I recently read an article on recidivism. This a word I had never heard of before, but after reading the article by Lottie Joiner I felt I knew a lot about. The definition of recidivism is "the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they had either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or had been trained to extinguish that behavior." It is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who were rearrested for a similar offense.
In the U.S., men, women, and children get caught in a cycle of incarceration at rates that exceed nearly all other nations, and a broken justice system doesn't help most start over and rebuild their lives. Our country, which routes itself as a nation of laws, has more offenses (over 300,000), that are ,considered a crime and will land you in jail, and any other nation in the world. We have the harshest sentences and the system is geared to work on the front end. That means the jails are cramed full of people. However, when these people get out there is nothing in the system to help change their behavior and contrary to logic they are extremely penalized, therefor not being able to move forward in society.
After release they their criminal record prevents them from getting affordable housing, a job with a living wage, and legal restrictions make it almost impossible for them to rebuild their lives. The statistic are stacked heavily against African American men and women. Incarcerated kids become incarcerated adults. Trapped in a downward spiral, and learning the lessons of how to survive in jail and then on the streets once released. The system invested almost nothing on these individuals once they are released and they are left to their own means to figure it out.
As an African American I would venture to say that almost every black family in American has someone either in their family or close to it that either has been or is currently incarcerated. Is the system rigged? Yes !!!!! Those in power, with wealth and resources hold this system over minorities as a way to marginalize, exploit and subordinate the weaker group. Those laws set up under the pretext of a "war on drugs" where meant just for that purpose. Drugs were criminalized for that purpose. However, now that opioids have struck middle American and the majority (white) population, it is not a crime but an epidemic. We have survivor and mental health professionals, along with money to try and save these addicts. Unlike the black and brown addicts of the past.
Anyway, I digress. Addressing social problems, not continuing to put people in jail, will help decrease recidivism.
In the U.S., men, women, and children get caught in a cycle of incarceration at rates that exceed nearly all other nations, and a broken justice system doesn't help most start over and rebuild their lives. Our country, which routes itself as a nation of laws, has more offenses (over 300,000), that are ,considered a crime and will land you in jail, and any other nation in the world. We have the harshest sentences and the system is geared to work on the front end. That means the jails are cramed full of people. However, when these people get out there is nothing in the system to help change their behavior and contrary to logic they are extremely penalized, therefor not being able to move forward in society.
After release they their criminal record prevents them from getting affordable housing, a job with a living wage, and legal restrictions make it almost impossible for them to rebuild their lives. The statistic are stacked heavily against African American men and women. Incarcerated kids become incarcerated adults. Trapped in a downward spiral, and learning the lessons of how to survive in jail and then on the streets once released. The system invested almost nothing on these individuals once they are released and they are left to their own means to figure it out.
As an African American I would venture to say that almost every black family in American has someone either in their family or close to it that either has been or is currently incarcerated. Is the system rigged? Yes !!!!! Those in power, with wealth and resources hold this system over minorities as a way to marginalize, exploit and subordinate the weaker group. Those laws set up under the pretext of a "war on drugs" where meant just for that purpose. Drugs were criminalized for that purpose. However, now that opioids have struck middle American and the majority (white) population, it is not a crime but an epidemic. We have survivor and mental health professionals, along with money to try and save these addicts. Unlike the black and brown addicts of the past.
Anyway, I digress. Addressing social problems, not continuing to put people in jail, will help decrease recidivism.
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