Prisons - Rehabilitation Or Punishment?

In 2001 there were just over 2 million people incarcerated in the United States.⁹ Approximately 635,000 people were released from state and federal correctional facilities in that year alone. This is equal to 1,700 prisoners reentering society each day.

With this fact before us, a question naturally arises: Have those reentering society after a period of incarceration been rehabilitated? From a look at available data on recidivism rates, the answer is no. Prisoners released from state prisons in 1983 and in 1994¹⁰ were re arrested, re convicted, and re incarcerated at very high rates.

If recidivism rates from the 1994 study are applied to all prisoners released in 2001, then we can expect the following: (1) to see 279,400 of the total 635,000 rearrested before the end of 2002; (2) to see136,525 of these ex-convicts reconvicted by the end of 2002; and (3) to see 66,040 back in prison by New Year's Day 2003. Those are just the predictions for the first year. By New Year's Day 2005, more than half of those released from prison in 2001 (328,930) can be expected to have been returned to prison for either a new offense or a violation of the terms of their 2001 release. Most systems with a 50% failure rate would be judged harshly.

However, this statement implies that the correctional system is designed to rehabilitate. In fact, there is legitimate debate as to the objective of a penal or correctional system. Some will argue that the penal system is responsible for punishing convicted criminals. They further assert that the more severe the punishment, the greater its deterrent value. Others believe that a penal system must attempt to rehabilitate convicted criminals. The argument here is that a rehabilitative system will have a greater impact on reducing crime than a strictly punitive system. With ever growing numbers of ex-convicts reentering society and persistently high recidivism rates, this debate takes on increasing poignancy.

The graph on the left presents additional data from the 1994 study on recidivism. It shows that the number of times a prisoner has been arrested prior to incarceration can be used as a gauge for predicting whether that prisoner will continue to commit crimes after being released from prison. As the number of prior arrests rises, the likelihood of being rearrested rises, as does the likelihood of being reconvicted and reincarcerated. The more "hard core" the criminal, the more likely he or she is to get back into the criminal life upon reentry into society.

Recidivism Rates and Number of Prior Arrests for Prisoners Released in 1994

Another predictor of recidivism rates is age. If we look at rearrest rates by age we get a clear pattern. The younger a person is upon release from prison, the more likely he or she is to be rearrested within three years. This result is fairly predictable since criminal activity decreases with age. It's also a result that suggests that efforts at rehabilitating youthful offenders may have a greater impact on recidivism and crime rates than would similar programs for older offenders.

Rearrest Rates by Age at Release of State Prisoners Released in 1994

What are the results of studies done to try and ascertain the effectiveness of criminal rehabilitation programs? Are there characteristics of the prison population that make certain types of rehabilitation programs more effective than others? These are the questions we will attempt to answer in the next panel.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1983, April 1989, pp. 1 and 3. Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994, June 2002, pp. 1, 3, 7. Prisons in 2001, July 2002, p. 1. Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001, August 2002, p. 1.