CONCEPT OF RECIDIVISM IN INDIA

Introduction

A recidivist or a person habitually addicted to crime is one who is a criminal by habit or by

disposition formed by the repetition of crimes. These are the persons who have embraced
criminality as a mode of life and commit crime with boldness and courage. Reformative
measures of treatment completely fail in case of such offenders. Imprisonment is the only
alternative to prevent recedivists from repeating crime. Various state and jurisdictions may
have laws targeting recidivists, and specifically providing for enhanced or
exemplary punishments or other sanctions. They are designed to counter recidivists by physical
incapacitation via imprisonment. The ever –increasing commission of crime habitually is
undoubtedly a crucial problem for penologists in the crime control and rehabilitation of
offenders.

A. Meaning

Recidivism is a tendency to lapse into a previous pattern of behavior, especially a pattern of

criminal habits. Many courts are now utilizing drug and alcohol treatment programs to reduce the
recidivism rate of offenders who commit drug or alcohol related crimes. Recidivism is often used
to identify the success of a specific institutional program.

Recidivism means the rearrest, reconviction, or reincarceration of former inmates. Recidivism is

the critical outcome variable in corrections, but assessing recidivism is a very complex
measurement problem. Re-admission to prison is the most conservative measure; most studies
use arrest for a new crime.

The effect of prison or jail sentences on recidivism is an important issue to those concerned with
public safety and the cost-effectiveness of putting convicted offenders in prison. Opinions are
divided between those advocating longer sentences in the interest of public safety, and those
advocating shorter sentences with the assumption that incarceration, or longer prison terms, will
not reduce recidivism rates.
 B. Characteristics of Recidivists1
1. Age

A sizable proportion of recidivists are young or middle-aged, and they have become younger in
recent years. Among recidivists, the 20-40 years old age group accounts for more than 85% of
the total number of offenders. Compared to first-time offenders, recidivists are generally older.
An investigation shows that the 18-25 years old age group accounts for 53.5% of all first-time
offenders, and the 26-35 years old age group accounts for 30%; while the 18-25 years old age
group accounts for 33.2% of all recidivists; the 26-35 years old accounts for 45%. Most first-
time offenders are 18-25 years old, and most recidivists are 26-35 years old.

2. Educational Level

Recidivists’ educational level is generally on the low side. According to the investigation
conducted in India, 94.7% of all recidivists are educated to middle or junior high school level
only.

3. Occupation

Among recidivists, the number of unemployed and peasant class persons is huge, accounting for
86.7% of the total amount.

4. Sex

99.1% of recidivists are male.

5. Living Environment

An investigation shows that most released prisoners live in the countryside or in small towns,
and many of them have no jobs. Compared to first-time offenders, recidivists’ occupational
status and employment histories are generally humble. Because of unemployment and social
discrimination, the majority of offenders return to crime after release from prison.

6. Timeframe
A majority (57.1%) of recidivists recommit crime within three years of release from prison. This
fact demonstrates that the first three years after release is a key period in establishing an effective
return to society.

C. Causes for Recidivism2

Recidivism is the most dangerous form of criminal activity. Repeated offences indicate a
stubborn refusal to face socially useful lives. The causes for the recidivism are as follows:

1. Shortcomings of Law Enforcement

In another reason causing commission of crimes habitually is shortcomings of law enforcement.

This failure to respond to crime, when slowness criminal cases, and low crime-solving, and
violation of the law on the comprehensive, full and objective investigation of the circumstances
of the offence.

2. Difficulties of Social Adaptation of Persons Released From Punishment

The third reason of causes of crimes habitually should be attributed the difficulties of social
adaptation of persons released from punishment, and especially from those already named in
prison. They arise in connection with the shutdown of the convict from normal life of society,
weakening or even complete destruction of the social formation of good relationships and
exchange of anti-social ties, "habituation" to the regime and conditions in prisons, psychiatric
disorders that appear due to prolonged confinement in a closed and isolated system. Also a very
negative effect on the distribution of prisoners and criminals to each other to impose customs and
traditions of the criminal environment.

5. Other factors

5.2. Peer influence

A person's peer group strongly influences a decision to commit crime. For example, young boys
and girls who do not fit into expected standards of academic achievement can sometimes become
 lost in the competition. Children of families who cannot afford adequate clothing school
supplies can also fall into the same trp. Researchers believe these youth abandon schoolmates in
favor of criminal gangs, since membership in a gang earns respect and status in a different
manner. In gangs, antisocial behavior and criminal activity earns respect and street credibility.
Like society in general, criminal gangs are usually focused on material gain. Gangs, however,
resort to extortion, fraud, and theft as a means of achieving it.

5.3  Drugs and alcohol

Some social factors pose an especially strong influence over a person's ability to make choices.
Drug and alcohol abuse is one such factor. The urge to commit crime to support a drug habit
definitely influences the decision process. Both drugs and alcohol impair judgment and reduce
inhibitions (socially defined rules of behavior), giving a person greater courage to commit a
crime. Deterrents such as long prison sentences have little meaning when a person is high or
drunk.

D. Preventive Measures to Control Recidivists3

Twenty- first century materialism has contributed substantially to the growing incidence of
recidivists. The concept of morality, mutual respect, fear, love and faith have lost their
importance in modern times. Consequently, humanity and human values have lost their credence.
Under the circumstances, resort to crime is considered as an easy mode of earning money and
satisfying egoistic needs of life. The need of the time, therefore, demands that law courts should
take notice of this psychology working behind the modern “criminal” and award punishment
which may suit the individual offender, the society as also the ends of criminal justice. Some of
the measures which may be suggested for suppressing recidivists are as follow:

1. Improvised Integrated Programme of Legal Sentence and Treatment

Experience has shown that individualized methods of treatment serve no useful purpose in case
of recidivists. At the same time, deterrent punitive measures have also proved equally ineffective
 in their case. It is, therefore, desired that an integrated programme of legal sentence and
treatment be improvised in the penal system for the rehabilitation of recidivists.

2. Arrange the Prisons with Maximum Security

Recidivists should be kept in prisons equipped with maximum security arrangements. They
should be under the constant surveillance so that security is fully protected against these
miscreants.

3. Adequate After –Care Treatment

Adequate After –Care treatment at the time of inmate’s release from prison or a correctional
institution may prepare him for an upright living in society, shedding aside his inferiority
complex. This would include hope, self –confidence and self –respect in the offender which
would enable him to adjust himself to the conditions of normal life in society.

4. Need for Amendment in the Lengthy Criminal Trials

Unduly lengthy procedure of criminal trial should be suitably amended to secure summary
conviction of recidivists and hardened offenders. Avoiding delays in criminal trials is all the
more necessary to ensure that the gravity of the offence is not washed off by long delays. Speedy
trials and punishment can further be effective in putting a check on the offender reaping undue
benefit of his criminal act. His immediate conviction after the incidence of crime shall act as a
sufficient deterrent to dissuade him from repeating crime.
1