Alternatives to Incarceration: Reducing Recidivism Among Nonviolent Offenders Through Post-Incarceration Resources

Shetika Bailey, Tennessee State University

Abstract

Recidivism is looked upon as a relapse into prior criminal behavior that is measured by a former offender’s rearrest, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following their initial release. The recidivism rate focus on nonviolent offenders in Tennessee which will reflect what offenders perceive will help to deter them from reoffending as well as reintegrate them into society; and also, if age, number of times incarcerated, marital status, educational attainment, and employment history influence offender’s opinions about recidivism. Research indicates that substance abuse impacts recidivism and current rehabilitation programs are ineffective, so change must be implemented to help decrease recidivism among nonviolent offenders. This research addresses why nonviolent offenders recidivate, risk factors, drug courts, state relationships and probation supervision versus incarceration. In order to address the offender’s attitudes regarding the research question, a survey is used, which can be found in Appendix B. The goal of this research is to raise awareness of post incarcerated resources (treatment and support services) that could help reduce recidivism rates in Tennessee. Female offenders were more likely to disagree with the survey questions whereas male offenders were more in agreement. Further research would be to use a larger and more diverse sample size to make generalizations about the larger nonviolent offender population of males and females.

Subject Area

Criminology|Law enforcement|Counseling Psychology|Behavioral psychology

Recommended Citation

Shetika Bailey, "Alternatives to Incarceration: Reducing Recidivism Among Nonviolent Offenders Through Post-Incarceration Resources" (2022). ETD Collection for Tennessee State University. Paper AAI29258822.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI29258822

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