(Editor’s note: The is the second of a two-part series of excerpts from a recent speech to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia at Jekyll Island.)
We’ve got to be smart and fair about who we put behind bars and for how long. This is not mindless “mass incarceration.” But prison does play a role.
Two months ago, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report on the recidivism rate of inmates released from state prisons in 30 states.
This is the longest-term study that BJS has ever done on recidivism and perhaps the largest. It was designed and started by the previous administration. The results are clear and very important – in fact, historic importance. The reality confirms what experienced professionals like yourselves have seen.
The study found that 83 percent of 60,000 state prisoners released in 2005 were arrested again within nine years. That’s five out of every six.
The study shows that two-thirds of those – a full 68 percent – were arrested within the first three years. Almost half were arrested within a year – one year – of being released.
The study estimates that the 400,000 state prisoners released in 2005 were arrested nearly 2 million times during the nine-year period – an average of five arrests each.
Virtually none of these released prisoners were arrested merely for probation or parole violations: 99 percent of those arrested during the 9-year follow-up period were arrested for something other than a probation or parole violation.
In many cases, former inmates were arrested for an offense at least as serious – if not more so – as the crime that got them in jail in the first place.
It will not surprise you that this is often true for drug offenders.
Many have thought that most drug offenders are young experimenters or persons who just made a mistake. But the study shows a deeper concern.
Seventy-seven percent of all released drug offenders were arrested for a non-drug crime within nine years. Presumably, many were arrested for drug crimes also. Importantly, nearly half of those arrests were for a violent crime. Sometimes arrests lead to treatment, drug courts – often the problem is more serious.
Recidivism is no little matter. It is a fact of life that must be understood.
As any prosecutor in this room can tell you, when a criminal knows with certainty that he is facing real time, he is a lot more willing to confess and cooperate with prosecutors. On the other hand, when the sentence is uncertain and up to the whims of the judge, criminals are a lot more willing to take a chance.
Law enforcement is crime prevention. When we enforce our laws, we prevent new crimes from happening.
