Incarceration And Recidivism

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Incarceration and Recidivism University of Tampa Fall 2011 Intro to CRM Research and Writing Derek Jackson In a society if someone does something against the societies wishes or thoughts they are sent to jail for incarceration. In some cases the offender repeats the same crime and goes back to jail. Why would some want to go back for doing a crime that they have previously been incarcerated for? Some say that their reward is better than the risk. While others argue that it’s all that person may know. But does incarceration rehabilitate offenders and if so what is the likelihood that they return to prison. There are those that argue that going to prison doesn’t decrease recidivism. Cullen, Jonson, and Nagin (2011) explain how incarceration will lead to recidivism and not a safer community. These authors found a study by Langan and Levin (2002) that concluded within 3 years of release, 67.5% of the prisoners were rearrested for a new offense, 46.9% were reconvicted for a new crime, and 25.4% were resentenced to prison. Within 3 months of release, roughly 30% of the inmates had been rearrested. For the sample, Langan and Levin also examined the rate of return to prison for either new crimes or technical violations, discovering that 51.8% ended up back behind bars. Most of the inmates that repeat offend are often treated for the wrong needs in prison and go back to what they know. “Without education, job skills, and other basic services, offenders are likely to repeat the same steps that brought them to jail in the first place… This is a problem that needs to be addressed head-on. We cannot say we are doing everything we can to keep our communities and our families safe if we are not addressing the high rate at which offenders are becoming repeat criminals.”(Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) March 18, 2011). The arrest that occur the most in the US is possession of

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