What does “recidivism” mean?
Recidivism is the act of repeating an undesirable behavior after having either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or having been trained to stop, or prevented from, choosing that behavior. It is most commonly used in the context of criminal behavior, to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense. It may also be used in the context of substance abuse or medical relapse.
Two additional distinctions that are important yet not always specified when using the word “recidivism” in a criminal context are:
- whether the behavior was a re-offence (whether or not they were caught), a re-arrest, a re-conviction, or a re-incarceration. Most academic studies and government statistics use the frequency of re-arrest to define recidivism.
- the time period in which the sample of released prisoners were measured for rates of recidivism. A recidivism rate measured over 6 months from release is lower than a rate measured over 5 years.
Related Words
Synonyms: relapsing, backsliding; habitual offender, repeat offending, re-offending.
Antonyms: reentry, reintegration, and rehabilitation.
The act: recidivate
The person: recidivist
Used in a Sentence
“President Obama Announces New Actions to Reduce Recidivism and Promote Reintegration of Formerly Incarcerated Individuals”
“Prisoner Re-Entry Program (PRI) participants’ one-year post-release recidivism rate is currently less than half the national average recidivism rate.”
BJS first collected the criminal history records of this same sample of prisoners to analyze their recidivism patterns for 5 years following release.
Sequence of events leading to incarceration:
- Accusation. Someone accuses you of a crime or a law enforcement officer sees you committing one.
- Arrest. You are taken into custody by a law enforcement officer, under suspicion of having committed a crime.
- Charged. Law enforcement provides an explanation for why you were arrested.
- Indicted. A court of law formally accuses you of a crime. If you haven’t been arrested yet, a grand jury may decide you should be indicted, which triggers the arrest.
- Tried. Your indictment is processed by the court system to determine whether you are guilty or not, assuming the case is not plead.
- Convicted. A jury returns a verdict that you did commit the crime.
- Incarcerated. After a judge hands down a sentence, you are remanded to the jail or prison system for a period of time.
