RECIDIVISM RATE OF AFRO AMERICANS

Recidivism Rate of Afro Americans

Recidivism Rate of Afro Americans

Introduction

Recidivism refers to the return of an offender to criminal behavior following conviction, diversion, or punishment. The reasons that people reoffend vary. The degree to which any particular factor may cause someone to commit another crime is unclear, but the following list comprises seven general theories about why offenders return to criminal practices.

Background

The concept of recidivism as applied to criminology began in the late nineteenth century, at the beginning of the modern era of sociology. By the early twentieth century, criminologists were proposing general theories about what causes crime and causes it to persist, and the concept had achieved general enough use in crime and law enforcement discussions that the derivative term recidivist was in use. In 1928, Illinois developed an assessment instrument for predicting future crime to determine parole eligibility for inmates. The introduction of formal risk assessment protocols permanently integrated recidivism prediction into correctional sentencing. Risk assessment quickly proliferated through corrections agencies and so pervades the criminal justice system that now, as crime commands media headlines, the popular press uses “recidivism” without the need to define it.

Problem Statement

Recidivism rates vary between cohorts with different characteristics, different follow-up periods, and different failure events measured. Analysis of the timing of recidivism across studies shows, however, that the rates generally follow a particular pattern, one common type in survival analysis.

A disproportionate percentage of recidivism within a cohort occurs relatively soon after the qualifying event. As the follow-up period lengthens, a decreasing percentage of cohort members recidivate. Recidivism studies using survival analysis often report this pattern, particular to their cohorts, with charts that graph the recidivism rate frequency over the time of follow-up. These display clearly any differences in rates between cohort members with a certain characteristic such as age, for example.

Hypotheses

Offenders who engage in nonviolent, less serious crimes tend to have higher recidivism rates, and they usually repeat these offenses because they reflect daily life activities. This includes offenders who commit consensual crimes such as prostitution and buying illegal drugs and status crimes such as public trespass or public drunkenness. Most recidivism studies, however, focus on offender patterns involving more serious crimes.

Literature Review

Various theories exist regarding the causes and types of crime, but whatever causes crime also causes recidivism. The only exception is that the nature of prior contact with the criminal justice system may also influence recidivism. So the kinds of factors that correlate with criminal events also correlate more or less with recidivism events. These correlates (predictors) include demographic characteristics, personal history, psychosocial status items, and prior criminal justice system involvement items. Studies collect this data about cohort members to understand the effects these factors have on recidivism in particular cohorts. Evaluation studies especially must use these factors related to recidivism rates to control statistically for their effects.

Studies of general offender populations consistently find that certain factors affect recidivism rates. For example, two large studies of prison releasees document strong relationships between factors and recidivism ...