How Often Do People Actually Return To Prison? It's Unclear
Date:  12-28-2023

States define recidivism differently, which can result in misleading interpretations of the statistics.
From Governing:

Several states this year have reported lower rates of recidivism, showing that fewer convicted criminals are being re-arrested after leaving prison.

But those statistics hardly tell the full story.

Recidivism rates across the country can vary greatly because of how they’re defined, how the data is collected and how it’s presented to the public. So it can be difficult to say that, for example, one state is doing better than another in rehabilitating formerly incarcerated residents. Continue reading >>>