Recidivism in Criminal Justice - Research Paper Example

? Recidivism in Criminal Justice Criminal justice comprises of practices and guidelines of governing bodies geared at maintaining social control, preventing and reducing crime. Criminal justice is concerned with correcting the law violators by rehabilitating them or sanctioning the culprits with criminal penalties. In England, the criminal justice system focuses on reducing and mitigating criminal offences by bringing the offenders to justice, and upholds the confidence of the public that the system is free and fair. In United States of America, the criminal justice system is the means for society to enforce standards of conduct, which are important at protecting the individual and the community. This paper will focus on recidivism in United States. Key words: Criminal, justice, recidivism and incarceration. Recidivism in Criminal Justice Introduction Recidivism is the relapse into criminal activity and is measured by the return of former prisoner to prison for a new offence that may or not be related to the former offence. Rates of recidivism are the reflection of the degree to which released inmates have been rehabilitated and the purpose of the rehabilitative programs in correcting prisoners and reconciling them with the society. In US, it is estimated that two thirds of released inmates will be re-incarcerated within three years. Recidivism in US accounts for the high costs in terms of safety of the public and high costs incurred in the re-arrest, process of prosecution and imprisonment for the offenders. The high rates of recidivism also lead to overwhelming social costs to the communities and the family of the individual offender. The effect of incarceration on offender recidivism in America is a major concern in the criminal justice system and the people concerned with public safety and the cost effectiveness of putting convicted offenders in prison. However, there is divided opinion on the view on people advocating for longer sentences and those proposing shorter sentences for the recidivism cases. The people advocating for longer sentences assume that longer incarceration will reduce the cases of crime as the offender cannot reoffend while incapacitated. The long periods of incarceration will discourage the released offenders from committing additional crimes and the fact that they are aware of the long sentence will discourage the offenders from repeating an offence. Those for advocating shorter sentences are of the view that longer imprisonments may increase recidivism. The objective of this research paper is to examine the relationship between recidivism rates and the length of incarceration. The research will focus on the effect of incarceration on the behavior of the convicted offenders after the release of the offenders in US. Literature Review In 2008, there was approximately a population of 2,310,984 inmates held in federal or state prisons in United States. 1,540,805 of the population were serving a state sentence under state jurisdiction. There was 0.8% increase of sentenced prisoners from 2007 to 2008. According to a study carried out in United States in 2003, seven in every ten prisoners released were likely to return to jail. Researches done on the effects of incarceration on recidivism indicate that there is no impact of incarceration on those who serve sentences in jail. However, there are some factors that are likely to influence people who serve jail terms and that lead to recidivism. These factors are independent variables and include the substance addiction, mental illness and readjustment to society after release. In 2002, 50 % of the jail inmates in United States were held for drug as well as violent offences. The Bipartisan Commission on safety and abuse carried out a study on United States prisons and reported that in any given day; more than two million people are incarcerated in United States. According to the report, African Americans are imprisoned at a higher rate, seven times higher than the whites, and the Hispanics at a rate three times higher than the whites. Within the three years of the release of the prisoners, 67 % of the former prisoners re rearrested and out of this 67%, 52% end up being incarcerated. The reports for recidivism rate for released inmates in United States of America by 2005 were 60% compared to 50 % in United Kingdom. The explanation for the variation was that in United Kingdom rehabilitation and education of prisoners is upheld while in United States focuses on punitive measures. The department of Justice tracked the re-arrest, reconviction and re-incarceration of former prisoners for three years after their release from jails in 15 states. The research found that the prisoners with the highest re-arrest rates were robbers, with 70.2%, burglars with 74% and larcenists with 78.8%. The Minnesota Department of Corrections also carried out a study on convicted criminals to determine whether rehabilitation correlates with recidivism. The findings showed that most of the programs have no significance impacts. Many theories have so far been used to explain the rate of recidivism. Theories that support longer sentences argue that they reduce the rate of recidivism by causing fear, anxiety and guilty that compels the individual to restrain from future punishment and hence discourages the individual from repeating the offence. According to Henslin (2008), accumulation of punishment such as arrest and imprisonment gradually wears out criminal drive. Punishment produces different types of reactions in the offender. Career criminals normally get dissatisfied by their way of criminal life if there is accumulation of punishment and may decide to give up on criminal activity. Physical, psychological and social factors can directly be related to some offences. In the process of incarceration the problems can be diagnosed, treated and corrective measures taken, as a result the offenders will be less likely to offend again (Samuel, 1992). On the other hand, the negative impact of incarceration has also been studied. According to Samuel (1992, pp. 124-345), inmates may learn norms of the antisocial sub culture from the fellow prisoners, therefore the longer the time the offenders stay in jail the higher their chances of re-offending. This view was supported by Henslin (2008, pp. 68-78), who concluded that if a person stays removed from the society; his or her social bonds with the society become weaker. These weakened social bonds are likely to lead the offender to committing new crimes after a jail term is completed. However, the weakening of traditional social bonds and the committing of new offences does not necessary increase length of term served in jail. A study of attitude changes among the prisoners found that the degree of personalization was highest among the offenders who were in middle phase of their prison terms. The newly entered offenders and those who were about to finish the jail term had perceptions that conformed more to the values of the society. According to Wheeler, personalization model is only part for offender recidivism. Difficulties in the society after the offender is released from the jail may influence re-offence behaviour. The difficulties include social rejection and economic difficulties (Layman, 2006). Variables such as age, criminal history and the type of offence play a role in recidivism. Offenders who have served longer prison terms are bit old at the time of release and their chances of offending are lower despite of their imprisonment experience. Offenders with past offences are more likely to re-offend than the first time offenders. Burglars and robbers have higher rates of recidivism rate. Layman (2006) studied 104,182 male prisoners in different offence categories in the United States who were convicted for the first time between 1965b and 1970. The follow up time was one year. The length of imprisonment ranged from 12.2 months for fraud offenders to 58.6 months for homicide offenders. During the study, the control of effects of crime type, previous offence and age were controlled statistically. The results of the study showed that while on parole, the offenders with the longest time in prison had higher redivism rates than the offenders with shortest time served. The implication of the relation between the time served and recidivism rates differed across the different types of offence types. The auto theft, check offences, burglary, lacetry and fraudsters who had longer prison terms had higher recidivism rates compared to the offenders who had shorter prison terms. For the armed robbery and drug offences, the offenders with longer sentences had slightly lower rates of recidivism compared to those with shorter sentences (Walker, Farrington, & Tucker, 1981). Research Hypothesis The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between the length of incarceration and the recidivism. The specific hypothesis for this study is that there is relationship between the duration of imprisonment and the rate of redivism among the offenders. It is possible that other variables affect the recidivism. From the earlier studies done on the topic, I suspect my hypothesis will be positive. Confinement increases the risk of recidivism. For other offenders, recidivism rates will either be unaffected or reduced by longer terms of incarceration. It is possible that for some types of offenders, there is an optimum length of sentence which minimizes recidivism. The direction and the extent of these effects upon the offenders may be influenced by the jurisdiction and offender characteristics such as age, offense type, prior offense and prior sentence experiences (Layman, 2006, pp. 1-23). Variables used in the study The variables to be used in the study will include the age of the offender, sex of the offenders, type of the crime the individual is convicted for. The age of the offender is the total number of years of the offender. In this research, the age brackets will include those ranging from 18 years to 59 years. The age below 18 is not included because the offences committed by those under 18 are considered juvenile crime. The sex includes the specific gender of the offender either female or male. The type of the crime the individual is convicted for includes the various types of crimes. They range from burglary, fraud and robbery (Ekland, Kelly, & Eisenberg, 1992). Research Design The research design to be used in the paper will be cohort study design. The study design will be used because the research will follow up the identified sample for some time. Offenders who are arrested and convicted will be identified and the type of the crime they have been convicted for, those already in jails and are about to finish their jail term will be part of the study. They will them be studied when serving the sentence and after release. The study will be carried out for a period of two years. Observation will be used in the cohort study to find out the behaviors of the inmates and those released and the tendency of recidivism. In addition to the observation interviews will be conducted with the participants so that they can give their perception of the recidivism and the factors that lead to them committing an offence after release. The preference of this research design over the others is that it can follow the participants over a given period of time unlike the other study designs (Henslin, 2008, pp. 32-45). Sample Size and Sampling methods The sample for the study will be 2000 offenders from different states in United States. To get representative sample for the whole nation each federal state corrective center will contribute the participants in the study. Purposive sampling will be the main method of getting the sample. The eligible participants will include the offenders who are about to finish their jail term and those freshly convicted of offences. Ages will also be a major determining factor in the selection of the sample, those under the age of 18 and over the age 59 will be excluded from the research. The purposive sampling design favors this type of research most because to get the right participants, I will have to review the participant being studied, choose those that qualify and the relevant variables. For instance, only participants who are arrested and convicted will be picked (Kristen, 2009, pp. 98-107). Validity and Reliability of Measures To ensure that the measures taken are valid and reliable, observation protocol and credible data keeping will be key to the study. Experts in the field of criminal justice will be conducted to provide guidelines on the research. Results The results obtained from the research will be analyzed to check if the results approve or disapprove the research hypothesis. Various methods of study analyzes will be applied to ensure that the results are well interpreted and conform to the method of the study. Conclusion To date, only limited number of researches have examined the relationship between times spend in jail and post recidivism. This research will determine the effects of incarceration and the rate of recidivism. It will help to determine the extent to which the imprisonment affects recidivism and foster understanding about the effects of time of correction in jail or any rehabilitative measure and redivism among the offenders in United States. References Ekland, O.S., Kelly, W.R., and Eisenberg, M. (1992). Crime and Incarceration: Some Comparative Findings from the 1980s. Crime & Delinquency, 38 (3), 392- 416. Henslin, J. (2008). Social Problems: A down to earth approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kristen, B. (2009). The causes of Recidivism in criminal justice system and why it is worth the cost to address them. Nashville bar Journal, 7 (1), 23-35. Layman, M. (2006). Measuring Recidivism. Montgomery County: Urban Institute. Samuel, W. (1992). Origins of contemporary criminal justice: the American bar foundation survey, 1953-1969. Justice quarterly, 9 (1), 98-107. Walker, N., Farrington, D.P., and Tucker, G. (1981). Reconviction Rates of Adult Males after Different Sentences. British Journal of Criminology, 21 (4), 357-360. Read More