esteem and combating negative inclinations, which lead to crime (Cain, 2008). The therapy helps put ex-convicts in their best behavior even when faced with life challenges once out of prison (Cain, 2008). Employment training is also one of the suggestions, which ensures that the prisoners are equipped with skills when incarcerated. The skills acquired in prison ensure that they have life sustaining capabilities to engage in income generating activities once out of prison. These skills are, especially important because it is rather difficult to acquire a job once convicted, but with the right skills one’s chances are boosted (Vappie-Aydin, 2007). Prisoners with drug abuse habits and dependency benefit more from drug treatment and rehabilitation. Prisoners incarcerated due to drug abuse and peddling often do so because they have acquired dependency (Fishman, 1977). Most those incarcerated have committed crimes in order to satisfy their drug needs. Most of these offenders often get back to society with an urge to continue using drugs and often commit crimes to get their daily supply of drugs. However, with drug treatment and rehabilitation the society can prevent such drug-related crimes. The involvement of religious bodies is also essential because these help shape the morals of the inmates (MacLeod, 1965). Inmates that get in-depth religious training and adhere to the dictates of religion are less likely to engage in crime or substance abuse, and therefore, reducing the rates of recidivism. Recommendation Recidivism has become the major contributor to overcrowding in prisons and in order to reduce the rates of re-incarceration there is a need to curb the rise of the rate of recidivism. In order to achieve this goal, there is a need to refocus the efforts put into the correctional system. Incarcerations have had diminishing benefits because people that are incarcerated often come back into the system after repeat offenses. This implies that there is little or no correction that occurs within the system (P. E. W. Center on the States, 2011). As a result, there is a need to increase the quality and presence of pre-release services within the prison facilities so as to address factors such as drug abuse, which lead to repeat offenses. For example, it would be very important to have addiction treatment and counseling for substance abusers and sellers so as to prevent drug-related criminality (Fishman, 1977). There should also be a provision of mental health counseling for individuals with mental-related problems because mental challenges also often lead to repeat offenses when the underlying medical issues are not addressed. Vocational training and life skills should also be offered for inmates with no professional skills so as to boost their ability to acquire a job and earn some income. Provision of vocational training helps solve the problem of joblessness that characterizes the release period of most ex-convicts, and thus leading the ex-convicts back to crime (Vappie-Aydin, 2007). Increasing the quality and presence of religious-based and community-based organizations, which offer re-entry/post-release services is also important (James, 2009). These organizations impart religious and moral knowledge, which could help greatly transform the life of the inmates once they are released. Upon release it would also be beneficial if the family was involved in the reintegration process so as to ensure that the released convicts are accepted and welcome in society (James, 2009). Finally, policy changes on employment of convicts would offer them job opportunities and avert possible crime due to need (James, 2009). Conclusion Recidivism is a major challenge to the current justice system in the United States and there is a need to refocus the efforts of the criminal justice system towards reducing recidivism. This achievement will go a long way in reducing congestion in prisons and the resultant deplorable conditions. The high rates of recidivism are caused by various factors, but key among them is the fact that most convicts do not completely reform during their incarceration period. This implies that there is a shortage of reform efforts aimed at helping convicts to reform their lives and change their life. The current system mainly focuses on the front end, which is largely concerned with arrest and incarceration, but it fails to focus on the tail end of the system where the released prisoners make their exit. There is a need for more efforts to be put on the tail end of the system by focusing on rehabilitation and re-entry into society. Currently, plans for re-entry into society begin a few weeks prior to release. However, this transition or release planning is not sufficient because it begins too late and takes a short period. There is a need for various rehabilitative approaches to be adopted way far before the release time. This would include the drug treatment, counseling, mental health treatment and educational services. These services should be provided early and offered sufficiently so as to ensure that the prisoners are ready for release and re-integration in society. The release period should also include family because it is a significant element that will determine how well a released prisoner will be accepted and re-integrated into society. Increasing the quality and presence of religious-based and community-based organizations, which offer re-entry/post-release services is also important. These organizations impart religious and moral knowledge, which could help greatly transform the life of the inmates once they are released. References Bureau of Justice Statistics (2003). Re-entry trends in the U.S. Retrieved from http://bjs.gov/content/reentry/recidivism.cfm Cain, A. S. (2008). Taking Steps toward Recidivism Prevention: Examining the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy on juvenile delinquency. ProQuest, Michigan Christy, V A. (2003). Transitions from Prison to Community: Understanding Individual Pathways. The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, District of Columbia Washington. Elam, P. (2008). Explaining Recidivism: The Impact of Program Integrity on the Success of African American Male Offenders. ProQuest, Michigan Fishman, R. (1977). Criminal recidivism in New York City: an evaluation of the impact of rehabilitation and diversion services. Praeger Publishers, Westport: Connecticut Green, Y. L. (2008). The Fiscal Impact of the Recidivism Rate on Penal Code 1370. ProQuest, Michigan James, H. (2009) Essentials of Sociology: A down-to-earth approach. 8th edition. Pearson Publishing: New Jersey. Kristen, B (2009). The Causes of Recidivism in the Criminal Justice System and Why It Is Worth the Cost to Address Them. Nashville bar Journal. MacLeod, W. A. (1965). Recidivism, a deficiency disease. University of Pennsylvania Press McGuire, J. K. (2012). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. GRIN Verlag, Santa Cruz: CA National Institute of Justice (2013). Recidivism. Retrieved from http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/ Noren (2013). Recidivism rates in the US – frivolous color. Retrieved from http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2009/12/17/recidivism-rates-in-the-us-frivolous-color/ P. E. W. Center on the States (2011). State of Recidivism: The revolving door of America’s prisons. Retrieved from http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/sentencing_and_corrections/State_Recidivism_Revolving_Door_America_Prisons%20.pdf Sutherland, F. J. (2010). Recidivism: Habitual criminality, and habitual petty delinquency. BiblioBazaar Publishers, Charleston: South Carolina. Vappie-Aydin, R. C. (2007). Reducing the Rate of Recidivism for First-time Juvenile Offenders with the Parent Monitoring Program, PMP: A Family Counseling Intervention Program. ProQuest, Michigan Read More