Recidivism

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

In criminological terms, recidivism describes the occurrence of reoffending following official attempts by the state to prevent crime. Recidivism rates vary according to class (socio-economic location) and ethnicity, suggesting that statistics about reoffending (whether events become known to police and are counted as crime) likely reveal as much about policing tactics and possible biases against certain groups as they do about the actual level of recidivism. Some types of offenders are less likely than others to recidivate post-imprisonment. Defying popular (mis)conceptions, sex offenders tend to be rearrested at comparatively low rates when viewed next to those convicted of property crime or non-sexual violent crime. Studies of recidivism tend to result in a binary view of the social and criminal justice fields. There is good evidence to say that few studies of recidivism build in the variables of offence severity and frequency when reporting rates of reoffending.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Companion to Criminological Theory and Concepts
EditorsAvi Brisman, Eamonn Carrabine, Nigel South
Place of PublicationOxon, UK
PublisherTaylor and Francis - Balkema
Chapter5.13
Pages471-474
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-315-74490-2
ISBN (Print)978-1-138-81899-6, 978-1-138-8900-9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • Criminology
  • Recidivism

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