Majority of offenders who are incarcerated in the U.S. will at some time return to the community in hopes of not returning to the system. Criminal Justice professionals have made it a priority and commitment to help keep these offenders in the community and from not reentering into the system. The research included in this paper examines different approaches made by criminal justice professionals to help reduce the rates of recidivism.
Recidivism refers to an offenders relapse to criminal activity, causing reentry to the criminal system. Millions of adults in the U.S. are currently in the criminal system, whether it be incarceration, parole or probation (Ph.D., 1998). The Bureau of Justice Statistics found in a study that 404,638 state prisoners from 30 states were released in 2005. Out of that number, 67.8 percent of these offenders were re-arrested within three years of their release and 76.6 percent were re-arrested within five years (Dickson, 2014).
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (2009), at least ninety-five percent of state prisoners will be releases from prison and back into the community at some point (Schmidt, 2010). Majority of the prison population is a result of drug offenses and most offenders who make up the recidivism rate are drug users (Ph.D., 1998). Criminals who commit drug and sex related crimes, tend to be the most repeated offenders. With little resources and options, these released offenders will often times find themselves converting back to their old ways?
State and local governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on services and programs targeted towards reducing recidivism rates (Center, 2015). Often times the government does not have the necessary information to ensure what approaches and programs are effective or not. Many of the approaches relied on by state and local corrections officials to keep