Recidivism amongst person arrested under various crimes

Author: Dipika Mahale. ILS Law College, Pune.

The term recidivism means continuing indulgence in crime. In other words recidivism means going back to committing crime repeatedly. The offenders are looked up, released, re-arrested and re-sentenced. Recidivism is one of the main problems, which is an obstacle in the prevention of crime. The ever increasing recidivism is a crucial problem for the criminal justice system.

The term recidivism refers to the habits of committing crime. A crime repeater is often called recidivist. Sometimes the term recidivism is also used to denote habitual offenders. But recidivists are different from habitual offenders. Recidivists are those convict for same offence or same kind of offences, in other hand habitual offenders are persons who are repeatedly indulged in the crime as a habit.

It has been found that a large number of offenders who are taken for treatment are recidivist. They are habitual of crime. Therefore their reformation becomes a very difficult task.

According to Sutherland, a large part of the work of the police, the courts and penal and reformatory institutions must be devoted to recidivist. Recidivism is depends on the once personal characteristics and the social background. It depends on the person’s family and social situations.

Causes of recidivism

1. One of the main causes of recidivism is unemployment. Because of unemployment person becomes recidivist, which is ever increasing now days.
2. Isolation from society is another cause for the recidivism. Once offender release from jail, society never accept him/her as normal person. So, social stigma has been found the reason for recidivism.
3. As per the criminology point of view another cause of recidivism is found in the criminality which exists in the society. An offender can feel satisfaction by committing a crime only in a situation where crime has become part of life. So, the offender who is reformed again commits crime.
4. Inadequacy of the rehabilitation and reformatory methods is also basic cause of recidivism. If the offender is properly reformed, the crime rate will naturally be reduced. But preventive methods have been proved insufficient.

Data analysis by the NCRB of recidivism amongst persons arrested under IPC crimes

As we seen above the causes because of which recidivism increase in the country, the fact has come to light in the NCRB data analysis for year 2013. The total number of arrested persons during 2013 was 35, 23,577, the new offenders were 32, 70,079. Those who were convicted once 1,95,183, the  number of those who underwent imprisonment twice was 44,171 and those who were convicted and sent jail three times or more were 14, 144.

Going by the state numbers, the problem is more in the Madhya Pradesh.  There is out of 3, 44,326 arrested, 2, 97,339 were first time offenders. Another 36,840 were two time offenders and remaining 2495 are three time (also more than that) offenders. Maharashtra is the second top state for recidivism. There is out of 3, 45,516 arrested 3, 24,581 were first time offenders. Another 2,399 were two time offenders and remaining 372 were three times offenders.

So, from this analysis once can understand that the ever increasing recidivism is burning issue.

Perspective measures to curb the recidivism

• There should be classification 0f offenders, so that they can be punished properly. This classification should be like habitual criminals, recidivist, juvenile and women offenders, insane offenders, etc.
• The separate prison should be maintained for the recidivist with maximum security.
• To provide appropriate treatment to develop their self-respect, responsibility and such treatment must be fair treatment and not be custodial treatment.
• There should be changes in the procedure of criminal trial, it should be speedy and not lengthy.
• There should be after care treatment program in the prison for the rehabilitation and reformation of the recidivist.

Conclusion 

From above all discussion and especially from the data of NCRB it has come to light that the recidivism rate is going so high in modern time in India. The recent example of this is the Rohtak rape case (Haryana State).  The developed state like Maharashtra is not exception for that. Therefore, in modern trend it is need to treat crime as social and personal phenomenon and prevent its repetition by adopting suitable preventive measures.

 

 

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Disclaimer:

This Article was prepared or accomplished by  Dipika Mahale in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the LawOF.in

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