Experts have different views about how to deal with recidivism. Some believe that custodial sentencing is the best way of reducing re-offending, others think that prison may not be the solution and that there are better alternatives. There is also much debate about whether treatment programmes reduce re-offending. Discuss ways of dealing with the problem of recidivism, refer to the views outlined above in your answer. (12)
Custodial sentencing is the imposing of a punishment, consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison (Incarceration) or in some other closed therapeutic/reducational institution. As recidivism refers to the re-offending rate, critics argue that custodial sentencing does not work and cite high recidivism rates as evidence for this. This is due to official statistics showing that 70% of offenders re-offend after custodial sentencing within 2 years of release, which consequently shows that prison may not be the solution. Even with high recidivism rates, custodial sentences might stop more crime than noncustodial sentences. These findings are inconsistent with prisons as a powerful specific deterrent (dwelling on actions/message goes out to the public) and high recidivism rates suggest that many offenders simply are not moved by imprisonment enough to stay out of trouble.
On the other hand however, custodial sentencing has been proven to be a good solution as it has been found that not every type of offender re-offends, sex offenders have been found less likely to offend again, in contrast to those imprisoned for theft. Prisons have been shown to have negative effects on the criminals however, so can it really be deemed a good solution. Evidence for this comes from Zimbardo's experiment, whereby the psychological effects of imprisonment where investigated with volunteer students, who were assigned either a "guard" or "prisoner"