NCJ Number
241758
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2013 Pages: 19-25
Date Published
February 2013
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This literature review addresses the current state of empirical knowledge on the recidivism of homicide offenders, with attention to the dominant theories in this field and the prevalence of recidivism among both general and subgroups of homicide offenders.
Abstract
There are few studies that have explicitly examined recidivism among homicide offenders, and little attention has been given to the extent to which theories based on "general" delinquency can be applied to homicide offenders. Among studies that have in some way considered recidivism among homicide offenders, there is partial support for static, dynamic, and typological theories in explaining recidivism among homicide offenders. According to the static approach to criminal behavior, once a person has engaged in criminal behavior, there is a greater likelihood that the criminal behavior will continue throughout his/her life-course. Dynamic theories reason that changes in life circumstances directly influence criminal behavior. Typological theories assume that the aggregated age-crime curve can be disaggregated into groups that, due to etiological differences, follow different offending trajectories. The relevant literature indicates that specific recidivism is very low among homicide offenders. On the other hand, recidivism is high when measured by parole violations and new drug charges. Recidivism among violent offenders is most likely to occur within a few years of release. Being young at the time of release and having a previous criminal record have been found to be the main predictors for recidivism. Drawing generalizations and comparisons among the studies of homicide-offender recidivism is complicated by attempting to apply the study findings of "general homicide" offenders to subsets of homicide offenders, such as juveniles, females, and sexual homicides. The shortcomings of research in this field are discussed, and recommendations for future research are offered. 1 table and 57 references