NCJ Number
75927
Date Published
Unknown
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This report provides an overview of recidivism rates for five random and one technically nonrandom sample of inmates released between 1970 and 1978.
Abstract
Recidivism was defined as an arrest for a new offense within the first year after arrest, or the issuance of a parole or probation warrant within that period of time. Arrests for minor crimes such as drunkenness and vagrancy were excluded. Inmates with sentneces of 1 year and 1 day or less were excluded from the survey population. The percent of offenders avoiding rearrest increased from 67.8 percent in 1970 to 75.7 percent in 1978. An analysis of Salient Factor Scores assigned to assess the recidivism risk of inmates released between 1970 and 1976 and most residents released in 1977 and 1978 indicated that the reduction in recidivism was due primarily to a reduction in the level of risk associated with the offenders. Although assessed risk declined over the study period, the seriousness of commitment offenses increased. The seriousness of rearrest offenses among those participants rearrested during the study also increased. While 20 percent of those rearrested in 1970 were arrested for a violent crime, 27 percent of those rearrested in 1978 were rearrested for these types of offenses. Tabular data, footnotes and 14 references are provided.