Re-Entry and Recidivism

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

2. Increasing Burden on CJS Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys

3. 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 abuse • 16% report a mental condition • Less than one-third received treatment • Few have marketable skills or sufficient literacy to become gainfully employed • 33% unemployed at arrest • 60% have GED or HS diploma • 25% in vocational training programs • 33% participated education programs Source: J. Petersilia (2005) Hard Time: Ex-Offenders Returning Home after Prison

6. Current Research • Study funded by NIJ using archived data • Examines recidivism patterns during 3 years post release • Evaluates measures of offense specialization • How do incarceration and recidivism of males and females differ? • What factors will be important for prisoner re-entry?

7. Research Design • Secondary data • Collected by Bureau of Justice Statistics • Three year follow-up of inmates released in 1994 • Discharged from 15 states • Weighted data for all analyses • 248,528 males • 23,585 females

8. Data Sources for Recidivism Measures • Official FBI and state criminal histories • Rearrest • Reconviction • Resentenced to prison • Official criminal history and state DOC • Return to prison with or without new sentence

9. Results • Sample characteristics by gender • Demographics • Criminal history • Recidivism • Patterns of male and female offending

10. 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

11. Type of Incarceration Offense

12. Comparing Sentencesby Gender • Higher proportion of women (79%) incarcerated for property or drug offense than men (65%) • Women sentences shorter than malesby 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

13. 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%)

14. Recidivism for Male and Female Prisoners REARR: Rearrested (recidivated) RECON: Reconvicted RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

15. Violent Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender REARR: Rearrested (recidivated) RECON: Reconvicted RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

16. Property Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender REARR: Rearrested (recidivated) RECON: Reconvicted RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

17. Drug Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender REARR: Rearrested (recidivated) RECON: Reconvicted RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

18. Public-order Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender REARR: Rearrested (recidivated) RECON: Reconvicted RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

19. Other Offense Category by Recidivism Status by Gender REARR: Rearrested (recidivated) RECON: Reconvicted RENPS: Returned to prison with a new sentence RPWOW: Returned to prison with or without a new sentence

20. Rearrest Rates of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

21. Reconviction of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

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

23. Time to Rearrest for Females Variables in the Equation black 273.3hispanic 22.6sentence 144.6age rlse 647.1# priors 2259.9time serve 36.0violent first 41.8 drug first 63.1

24. Type of Rearrest for Females

25. Criminal Career Patternsfor Females

26. Career Offense Typesfor Females

27. Preliminary Findings on Female Recidivism and Specialization • Three strongest predictors • Number of prior arrests • Age at release • African-American race • Drug and property offenders more likely than violent offenders to be re-arrested • High proportion of career offenses same type • Over half of property offenders repeat • About one third for violent or drug offenses

28. Policy Implications • Male violent offenders pose greatest risk • Need for community reinvestment initiativesto reverse socioeconomic risk factors • Female property and drug offenders highest rates of recidivism • Community-based treatment may be more appropriate than prison • Re-entry should focus on drug treatment, stable housing, wraparound services

29. California Prisons versus Other States Source: Fischer (2005) UCI Center for Evidence Based Corrections Bulletin 1(1)

30. 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