The Justice System and Recidivism

[evearael]

What changes are needed to the Justice System to bring the rate of recidivism down?
What is necessary for sucessful rehabilitation and reintegration into society? Would that vary considerably with different felonies?

Should prison sentences be lengthened for crimes with high recidivism rates?

Do you support "Three Strikes, You're Out" laws that allow the judge to sentence a person to life imprisonment after a third felony conviction?

Please note that for the purposes for this thread I only wish to consider what should be done with those already convicted of felonies to prevent reoffending. What measures should be taken to prevent people from commiting felonies in the first place is the subject of another thread.

Article:
Two-Thirds of Former State Prisoners Rearrested for Serious New Crimes

 

[Radio Frequency X]

For sex-crimes I think we should support a Zero-Tolerance policy, with high mandatory minimum sentences. I think we should be cautious, strict, but open-minded toward acts of violence that are not obviously habitual. But, each time a crime is committed, the punishments should increase exponentially. Also, we should be doing more and more research in criminal psychology, in order to see if we can't understand the underlining causes of habitual criminal behavior.

 

[doppelganger]

What changes are needed to the Justice System to bring the rate of recidivism down?

What is recidivism? And what causes it?

 

[Djamila]

It's my understanding there are isolated rehabilitation programs at a handful of prisons across the United States which, for various groups of defenders, have proven to be very worthwhile in terms of their impact on recidivism.

But... the American prison system is built around the ideal of punishment, the rehabilitation aspect of the mission statement was never properly developed. Now the aspect of punishment is being worn away as well, which is clear because a significant portion of the American prison population is composed of people who purposely commit a crime simply to get back - and have their television, and their three meals a day, and their warm bed, etc.

 

[FatMan]

I don't support the three strikes and you're out rule mainly because it then causes issues by trapping people with 3 minor (in relative terms) infractions with those committing 3 major ones.

In my opinion you get into a Catch-22 when tackling how to rehabilitate without having several other problems result. The best way to rehabilitate is to provide education, develop a trade, and hone other skills while in prison, but then if once a prisoner is released into the outside and he fails, that tact could lead to the thinking that prison isn't all that bad.

Meanwhile if you run a prison like it is a gulag, you break the spirit of men to the point that they continue to have a depraved indifference to humanity.

I don't really think there are any good ideas for rehabilitation - it all depends on how hard each individual wants to work at being "good", and that's something that is difficult to apply across many.