Introduction
Recidivism in the United States is one of the serious issues being addressed by every state. A high recidivism rate may infer that sentence corresponding to a certain crime may be too light that former offenders still continue to commit a previous felony. To address the increasing recidivism rate for felons in the United States, the states have enacted the so-called three strikes law. This law offers a more difficult punishment for a three-time offender. However, this created issues and debates concerning its implementation and the appropriation to some crimes. Young or the juvenile offenders, have a different approach. Since they cannot be imprisoned like the adults, recidivism rate can be higher depending on the current dispositions[1] as defined and implemented by the law. An effective sentence or disposition may reflect a lower rate of recidivism.
This paper defines the concepts of being a juvenile offender and the term recidivism. It also uses the data from the state of Washington and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for the recidivism rate, which is observed under three (3) factors: (1) gender, (2) race, and (3) type of crime committed. Recidivism rate of juvenile offenders in the United States varies from gender, race, and the felony they committed as discussed in the paragraphs below. This paper also cites laws and legislations surrounding recidivism and the juvenile offenders.
Definition of Terms
Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile offenders are characterized as those who are below the age limit as defined by law to be sentenced. The age limit is different for every state in the United States and ranges from as high as eighteen (18) years of age to as low as fourteen (14) years old. (Wiseto) These offenders undergo rehabilitation or community service as a means of correction of the offensive crime.
Recidivism
Recidivism is defined as “any disposition in which the offender’s juvenile history contains a disposition”. (Sentencing Guidelines Commission, 2005 p. 1) The recidivism rate for juvenile felons is measured on the percentage of the juvenile offenders who have previous dispositions recorded. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2006) defines recidivism as a “repetition of a criminal behavior” and recidivism rate as a reflection of “any number of possible measures of repeated offending – arrest, court referral, conviction, correctional commitment, and correctional status changes within a given period of time.” (p. 234)
Recidivism Rate of Juvenile Offenders in the United States
According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2006) a national recidivism rate for juvenile offenders is immaterial because the states have different juvenile justice systems. For purposes of data analysis, this paper uses the data from the state of Washington.
According to the Sentencing Guidelines Commission of the State of Washington (2005), Washington courts encountered 13, 127 juvenile dispositions. Of those offenders, 77 percent were boys while 76 percent of the dispositions involved lawbreakers who have previously recorded offenses. Figure 1 shows the recidivism rate for juvenile offenders in Washington. Boy offenders have a higher recidivism rate (77 percent) compared to girls (72 percent). For the ethnic groups, the Hispanics have the highest recidivism rate of 82 percent followed by African Americans (78 percent), Native Americans (77 percent), Caucasians (75 percent), and Asians (65 percent).
Figure 1: Demographics
In terms of number of recidivists by ethnicity, Caucasians have most number of recidivism at 6,145 while Asians have the smallest number at 246 recidivists. Although Caucasians have the highest recidivism rate, only 1,824 juvenile dispositions belong to them. (see Figure 1) For race and gender, Hispanic boys have the highest recidivism rate of 83 percent while Asian girls have the lowest recidivism rate of 51 percent. Hispanic girls (79 percent) have the highest recidivism rate among female juvenile offenders while Asian boys (51 percent) have the lowest rate of recidivism among male felons. (see Figure 2). (Sentencing Guidelines Commission, 2005)
Figure 2: Recidivism by Race and Gender
The Sentencing Guidelines Commission (2005) categorized the offenses into eleven (11) main groups: (1) assault, (2) drug, (3) gross misdemeanor, (4) manslaughter, (5) misdemeanor, (6) murder 1, (7) murder 2, (8) property, (9) robbery, (10) sex, and (11) other felonies. As shown in Figure 3, gross misdemeanor (7,253) constitutes to the crime mostly committed by young felons followed by property crimes (2,701). The top crimes with the highest recidivism rates are misdemeanor (84 percent), gross misdemeanor (79 percent), drugs (73 percent), and property crimes (71 percent). (Sentencing Guidelines Commission, 2005)
Figure 3: Recidivism by Type of Offense
Legislation on Recidivism and Juvenile Offenders
Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act 1980
The Child Welfare Act of 1980 was enacted to prevent children from being unnecessarily or indefinitely placed in foster care. One of its main goals is to provide a child a permanent living arrangement by either (1) returning to family, (2) adoption, or (3) placement to other relatives. The Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 put amendments to the federal foster and care law to shift the law’s primary focus to safety and permanency. This act also established time deadlines for dependency cases to be handled in courts. (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2006)
Three Strikes Law
Definitions and Penalties
To reduce recidivism, states in the early 1990’s started enacting mandatory sentencing laws for repeating offenders. The three strikes laws were used for offenders who committed their third major offense. By the year 2003, almost half of the states in the United States had their own three strikes laws. In the state of Washington, its three strikes law was passed in 1993. The law stated that any offender convicted of three (3) different violent crimes must be sentenced to life in prison disallowing parole grants. The California enacted its own version in 1994 which states that a felon will be sentenced twenty-five (25) years in prison after the third felony conviction. Also, the state of California includes crimes like burglary and theft as strike offenses unlike the Washington state. (D’addessa, 2003)
Debate
The three strike laws created debates on the argument that they sum up to cruel and unusual punishment. Critics also argue that the sentences placed were oftentimes not appropriate to the crimes committed. Also the putting in prison of three-time offenders for 25 years would increase correctional costs. The California law also drives critics towards the issue of unequal application of the law and mandatory sentences, as stated by the law, being charged to the offenders. The prosecutors have the discretion of whether qualifying the offense as a strike in their criminal complaints. The disproportion in the application of the law in California means that the law is rarely applied in San Francisco while in other parts, it is used often. (Zirming et al., 2003)
Assessment and Conclusion
Data gathered from the State of Washington and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention show the same finding for the recidivism rate by gender, race, and the type of crime committed. Recidivism is higher for boys than female young offenders. Hispanic juvenile felons are the most frequent recidivists. And crimes like misdemeanor, drugs, and property crimes have the highest recidivism rates.
In order to protect the welfare of the juvenile offenders, the Child Welfare Act of 1980 and the Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 were enacted. These legislations prevent the young offenders from totally wrecking their lives by providing assistance like permanent living.
The three strikes law is justified to reduce recidivism rate by increasing the punishment received by crime repeaters. On the other hand, some see this as a means of injustice due to poor overall implementation. This paper suggests a joint session of the lobbyists and the some legislators to review the law and address certain issues surrounding it.
References:
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (June 2002) Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Pp. 1-16.
D’Addesa, Danielle M. (2003) The Unconstitutional Interplay of California’s Three Strikes Law and California Penal Code Section 666. University of Cincinnati Law Review 71. (Spring)
Myner, Julye, Jennifer Santman, Gordon, Cappelletty, and Barry Perlmutter. (March 1998) Variables Related to Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. 42: 65- 80.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (March 2006) Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. National Center for Juvenile Justice, Pittsburg Pennsylvania. 249 pp.
Sentencing Guidelines Commission. (December 2005) Recidivism of Juvenile Offenders Fiscal Year 2005. State of Washington. Pp. 1-4.
Zimring, Franklin E., Sam Kamin, and Gordon Hawkins, (2003) Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You’re Out in California. New York: Oxford University Press.
[1] Juveniles trialed for criminal offenses receive a disposition rather than a sentence. The term “disposition” is used interchangeably with the term “sentence”. (Sentencing Guidelines Commission, 2005)
