NCJ Number
185849
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2000 Pages: 16-20
Editor(s)
Larry Motiuk
Date Published
September 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
While offenders serving long sentences in Canada have been studied to determine the impact of incarceration, limited research has been conducted on the rate of recidivism.
Abstract
Offenders serving long sentences differ from the general inmate population in terms of the crimes they have committed, the age at which they are released from prison, and the length of their criminal record. Given the seriousness of their crimes, offenders serving long sentences are often perceived by the general public to be at high risk to re-offend. However, a few studies suggest these offenders may be at a lower risk to re-offend than those serving shorter sentences. The authors examined re-admission and recidivism rates of three groups of long-term offenders released to the community from Correctional Service of Canada penitentiaries--those serving life and other indeterminate sentences, those serving long determinate sentences (10 years or more), and those serving shorter determinate sentences (less than 10 years). All offenders were released from Federal penitentiaries in 1993 and 1994 and were followed from their release date to January 2000. Survival analysis was used to evaluate differences between the groups on rates of being offense-free over time. Results showed offenders serving indeterminate sentences had a lower recidivism rate than offenders serving determinate sentences. Offenders serving long-term determinate sentences had better survival rates, particularly in the early years after release, than offenders serving shorter sentences. Differences between the groups, in terms of new convictions, were significant during the first 5 years of follow-up. After 5 years, however, curves for the two determinate groups merged and differences seemed to disappear. The indeterminate group still had a high survival rate, with almost 75 percent of offenders remaining free of new convictions. 5 footnotes, 1 table, and 3 figures