About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 Lawrence A. Greenfeld, Examining Recidivism 1 (1985)

handle is hein.death/exrecd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report 1 Examining Recidivism By Lawrence A. Greenfeld BJS Statistician The effectiveness of criminal justice policies and practices is often gauged by the extent to which offenders, after the imposition of punishment, continue to engage in crime. This study ex- amines recidivism through an analysis of a nationwide survey of inmates of State prisons conducted in October and November of 1979 and sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The following are the key findings of this survey: * An estimated 61% of those admitted to prison in 1979 were recidivists (i.e., they had previously served a sentence to incarceration as a juvenile, adult, or both). Of those entering prison without a history of incarceration (an estimated 39% of all admissions), nearly 60% had prior convictions that resulted in pro- bation and an estimated 27% were on probation at the time of their prison admission. * An estimated 46% of the recidivists entering prison in 1979 would still have been in prison at the time of their admission if they had fully served the maximum term of their last sentence to confinement. This group, referred to as avertable recidivists, constituted approximately 28% of all those who entered prison in 1979. * Recidivists were estimated to account for approximately two-thirds 'The maximum term of confinement is defined in the Inmate Survey as the maxi- mum sentence to incarceration imposed upon an offender by a sentencing court. Often courts impose a minimum and maximum sen- tence so that the sentence reflects a range of duration (e.g., 1 to 3 years). For purposes of this study, the maximum of the range imposed is considered to be the maximum sentence. Note that the maximum imposed sentence is not necessarily the same as the maximum sentence allowed by the statutes of a State. February 1985 Few issues in criminal justice have drawn as much scholarly and public attention as the impact of recidivism on public safety and the implications of this issue for sentencing policy. Career criminal programs and man- datory or enhanced sentences for repeat offenders are examples of pol- icies designed to reduce the threat recidivists pose to society. This special report presents important new findings relevant to the contem- porary debate on recidivism, public safety, and sentencing policy. Perhaps the most striking finding of this report is that approximately 28% of those who entered prison in 1979 would still have been in prison at the time of their admission if they had served their maximum prior con- finement sentence. Most of these avertable recidivists were still on parole for a prior crime when they reentered prison. The study also found that about two-fifths of all offenders admitted to prison were on probation or parole (nearly equally divided) at the time of their admis- sion. This study is based upon the 1979 Survey of State Prison Inmates, the most recent of two major national inmate surveys sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Through personal interviews with 9,040 or more of the burglaries, auto thefts, and forgery/fraud/embezzlement off en- ses attributable to all the admissions. When their past criminal histories were examined, however, recidivists were found to be as likely as first-time admissions to have a current or prior violent offense. * Of the estimated 200,000 offenses reported by the 1979 prison admissions, inmates in 1974 and 11,397 inmates in 1979, these surveys collected de- tailed information on the Nation's prisoners, including accounts of prior convictions and incarcerations. Cur- rently, the BJS inmate surveys are the only source of criminal history information for a representative sample of inmates in the Nation's State prisons. The wealth of data contained in these surveys is avail- able to researchers in automated form through the BJS Criminal Jus- tice Archive. A third survey is scheduled for later in 1985. The findings presented in this spe- cial report, combined with the results of other research, raise serious ques- tions about the impact of probation and parole decisions on public safety and create a challenge for those who shape sentencing policy. Studies of this type are only pos- sible with the generous cooperation of the departments of corrections of the 50 States and the District of Columbia. The Bureau of Justice Statistics wishes to express its continued gratitude to those who have assisted its efforts to collect accurate and timely data on correc- tions in the United States. Steven R. Schlesinger Director the avertable recidivists accounted for approximately 20% of the violent crimes, 28% of the burglaries and auto thefts, 30% of the forgery/fraud/em- bezzlement offenses, and 31% of the stolen property offenses. e Based on recidivist self-reports of how long it took them to reenter prison by 1979, it is estimated that nearly half (48.7%) of all those who exit prison will - -7,00 W,*' *

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most