Highlights
The recidivism rate of federal prison inmates hasn’t changed despite efforts to use graduated sanctions or other alternatives to incarceration.
Probation, parole, and supervision violations are eight percent of violations in this study. Criminal justice reformers insist that supervision violations are much higher. USDOJ data states that the vast majority of state offenders recidivate based on new crimes.
Similar to findings in its previous studies, the Commission found age and Criminal History Category (CHC) were strongly associated with rearrests. Firearms offenses had the highest rearrest rates.
Prior study-longer sentences mean less recidivism/crime.
Author
Recidivism Resource Available
See a comprehensive review of all major federal and state recidivism (rearrests-reconvictions-reincarcerations after release from prison) at Offender Recidivism In The US.
Note
This article mixes federal and state recidivism data to provide a comprehensive overview.
Article-US Sentencing Commission
This study examined the recidivism of federal offenders released in 2010 during an eight-year follow-up period.
Almost one-half (49.3%) of federal offenders were rearrested during the study period. This recidivism rate is identical to the rate reported by the Commission for federal offenders released in 2005.
This consistency ensued despite two substantial changes in the federal sentencing landscape: the change from a mandatory to an advisory guideline system following Booker (editor’s note: the Supreme Court made a landmark decision in U.S. v. Booker, 125 S. Ct. 738 (2005), that mandatory Federal Sentencing Guidelines, as they had been applied since 1987, violated the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury) “and” the increasing reliance on evidence-based practices in federal supervision (editor’s note: alternatives to incarceration).
Other recidivism patterns also were the same for the two offender cohorts.
Consistent with its prior reports, the Commission found that the combined factors of age and criminal history were strongly associated with recidivism.
All offenders in the study aged 21 and younger in CHC IV through VI (editor’s note-CHI is based on dangerousness-applied via criminal history) were rearrested, compared to 9.4 percent of offenders aged 60 and older in CHC I.
In addition, offenders who originally were sentenced for firearms offenses had the highest rearrest rates of any offense type and offenders originally sentenced for a violent offense had higher rearrest rates compared to non-violent offenders.
The study also examined the relationships of other sentencing and offender characteristics that also were consistent with prior studies.
Previous US Sentencing Commission Data
Per the US Sentencing Commission, longer prison terms produce substantially less recidivism and crime.
Placed in the context of massive recidivism and the criminal histories of prison inmates plus the negligible results of rehabilitation programs, Commission data is important from a public safety perspective.
Critics will point out that The US Sentencing Commission studied federal inmates. There are substantial differences between federal and state correctional systems with the Federal Bureau of Prisons holding a multitude of immigration and drug trafficking offenders and the states primarily holding violent offenders, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The bottom line is that The US Sentencing Commission has created a variety of reports correlating the relationship between criminal history and recidivism and now, with a previous study, we have a methodologically correct, large examination stating that longer periods of incarceration substantially reduce crime and recidivism.
The United States Sentencing Commission-Latest Report
The final study group of 32,135 offenders satisfied the following criteria:
- United States citizens;
- Re-entered the community during 2010 after discharging their sentence of incarceration or by commencing a term of probation in 2010;
- Not reported dead, escaped, or detained;
- Have valid FBI numbers that could be located in criminal history repositories (in at least one state, the District of Columbia, or federal records).
Key Findings
The recidivism rate remained unchanged for federal offenders released in 2010 compared to offenders released in 2005 despite two intervening major developments in the federal criminal justice system: the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker and increased use of evidence-based practices in federal supervision.
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- Over an eight-year follow-up period, nearly one-half (49.3%) of federal offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, the same rate for offenders released in 2005 (49.3%).
- Other recidivism patterns also were consistent for the two offender cohorts.
- For offenders who were rearrested, the median time to arrest was 19 months. The largest proportion (18.2%) of offenders were rearrested for the first time during the first year following release.
- In each subsequent year, fewer offenders were rearrested for the first time than in previous years.
- Most offenders in the study were rearrested prior to the end of supervision terms. Of those offenders who were sentenced to a term of supervision and rearrested, 76.3 percent were rearrested earlier than the expiration of their originally imposed supervision term
- Assault was the most common (20.7%) offense at rearrest.
- The second most common offense was drug trafficking (11.3%), followed by: larceny (8.7%), probation, parole, and supervision violations (8.1%), and administration of justice offenses (7.5%).
- Combined, violent offenses comprised approximately one-third of rearrests; 31.4 percent of offenders were rearrested for assault (20.7%), robbery (4.5%), murder (2.3%), other violent offense (2.3%), or sexual assault (1.6%).
- Similar to findings in its previous studies, the Commission found age and Criminal History Category (CHC) were strongly associated with rearrests.
- Offenders in CHC I (the least serious CHC) had the lowest rearrest rates (30.2%) and offenders in CHC VI (the most serious CHC) had the highest rearrest rates (76.2%).
- In addition, nearly three-quarters (72.5%) of offenders younger than age 21 upon release were rearrested during the study period compared to 15.9 percent of offenders aged 60 and older.
- Combined, the impact of CHC and age on recidivism was even stronger. During the eight-year follow-up period, 100 percent of offenders who were younger than 21 at the time of release and in CHC IV, V, and VI (the most serious CHCs) were rearrested. In contrast, only 9.4 percent of offenders in CHC I (the least serious CHC) who were aged 60 and older at release were rearrested.
- Offenders sentenced for firearms and robbery offenses had the highest rearrest rates during the eight-year follow-up period, with 70.6 percent and 63.2 percent, respectively.
- In contrast, offenders sentenced for fraud, theft, or embezzlement had the lowest rearrest rate (35.5%).
Source
United States Sentencing Commission
Conclusions
There are five primary reasons for the high rate of incarceration in the United States:
Recidivism data states that most people released from prison will continue to commit crimes. The vast majority of people released from state prisons return to the justice system.
Recidivism is based on those released from prison who are arrested, convicted, or incarcerated again. The most common understanding of recidivism is based on state data from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, stating that two-thirds (68 percent) of prisoners released were arrested for a new crime within three years of release from prison, and three-quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years.
Within 3 years of release, 49.7% of inmates either had an arrest that resulted in a conviction with a disposition of a prison sentence or were returned to prison without a new conviction because they violated a technical condition of their release, as did 55.1% of inmates within 5 years of release, Recidivism.
At the most fundamental level, most people believe that public safety takes precedence. Most crimes are not reported to law enforcement, most reported crime does not end in arrest, and many arrests are not prosecuted. It’s obvious that the numbers cited above are undercounted.
Second, as to the impact of correctional rehabilitation programs, most do not reduce recidivism, and even when there are reductions, they are generally small, National Institute Of Justice.
The third reason for the lack of reform is the criminal histories of those in prison. The vast majority have multiple arrests and convictions, Criminal Histories. Most in state prisons are there for a violent crime.
Fourth, most believe that people in prison deserve to be there based on the serious nature of their crimes and criminal backgrounds. Fifty-six percent are “currently” there for a violent crime and if you take previous arrests and convictions into consideration, most have violent or serious criminal histories.
Finally, the overwhelming majority of state violations were for new crimes, not technical violations, as confirmed by the new report from the US Sentencing Commission, Technical Violations Not Connected To Recidivism.
See More
See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.
Most Dangerous Cities/States/Countries at Most Dangerous Cities.
US Crime Rates at Nationwide Crime Rates.
National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.
An Overview Of Data On Mental Health at Mental Health And Crime.
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