17.1.21

(2026 Exams) Recidivism

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Recidivism

This is when a criminal commits more crimes after imprisonment. It is important to reduce recidivism for the criminals themselves and society in general.

Influencing factors

Influencing factors

  • There are 7 factors that influence recidivism (how likely a prisoner is to commit crime again):
    • How long they spent in prison?
    • Are they on conditional release?
      • (Release that is supervised or monitored.)
    • How well supervised they are after release?
      • (Do they have a probationary officer, how often do they visit.)
Influencing factors cont.

Influencing factors cont.

  • What their disciplinary report states?
  • How much education the prisoner has?
  • How serious was the crime they committed?
  • What the ethnicity of the prisoner is?
  • Finally, what were their individual experiences in prisons?
Recidivism reduction

Recidivism reduction

  • In general in the UK, recidivism has decreased very slowly over time in adults.
  • In 2016, the rate was 28.6%, which was 1% lower than in 2005.
  • To compare, juvenile rates fell from 80% to 41.7% in the same time period.
Recidivism UK

Recidivism UK

  • As well, adults who served custodial sentences of less than 12 months had a proven reoffending rate of 64.9% in 2016.
  • Clearly, there are still issues with recidivism in the UK.
  • Recidivism has high costs to the economy and government.
  • Therefore, reducing recidivist rates would be of great benefit.
Employment and recidivism

Employment and recidivism

  • Gillis et al. (1998) studied the link between post-imprisonment employment and how likely they were to reoffend.
  • They found that those offenders that had found employment within the first 6 months had far fewer convictions that those offenders who had not found employment.
  • It is important to note this a correlation. The causality is difficult to state definitively.
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Social Influence

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Memory

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Attachment

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Research Methods

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Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

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