Recidivism

• Prisoners become institutionalised

  -        Used to being in prison, their day is organised for them.

  -        Basic needs are being met (food, shelter).

  -        Safe space.

  -        Sense of belongingness – cannot function out of prison.
• Behaviourist principles are delayed

  -        Punishment isn’t given immediately (court cases can take months or years) – no association made between crime and punishment.

  -        Learning through consequence has to be immediate – behaviourism.
• Mental health or addiction issues

  -        Poor mental health and addiction disorders are related to crime, so if the problem isn’t treated in prison, it leads to the offender being vulnerable to reoffend.
• -        Malott & Fromader (2010) conducted a survey with 102 Australian male offenders asking them about how they felt about release from prison and what they felt would reduce the likelihood of recidivism. They found that the offenders felt unsupported upon release and said that a greater level of accessible resources, treatment and/or support services after release would help reduce their recidivism.
• Malott & fromader supports the idea that offenders can feel institutionalised and that by reoffending they re-enter an environment that is organised for them rather than an unsupported outside environment.
• -        Cartier et al. (2006) researched the link between drug abuse and recidivism rates. They found a clear relationship between substance abuse and reoffending rates, although interestingly this was not linked to violent offences.

  o   This suggests that addiction, if not treated within the prison system, can lead to reoffending.
• -        Coid et al (2017) found the mental health of prisoners had a direct effect on recidivism rates. The researchers found that offenders in the UK who received treatment for their mental health problems whilst in prison were 60% less likely to offend than untreated prison inmates. They were also 80% less likely to commit violent acts than untreated inmates.

  o   This suggests that offenders may re-offend due to poor mental health that wasn’t treated whilst in prison.
• -        Prisons may be referred to as ‘universities of crime’, a reason for recidivism.

  o   E.g. this idea is consistent with the work of Sutherland who suggested offending behaviour increases when associating with people who have pro-criminal attitudes.

  o   This is because it gives younger inmates (in particular) an opportunity to learn the ‘tricks of the trade’ from more experienced offenders.

  o   This undermines the attempt to rehabilitate offenders, making reoffending more likely, highlighting the issues of recidivism.
• -        There are individual differences in recidivism.

  o   Walker et al (1981) found the length of a sentence made little difference to habitual offenders who were just as likely to reoffend no matter the sentence length. In addition to this, younger people are more likely to offend along with those who commit theft and burglary that are twice as likely to offend.

  o   This shows that there are certain types of offences where re-offending is more likely and perhaps these groups need more targeting.
• -        Much evidence on reasons for recidivism comes from offenders themselves which may be problematic, focusing on self-report measures where offenders often adopt an external locus of control.

  o   Trammel (2002) looked at reoffending and locus of control finding offenders often had an external locus of control.

  o   Offenders were likely to attribute reoffending to issues with the system, not themselves being the reason to offend.

  o   This suggests some of the self-reported reasons for re-offending may not be reliability reported.
• -        A reason for high re-offending rates could be due to punishment not being given immediately, reducing the effectiveness of custodial sentencing.

  o   Research demonstrates that for some of the prison population, punishment does not work.

  o   This is because of the delay of going to prison which behaviourists would suggest removes the feeling of punishment. They might see the sentence as a punishment for being caught, not a punishment for the offence.