Reducing Recidivism

Crime in the United States, particularly violent crime, has been a major concern of the American population for decades. Although incumbent politicians, regardless of political affiliation, typically supply statistics to indicate that the crime problem has been and is being dealt with in an effective manner under their administrations, most people in the general population, particularly those residing in the country's urban areas, tend to perceive little improvement in the situation, regardless of what approach is being taken in the administration of criminal justice.

From the mid1970s through the mid1980s, the American prison population increased by 84 percentfrom approximately 285 thousand to around 524,000 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1988, p. 413). Per 100 thousan

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sion, as opposed to the shock incarceration, that accounted for the superior adjustment of the shock parolees to community supervision. Further, the researchers found that intervening variables offered no additional explanations of any differences between the four sample groups when the level of supervision was controlled. Importantly, the researchers reported that the recidivism rate was virtually the same for all groups of prisoners studied (Mackenzie, Shaw, and Souryal, 1992, pp. 437454). Thus, regardless of how well the researchers contended that shock incarceration parolees adjusted to community supervision when the level of supervision was not controlled, the fact remains that the end outcome is virtually the same for all prisoners. Intensive corrections supervision is effectively limited to participants in shock incarceration programs. The success of intensive supervision in shock incarceration programs, however, is indicative of a likelihood that the concept would work equally as well in conjunction with any corrections program. The problem, however, is that intensive supervision in conjunction with shock incarceration programs has not produced any positive effects on the longterm recidivism rate (Mackenzie, Shaw, a
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Approximate Word count = 3071
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)