Reducing recidivism will help everyone

Recidivism is the tendency of a convicted criminal to repeat or reoffend a crime after already receiving punishment or serving their sentence. The term is often used in conjunction with substance abuse as a synonym for relapse but is specifically used for criminal behavior.

According to the National Institute of Justice, almost 44% of criminals released return before the end of their first year out of prison. Factors contributing to recidivism include a person’s social environment, their community, their circumstances before incarceration, events during their incarceration, and, one of the main reasons, difficulty adjusting back into normal life. Many of these individuals have trouble reconnecting with family and finding a job to support themselves.

People in the formerly incarcerated categories are often shunned because of terms like ex-felon, ex-offender, ex-convict because these labels really describe conduct, not that person. If the community would stop placing a quick judgement about these individuals but instead talk, listen, understand, forgive, and process the information to form an opinion about the person’s story rather than group everyone together of one-person worst mistake or intentional crime.

Ex-felons are fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, they are community members.

Overall, they are humans that have served their time for the crime and now must reintegrate back into society. Currently prisons are overcrowded and inmates are forced to live in inhumane conditions, even those who are innocent and awaiting trial. The United States justice system places its efforts on getting criminals off of the streets by locking them up but fails to fix

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‘A Political View’ By Sherry Holliman SHERRY HOLLIMAN (cont.)

the issue of preventing these people from reoffending afterward. Recidivism affects everyone, the offender, their family, the victim of the crime, law enforcement, and the community overall.

Crime can and will affect anyone in any community, and when a previouslyincarcerated person is released without support and resources they are likely to repeat an offense or act out a new crime. All taxpayers are impacted by the economic cost of crime and incarceration as the average per-inmate cost of incarceration in the U.S. is $31,286 per year.

According to research males have a higher recidivism

females had a rate of 48.21%.

It is believed that some inmates released back into the community exhibit certain attributes that may increase their chances of recidivism. Because of these barriers the reintegration process will be more difficult as a result of both individual and community characteristics. Inmates, especially parolees, are forced to return to the same impoverished neighborhoods that are certain to increase criminal opportunities, due to limited educational, vocational, and social support services, and weakened personal support networks. At some point, most prisoners will return to their communities.

Re-entry is destined to occur, but are these individuals prepared to function successfully?

How can they be included in all the activities and programming conducted to prepare them to return to society as law-abiding citizens?

Should society care about recidivism?

Should the success of an intimate reentering their community be contingent on programs or their willingness to improve overall? Society should care and provide solutions to help reduce recidivism rates, with ensuring released intimates are receiving the proper treatment, provided with work opportunities, jousing, utilizing educational programs and vocational training, while providing public safety and carrying out the mandates of the courts. However, it is important to note that the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders is a process dependent upon collaboration and efforts by all justice system stakeholders.

Sherry Holliman is a concerned citizen of Crittenden County and has some views on a variety of topics that she wants to share with her neighbors. She serves on the Marion City Council.