RECIDIVISM RATES Around The Place:

For 'starters' - here's a National Institute of Justice definition of RECIDIVISM:
 Recidivism is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. It refers to a person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime.

Rimutaka Prison Yard Container Cells

So is jail any good at treating criminals? - is it about punishment or does it protect ordinary folk? - does it change criminal's behavior? - Indeed - what is the purpose of imprisonment anyway?

I found a US Govt attempted review of planet-wide recidivism and basically it fails to be "definitive" because all the figures vary in defining what exactly they measure & in what time period is covered.

Are re-incarceration records showing the same significance as re-trials, re-arrests, or further conviction .. what about fines? Their tables tell the story:

LINK:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4472929/

New Zealand Reimprisonment: 

2002–03

Prisoners

after 5 years

52%

USA RE-ARREST:

Within five years of release three quarters (76.6%) have been re-arrested.

England & Wales Two Year Re-conviction rate 59% (includes fines)

- That's just a taste of the different recording systems.

You could think that US (76.6%) is worse than NZ .. but the lesser NZ 52% is after arrest, trial, not guilty findings, and other conclusions than prison are deducted (Home Detention, Fines, Community Service etc.) this 'leveling effect' may (or may not) indicate the same sorry result that crooks are still crooks after being variously treated to the benefits of justice.

you might CONCLUDE either that we should "Lock 'em up & throw away the keys" ... or "it's not working - so we should stop jailing these injured souls and do more to help them".

- Whatever you do (if anything at all) it will cost heaps of taxation money. Either new prisons or new corrections education and addiction treatment, psychiatric help & counseling will be pricey - while remaining uncertain in effect. - Might 'Community Sentencing' be effective if run properly? - If you do nothing .. the costs of crime will continue.

Before you form an opinion .. may I ask - are you SURE that YOU have NEVER done ANYTHING that might have resulted in a GUILTY finding?

Marty K.
Note: Wikipedia states: UK's Official police statistics are unreliable, due to widespread and inconsistent practices of "no criming", with 19% of reported overall crimes not recorded by police, one quarter of sexual crimes and one third of violent crimes.

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

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