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Originally Posted by Ustwo
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I know of the study in which you speak. We actually studied that study in my corrections class at university. I also have a study that shows why the methodology of studies such as that are not uncommon and are rife with errors.
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RESULTS BY DESIGN: THE ARTEFACTUAL CONSTRUCTION OF HIGH RECIDIVISM RATES FOR SEX OFFENDERS
Cheryl Marie Webster
Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa
Rosemary Gartner and Anthony N. Doob
Centre of Criminology
University of Toronto
A recently published article by Langevin, Curnoe, Fedoroff, Bennett, Langevin, Peever, Pettica, and Sandhu (2004) reports a recidivism rate of 88.3% for sex offenders. A detailed analysis of the study demonstrates that this unusually high level is uninterpretable because the offenders whose criminal careers were followed are unlikely to be representative of sex offenders in general. Furthermore, the measure of recidivism used in the study not only distorts the normal meaning of recidivism but also artefactually creates an inflated – and consequently meaningless – recidivism rate.
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Why recidivism rates are hard to calculate and at times can be essentially meaningless:
Linky
Recidivism is a poor calculator of the success of justice initiatives because it ignores the fact that our crime problems stem from underlying social issues. The system essentially sets people up to fail so they can go back to prison. Then people can look at the recidivism rate and go, "Gosh, you guys have a huge problem! We need to lock people up for longer so they don't reoffend anymore" without actually addressing why people got there in the first place.
Ustwo, if you actually have the ability to comprehend what someone who doesn't agree with you is saying, listen to this:
I don't blame the hardworking American who is law-abiding. Good for you for making the most of your life and being prosperous. Honestly. But some people have the misfortune to be sexually assaulted as a child, or have an excessively abusive parent, or live in such impoverished conditions that they cannot meet the basic necessities of life. These are the underlying factors that cause criminality. This is not in the developing world, this is happening in BOTH our countries.
I blame the attitude that people who make a mistake are disposable people who deserve to be cast aside with no future prospects for reintegration or rehabilitation. I blame crime-control proponents who commodify prisoners in private institutions, and don't WANT them to be released because they provide a source of cheap labour. What happens when you turn the management of your prisons over to corporations? You get statements like, "Private prisons are like a hotel that will be booked solid to the end of the century!" (I would cite my source, but it's an ad from an American corrections journal in a journal article in a collected works published by my university.)
Yeah right, we live in gumdrop fairy tale land
(ooh I can use the rolling eye emoticon too!), but you're the ones with the massive crime problems that aren't being solved through increasingly harsh sentences.