Offender Perceptions Of Why They Recidivate

Terri C Mitchell, Tennessee State University

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to show current incarcerated inmate's perceptions on why they recidivated. The research surveyed one hundred and fifteen currently incarcerated male inmates in the Davidson County jail in Nashville, Tennessee. The research looked into influences on recidivism including employment, housing, spiritual support, gang affiliation, family support, mental illness and substance abuse. An analysis of the data resulted in the rejecting of the five hypotheses for the Likert scale statements. The null hypothesis states that age, race, educational level, marital status and average household income has no effect on the perceptions regarding recidivism on Nashville, Tennessee incarcerated inmates. The null hypothesis was accepted which means the independent variables (age, race, educational level, marital status and annual income) had no statistically significant effect on inmate's perception's on recidivism. The independent variables of the null hypothesis offer little insight into the inmate's perceptions of why they recidivate. All of the participants had similar thoughts on the subject. Inmates also ranked eight reasons in order of importance as to why they recidivated. Employment was ranked the number one reason and Spiritual Support was ranked the last reason why they perceived as their reason for recidivating.

Subject Area

Law|Criminology

Recommended Citation

Terri C Mitchell, "Offender Perceptions Of Why They Recidivate" (2014). ETD Collection for Tennessee State University. Paper AAI1584226.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI1584226

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