Re-Entry and Recidivism Libby Deschenes, Ph.D. Cal State University, Long Beach Barbara Owen, Ph.D....

Re-Entry and Recidivism

Libby Deschenes, Ph.D. Cal State University, Long BeachBarbara Owen, Ph.D. andJason Crow

Cal State University, Fresno

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Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys

Increasing Burden on CJS

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Drug Offenders Increasing Percentage of Prison Releases

Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/releases.htm

4

Increases in Recidivism

Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/recidivism.htm#recidivism

5

Challenges of Re-entry Serious social and medical problems

75% history drug/alcohol abuse16% report a mental conditionLess than one-third received treatment

Few have marketable skills or sufficient literacy to become gainfully employed33% unemployed at arrest60% have GED or HS diploma25% in vocational training programs33% participated education programs

Source: J. Petersilia (2005) Hard Time: Ex-Offenders Returning Home after Prison

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Current Research

Study funded by NIJ using archived dataExamines recidivism patterns during 3 years

post releaseEvaluates measures of offense specialization

How do incarceration and recidivism of males and females differ?

What factors will be important for prisoner re-entry?

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Research Design Secondary data

Collected by Bureau of Justice Statistics Three year follow-up of inmates

released in 1994Discharged from 15 states

Weighted data for all analyses248,528 males23,585 females

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Data Sources for Recidivism Measures

Official FBI and state criminal historiesRearrestReconvictionResentenced to prison

Official criminal history and state DOCReturn to prison with or without new sentence

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Results

Sample characteristics by genderDemographicsCriminal historyRecidivism

Patterns of male and female offending

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Comparing Demographicsby Gender Females represent 8.7% of total sample Black women (50.5%) more represented than

White women (48.5%), in direct contrast with males (Black, 48.3%; White, 50.6%)

Hispanic women underrepresented in comparison to males (19.6% versus 25%)

Women released later in life than men

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Type of Incarceration Offense

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Violent Property Drugs PublicOrder

Other

MaleFemale

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Comparing Sentencesby Gender Higher proportion of women (79%) incarcerated

for property or drug offense than men (65%) Women sentences shorter than males

by 10.3 months, averaging 49.6 months Women served a mean time of 14.2 months, 6.7

months less than the men Women served 30.2% of original sentence, men

served 35.7% of original sentence

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Comparing Criminal Historyby Gender

Similar prior arrest rates (92.8% and 93.2%, respectively)

Males more likely to have at least one prior conviction (96.9% to 89.1%)

Women less likely to have a prior prison sentence (37.3% vs. 44.2%)

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Recidivism for Male and Female Prisoners

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

REARR RECON RENPS RPWOW

Male

Female

REARR: Rearrested (recidivated)RECON: ReconvictedRENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentenceRPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

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Violent Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Male

Female


16

Property Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Male

Female


17

Drug Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Male

Female


18

Public-order Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Male

Female


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Other Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%


Male

Female


20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

6 Months 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years

Time to Rearrest

Cu

mu

lati

ve P

erce

nt

Rea

rres

ted

Female

All

Rearrest Rates of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

21

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50


Time to Reconviction

Cu

mu

lati

ve P

erce

nt

Rec

on

vict

ed

Female

All

Reconviction of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

22

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50


Time to Return to Prison with a New Sentence

Cu

mu

lati

ve P

erce

nt

Ret

urn

ed t

o P

riso

n

wit

h a

New

Sen

ten

ce

Female

All

Return to Prison of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

23

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Days since Release

Pro

po

rio

n s

urv

ivin

g

ViolentPropertyTraffickingPossessionDisorderOther

Time to Rearrest for Females

Variables in the Equationblack 273.3hispanic 22.6sentence 144.6age rlse 647.1# priors 2259.9time serve 36.0violent first 41.8 drug first 63.1

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Type of Rearrest for Females

None43%

Violent5%

Property20%

Drugs17%

Public Order11%

Other4%

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Criminal Career Patternsfor Females

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Mean

Nu

mb

er

of

Off

en

ses

Violent Property Drugs PublicDisorder

Other

Before

After

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Career Offense Typesfor Females

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

%

of

Car

eer

Violent Property DrugTrafficking

DrugPossession

PublicDisorder

Other

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Preliminary Findings on Female Recidivism and Specialization Three strongest predictors

Number of prior arrestsAge at releaseAfrican-American race

Drug and property offenders more likely than violent offenders to be re-arrested

High proportion of career offenses same typeOver half of property offenders repeatAbout one third for violent or drug offenses

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Policy Implications

Male violent offenders pose greatest riskNeed for community reinvestment initiatives

to reverse socioeconomic risk factors

Female property and drug offenders highest rates of recidivismCommunity-based treatment may be more

appropriate than prisonRe-entry should focus on drug treatment,

stable housing, wraparound services

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California Prisons versus Other States

0%10%

20%30%40%50%

60%70%80%90%

100%

Rearrested Reconvicted Prison fromNew Crime

Prison fromTechnicalViolation

Return toPrison

California New York Texas

Source: Fischer (2005) UCI Center for Evidence Based Corrections Bulletin 1(1)

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California Recidivism Has Different Policy Implications Fischer’s analysis controls for background

Rearrest not higher in CA compared to FL Reconviction lower in CA compared to NY

High rates of technical violations partially explained by fact that nearly all CA prisoners report to parole agents

Petersilia (2005) recommends reinstating discretionary parole

Austin, Hardyman & Irwin (2002) suggest reducing time on parole to 6 months and require parole board guidelines based on risk and need

Re-Entry and Recidivism Libby Deschenes, Ph.D. Cal State University, Long Beach Barbara Owen, Ph.D....

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