Recidivism

Danyal Ahmad Jamal

COMSATS, Islamabad.
Definition

 Recidivism comes from Latin word recidivus means "recurring“ or “back"

 Definition “It is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have
experienced negative consequences (punishment/imprisonment ) of that behavior
already.”
 Recidivism refers to an offender’s relapse into criminal behavior.
 It is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a
nearly similar offense.
Core concept of Criminal Justice System

1. Incapacitation refers to the state of a sanction to stop people from committing crime by removing
them from the community.
2. Specific deterrence is the terminology used to denote whether a sanction stops people from
committing further crime, once the sanction has been imposed or completed.
3. Rehabilitation refers to the extent to which a program is implicated in the reduction of crime by
"repairing" the individual in some way by addressing his or her needs or deficits.
4. Desistance refers to the process by which a person arrives at a permanent state of nonoffending.
In effect, an individual released from prison will either recidivate or desist..
Recidivism has also been implicated in the performance of prisons and has been used to study the
difference between the effectiveness of prisons’ system.
Why Many Prison systems Fail?

 Prison does not address the psychological problems that caused prisoners to commit crimes in
the first place e.g. poor moral development or mental health issues.
 People are released in the same social environment that they came from with social deprivation
and unemployment.
 The stigma attached to having been imprisoned makes it difficult to reintegrate in society e.g.
finding a job. Furthermore, they associate with the same people.
 Differential Association Theory gives explanation of offending suggests that through interaction
with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motivation for criminal
behavior.
 For some people, prison is preferable to the life they left behind, they have companionship, food
and a warm shelter.
Steps of Recidivism

 Firstly, recidivism needs to have a starting event, such as a release from criminal custody or the completion of a
rehabilitation program.
 Secondly, there needs to be some failure after this event, such as a subsequent arrest or a subsequent arrest for a
violent crime.
 Thirdly, there needs to be a recidivism window, or a follow-up period (usually 3 years in many countries) under
which an offender’s further window can be recidivism.

 In every case, recidivism ultimately refers to a person’s relapse into criminal behavior, usually after receiving
sanctions or undergoing intervention for a previous crime.
(Zgoba and Salerno, 2017).
Causes of Recidivism

 Incorrigibility (Offender rationally does crimes & will reoffend if not punished severely).
 Police Misconduct
 Lack of Education
 Mental Retardation
 Peer pressure & social provocations
 Substance/drug abuse
 History of violence
 Paraphilias
 Unemployment & poverty
 Labeling
 Gender: Men > Women
International Stats

25% of released prisoners are rearrested in

the first 6 months, 40% withing first year &
63% withing three years (Bureau of
Justice Statistics).


Just parole record show only 44% who
finished parole were considered successful
(Perersilia, 1999).
Social Control Theory (Hirschi, 1969)

 Crime occurs because of weakened bonds to society.

 If a person is not connected internally & externally with social bonds, recidivism occurs.
 Social bonds help restrain deviant impulses.
 Social bonds to family, school, work & religious places prevent reoccurrence of crime.

 According to this theory, bonds can be:

1. Attachment ( with family, peers and society)
2. Commitment (towards goals, values, families)
3. Involvement (withing society)
4. Beliefs (towards social/cultural/religious norms, rules, laws and values)
 If these social bonds are weak, person with recommit crime (recidivism).
Lombroso’s Theory of Born Criminal

 Lombroso was Italian army psychiatrist.

 According to him “Offenders/ Criminals are born not made”
 Focus more on personality and physical apperance of criminals not on criminal behavior.
According to him:
 Criminals are Less sensitive towards understanding pain
 Biological / Physical inferiority led to crime
 He divided criminals into 3 categories:
 Hereditary Criminal
Born Criminal, Genetics tendency of crime, no environmental impact, incorrigibles (beyond
reformation).
 Insane Criminal
Crime due to mental depravity or disorder
 Criminaloids
Commit crime to avoid inferiority
Prevention from Recidivism

 To reduce recidivism (i.e., re-offending), punishment needs to fit the individual as well as the crime and
more research is needed into reducing the negative psychological effects of imprisonment.
 The aim should be for offenders to leave prison fully reformed and ready to take on the role of productive
and law-abiding citizens.
 Alternatives to imprisonment – Given that we know prison doesn’t work we need alternatives. Some
alternatives include probation and restorative justice.
 However, the government is reluctant to invest in prisoners, due to economic restraints and public opinion.
Continue..

 From a behaviorist viewpoint, prison could work but it does not because it does not follow the principles of
operant conditioning.
 For learning to take place the punishment must be probable (i.e. it must always or nearly always follow the
behavior), prompt (i.e. must follow the behavior with very shortly) and very unpleasant.
 However, many offenders are not caught (or not every time they commit a crime), the punishment is not
prompt because there is a long delay between committing the crime, being convicted and being sent to
prison.
 Prison is unpleasant for most prisoners but there are other consequences to the offense e.g. financial gain or
other forms of gratification.
 Punishment should be rapid, direct and justified.
 Families as motivation to avoid crime
 The present-day remedial techniques for treatment of criminals basically include characterization of offenders into various
classes with the goal that they can be sufficiently punished or sent to an appropriate institution. Starting here of perspective
on probability of offenders transforming into recidivists, they might be grouped into following classifications: –
 Innocent convicts
 Insane criminals
 Criminals by accident
 Occasional criminals
 Habitual offenders
 White collar criminals
 This characterization rests on the responsibility of the offender to his act. For instance, innocent convicts are those who are
convicted and imprisoned due to wrong or misguided judgment of the law court. They are therefore, innocent persons who
have been wrongly involved, sentenced and brought to prison or a similar institution. Clearly, such people ought to be
managed mercifully on the grounds that commonly they want to maintain a strategic distance from the organization of
recidivists and hardened criminals.
 The insane criminals commit crime because of certain psychological disorder and are considered irresponsible to their
crime. They are therefore, fit to clinical methods of treatment instead of penal sanctions. Normally, such criminals are not
recidivists.
 The criminal by accident are not habitual or professional criminals but lend into criminality per chance. Their
crime is never premediated but is the result of momentary impulsiveness or soothing opportunity in which the
criminals finds himself placed incidentally. These criminals are not considered as recidivist.
 The crimes committed by occasional criminals are often well planned but these criminals do not accept
criminality as a profession. The treatment of such offenders should depend on their psychological condition.
These criminals turn to recidivists if not properly handled. They ought to in this way, be dealt with carefully.
 A habitual offender is a person who is a criminal by habit. These are the people who have held onto guiltiness
as a method of life and perpetrate wrong doing with strength and boldness.
 There is another category of criminals known as white collar criminals. They are persons of high social status
who commits crime in course of their business. The remedy suggested for such criminals is to award severe
punishment though stringent laws.
 Adequate after-care treatment, when criminal release from prison or a correctional institution, must be prepared
for his upright living in society. This assistance provides hope, self-confidence and self-respect to the offender
which would help him to adjust himself again to the conditions of normal life in society.
Rehabilitation Process of Criminals

 The Process of reeducating & retraining offenders to help changing the factors that led them to crime.
Some common techniques in rehabilitation process:
Deradicalization
Educating
Religious services
Anger management
Job Skills learning
Reintegration
Mental & Physical health programs
Role of Psychologist in Prisons

 Correction & Community reintegration of prisoners

 Psychological screening, treatments & rehabilitation
 Research and Development
 Mental wellbeing's of inmates and staff of prisons
Interpersonal Therapy for Recidivism

 Cognitive training of restructuring maladaptive thinking patterns.

 It takes into consideration each individual’s current stage of change & social support.
 It uses Motivational Interviewing Techniques to move person toward action, including development of
stronger social support.
CBT to counter recidivism

 Risk factors causally linked to criminal behavior, scientists use the term criminogenic needs. Examples of
criminogenic needs include impulsivity, aggression, a lack of problem-solving and self-control skills,
anti-social peers, negative attitudes about work and authority, and substance abuse.
 CBT, prisoners are taught to identify and manage the above issues and their thoughts that contribute to
emotional problems, altering their cognitive malfunctioning and faulty behaviors.
Psychological scales for recidivism

 General Recidivism Risk Scale (GRRS) for recidivism in general inmates

 Violent Recidivism Risk Scale (VRRS) for violent recidivism cases.
Srilanka’s DDR program for combating
recidivism In Tamil Tigers
(Class Discussion )
ANY QUESTION?