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

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

3. Drug Offenders Increasing Percentage of Prison Releases
                                 
Source:

4. Increases in Recidivism
Source:

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 Demographics by 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 Sentences by 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

13. Comparing Criminal History by 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 hispanic sentence age rlse # priors time serve violent first drug first

24. Type of Rearrest for Females

25. Criminal Career Patterns for Females

26. Career Offense Types for 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 initiatives to 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