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

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

Drug Offenders Increasing Percentage of Prison Releases                                   Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/releases.htm

Increases in Recidivism Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/recidivism.htm#recidivism

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

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?

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

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

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

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

Type of Incarceration Offense

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

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%)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rearrest Rates of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

Reconviction of Female and All Prisoners by Time after Release

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

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

Type of Rearrest for Females

Criminal Career Patterns for Females

Career Offense Types for Females

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

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

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

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