The Role Of Recidivism In The United States Prison System

The prison system is just as corrupt as the prisoners inside them. We live in a world where it is deemed acceptable to punish a criminal by taking away their humanity, and only release them when they find it themselves. It is apparent that the methods of handling prisoners and their sentences is costly and not effective. The recidivism rate in the United States prison and detention facilities are incredibly high, much higher than their Scandinavian counterpart. Recidivism “refers to a person's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime.” (National Institute of Justice) According to the National Institute of Justice, “within three years of release, about two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested; and within five years of release, about three-quarters of released prisoners were rearrested.” (National Institute of Justice) Unfortunately the statistics are only the tip of the iceberg in the severely flawed and failing prison. We must reform the flawed prison system, only than can we correct the criminal way of life.
However, it is necessary to establish what the objective of the prison, and prison system intended. It was once believed that the intent of prisons were in order to rehabilitate individuals who strayed from peaceful and amiable interactions with their community. In accordance to the severity of the offense and misdemeanor; the individual would be placed under reasonable restraint and supervision to protect themselves as well as others. Meanwhile, during the allotted time, the offender would be contained and eventually released back into society when the time is up and is deemed acceptable and a benefit to