As reported on BBCRadio 4 on 2 September 2005, the recidivism rates for released prisoners in the United States of America were 60%. The recidivism rates of criminals who commit specific crimes are even higher. People who were convicted of robbery, for example, had rearrest rates of 70%. Another shocking stat is from 1994, 37% of juveniles adjudicated delinquents were committed to a correctional facility as an adult. I could not find more recent data, but I would assume it’s risen,just as the incarceration rates have. 60% of young adults who were convicted of violent crimes reported having committed serious violent offenses had committed similar acts before age 18. Only 34.4% of criminals are first-time, non-violent offenders. (BJS) And to top it off many prisons are operating with an overpopulated inmate population, which the prison is not equipt to deal with.      

             

  I have personally known many people that are part of these statistics. I have had many in depth conversations with these individuals about why they feel the prison system had failed them. I have seen these people return to prison over and over again, regardless of how admit they to never go back. It has been proven that a majority of people, who have been in prison more than twice, will continue to be in and out of prison their whole lives. If we could correct their individuals issues while they were still young and in the beginning of there incarceration patterns, i believe that so many problems could be resolved. We could save these individuals lives, greatly lower incarceration rates, and lower crime rates.