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Abstract:
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The three latest Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) studies on the recidivism of persons incarcerated in state prisons each expand on previous recidivism research in different ways: increasing the number of states in the study, increasing the follow-up period, and analyzing recidivism from the perspective of prison admission cohorts rather than the traditional release cohort approach. Overall findings suggest that the inclusion of additional states in the sample affects key measures of recidivism yet does not have a sizable impact on the demographic composition of persons. Moreover, expanding the follow-up period revealed that patterns observed in shorter follow-up periods continue to hold. The results of the admission cohort study will also be discussed. The comparison of these different approaches offers key insights into how criminal history and recidivism statistics vary – or not – based on research design. This information is valuable to researchers in the planning stages of their own recidivism studies.
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