40 percent of ex-cons wind up back behind bars
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northside7
Members Posts: 25,739 ✭✭✭✭✭
'The assumption is that these are all choir boys at the prison and if we let them out, all will be well'
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42560154/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
"The system doesn't work.."
ATLANTA — More than 40 percent of ex-cons commit crimes within three years of their release and wind up back behind bars, despite billions in taxpayer dollars spent on prison systems that are supposed to help rehabilitate them, according to a study released Wednesday.
The study by the Pew Center on the States concluded there was only marginal improvement in the nation's recidivism rate even as spending on corrections departments has increased to about $52 billion annually from around $30 billion a decade ago.
About 43 percent of prisoners who were let out in 2004 were sent back to prison by 2007, either for a new crime or violating the conditions of their release, the study found. That number was down from 45 percent during a similar period beginning in 1999.
The stubborn recidivism rates are a sign the programs and policies designed to deter re-offenders were falling short, and lawmakers should consider treatment-based alternative sentences for nonviolent offenders, said Adam Gelb of the center's Public Safety Performance Project.
"We know so much more today than we did 30 years ago when prisons became the weapon of choice in the fight against crime," he said.
"There are new technologies and new strategies that research has shown can make a significant dent in return to prison rates," he added. "There are fewer and fewer policymakers who think that spending more taxpayer money to build more prisons is the best way to reduce crime."
Others were skeptical of sentencing reform efforts.
The president of the National District Attorneys Association said legislators shouldn't be too quick to abandon tough-on-crime policies in favor of alternative sentencing. Those initiatives only save money in the short-term, New Hampshire prosecutor Jim Reams said.
"The assumption is that these are all choir boys at the prison and if we let them out, all will be well. And it doesn't work that way," Reams said. "We're getting exactly what we deserve when we do this — we're getting more crime."
Holding system accountable The Pew report found that of 33 states that reported data for both 1999 and 2004 releases, recidivism rates fell in 17 states and climbed in 15 states. One state reported no change.
Gelb cautioned that corrections departments alone aren't to blame — prosecutors, courts, probation officers and faith-based organizations also should be held accountable.
Wyoming and Oregon had the lowest overall recidivism rates for offenders released in 2004, with rates hovering below 25 percent.
Minnesota had the highest — more than 61 percent — while Alaska, California, Illinois, Missouri and Vermont all topped 50 percent.
The recidivism rate in Kansas dropped by more than 22 percent between 1999 and 2004, while it jumped by about 35 percent in South Dakota over the same period.
The 41 states that provided data for 2004 could save a combined $635 million in one year if they slashed their recidivism rates by 10 percent, the study found.
California, the home of the nation's largest prison system, could save $233 million in one year by slashing its recidivism rate by 10 percent.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42560154/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
"The system doesn't work.."
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if companies won't hire people with felonies, those numbers will never go down.
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if companies won't hire people with felonies, those numbers will never go down.
Too much risk with little to no reward, but they have to give people chances.... -
It shouldn't be surprising. No matter how many programs they have in jail, it won't overcome the fact that their daily lives are conditioning them for nothing else but to exist in jail. Then when they get out and their are no opportunities to even try to live the right way, it's not surprising they go back to what they know. After all, they have no fear of going back to jail being that they are probably more comfortable being there than they are being free.
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this is because regardless of if you have served your time in prison, you still have a life sentence to serve in society.
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word
the quickest way to make sure someone turns to crime again is to deny him any chance at a 9 to 5
but in some cases, the system is working as it was designed to work. Which is why some prisons are being privatized. Inmates are a big business
got that work for cheap
privatized prisoners>>>>>>>>>>>undocumented immigrants -
It's actually worse than all that. You don't even have to go to prison to basically be blackballed in life. You just have to have something on your record. My cousin has been battling this for the past 3 or so years. He got a misdemeanor gun charge a few years ago. It wasn't even anything serious. Basically, he got stopped for a routine traffic ticket. The cop asked him if he had a weapon in the car. He did and it was registered. The problem is, he had it under the seat instead of in the glove box, so he got charged for that. That one mistake has basically ruined his life for the past few years. He can't get a job at all, and he knows it's due to that charge. There has been more than one occasion where he has been hired and then turned away on the day that he was supposed to start because the background check came in and they saw the charge. Now if he turned around and went to crime, the system would have no probably judging him and throwing the book at him, but what else is he supposed to do?
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That doesn't seem right....but what I don't understand. How is a gun permit any different than someone who has a concealed weapon permit? other than where said weapon/gun can be carried??...does it have to be stored in a box?
I don't think it has to be in a box. It's South Carolina law that it has to be in the glove compartment though. I'm pretty sure the thought process behind the law is to protect cops. There is no doubt my cuz broke the law, but it was a relatively minor infraction and he didn't hurt anyone. That doesn't matter. The employers see that he has a gun charge and the pass him by. He was even told by one guy that it was the case. My cuz had an interview with that dude and everything was going real well and it basically seemed like the job was his. The guy called him back and told him that he didn't get the job. My cuz asked him why not and the guy told him flat out that it was his record and the people above him wouldn't clear the hire even though he advocated for my cuz. That's just foul.
It's even worse when it comes to a DUI. In SC, DUIs are never cleared from your record and unlike other driving infractions they follow you from state to state, so if you get a DUI in SC you're basically ? for life. No one will hire you and there is absolutely nothing you can do to get it off your record. So say you get the DUI at 21, you may still be penalized for it at 42 even if you haven't had a drink since that day. They actually had a couple people on the news who were going through that. They were both well educated individuals who had basically lost everything and were stuck in dead end jobs because no one else would hire them. -
I live California.....my last DUI was in 1989.....I think it stays there for 10 years and drops off. One think you didn't mention above...was your cousins DUI....a felony/or misdemeanor conviction.
Nah, my cuz was the one with the gun charge. I was just pointing out another law designed to crush people. It doesn't matter if it is a felony or misdemeanor DUI in SC. Either way, it's not ever coming off your record. -
not surprising
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Thought this percentage would be higher but the main determinants are unemployment or transitioning into a new system.
