Highlights
Violent offenders recidivated at a higher rate than non-violent offenders. Over an eight-year follow-up period, nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, compared to more than one-third (38.4%) of non-violent offenders.
Even higher rates of recidivism apply to firearm offenders.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
Article
There are reports stating that property offenders have higher rates of recidivism. The data here refutes that assertion.
The US Sentencing Commission creates an array of well-respected data on recidivism (based on new arrests), some focusing on specific types of offenders. Additional reports on overall recidivism are summarized in the report linked below.
The US Sentencing Commission creates reports on federal offenders while the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice focuses on both state and federal offenders. There is an immense difference between state and federal prisons as to who they hold with state institutions housing primarily violent offenders and the federal Bureau of Prisons principally holding major drug and immigration inmates.
A side note; adult violent offenders in Washington, D.C. are sentenced to the federal Bureau of Prisons which could affect results.
Rearrest are used by the US Sentencing Commission. The Bureau of Justice Statistics uses arrests and incarcerations when measuring state and federal recidivism.
Robbery offenders comprise the largest group of violent released federal inmates, accounting for 43.3% of the 3,020 violent offenders released in 2010.
Regardless, violent offenders in federal or state prisons are similar thus the findings here apply to all.
Also, see US Sentencing Commission findings as to firearm offenders as having the highest rates of recidivism.
Recidivism
Recidivism is based on arrest-prosecution and incarceration after release from prison or while on parole and probation. See “Offender Recidivism And Reentry” for a comprehensive overview of recidivism reports from the US Sentencing Commission and the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice.
The Most Common Understanding
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.
A ten-year study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that 82% were arrested at least once during the 10 years following release. Offenders committed well over two million new crimes. About 61% of prisoners released in 2008 returned to prison within 10 years for a parole or probation violation or a new sentence.
Do Programs Addressing Offender Recidivism Work?
The short answer is no.
Most programs don’t work and when they do, the effect is a ten percent or less reduction.
Per a recent literature review, the most successful program is cognitive-behavioral therapy, which averaged a twenty percent reduction.
The bottom line is that the vast majority of offenders participating in programs saw no decline in recidivism, Do Offender Recidivism Programs Work.
United States Sentencing Commission-Published February 10, 2022 (lightly edited for brevity and readability-editor’s notes are used)
This report is the third in a series continuing the Commission’s research of the recidivism of federal offenders. It provides an overview of the recidivism of the 13,883 federal (emphasis added) violent offenders released from incarceration or sentenced to a term of probation in 2010, combining data regularly collected by the Commission with data compiled from criminal history records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This report provides an overview of recidivism for these offenders and information on key offender and offense characteristics related to recidivism. This report also compares recidivism outcomes for federal violent offenders released in 2010 to non-violent offenders in the study group.
The final study group of 13,883 violent 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
This study demonstrated substantially greater recidivism among violent federal offenders compared to non-violent federal offenders.
The recidivism rates of violent and non-violent offenders released in 2005 and 2010 remained unchanged despite two intervening major developments in the federal criminal justice system—the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker (editor’s note-sentence calculations) and increased use of evidence-based practices in federal supervision.
This finding is consistent with other Commission reports demonstrating higher recidivism among violent offenders including the 2019 Violence Recidivism Report, the Armed Career Criminal Report, and the Career Offender Report.
Violent offenders recidivated at a higher rate than non-violent offenders. Over an eight-year follow-up period, nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, compared to more than one-third (38.4%) of non-violent offenders.
Violent offenders recidivated more quickly than non-violent offenders. The median time to rearrest was 16 months for violent offenders and 22 months for non-violent offenders.
Among offenders who were rearrested, violent offenders were rearrested for a violent offense at a higher rate than non-violent offenders, 38.9 percent compared to 22.0 percent.
Assault was the most common type of rearrest for both violent and non-violent offenders, but a larger proportion of violent offenders (24.9%) than non-violent offenders (15.4%) were rearrested for assault.
Age at release is strongly correlated with recidivism for both violent and non-violent offenders. Rearrest rates decrease steadily with each age group for both groups of offenders.
However, violent offenders had higher rearrest rates than non-violent offenders in each age group. Among offenders aged 60 and older, the oldest group of offenders studied, 25.1 percent of violent offenders were rearrested compared to 11.5 percent of non-violent offenders.
Criminal History Category (CHC) is strongly correlated with recidivism for both violent and non-violent offenders. Rearrest rates increase steadily with each CHC for both groups of offenders. However, violent offenders had higher rearrest rates than non-violent offenders in every CHC.
Analyzed separately, violent instant offenders (59.9%) and violent prior offenders (64.8%) were rearrested at a higher rate than non-violent offenders (38.4%).
Among offenders who were rearrested, offenders with a violent instant offense (45.5%) and offenders with a violent prior offense (37.1%) were arrested for a new violent offense more often than non-violent offenders (22.0%).
The current recidivism findings for violent and non-violent offenders released in 2010 replicate the Commission’s findings for offenders released in 2005.
Nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, the same rate for violent offenders released in 2005 (63.8%).
More than one-third (38.4%) of non-violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, a comparable rate to non-violent offenders released in 2005 (39.8%).
Related Reports:
Recidivism of Federal Offenders Released in 2010 (September 2021)
Recidivism Among Federal Violent Offenders (January 2019)
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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