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Policymakers often resist criminal legal reforms by citing fears of recidivism, the “revolving door” narrative, and public safety. According to a new report by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), the realities of recidivism are complex and advocates should know more about this metric before using it as a driving force to inform their policy decisions.
One way to help remedy this problem may be to use "desistance" as opposed to recidivism as a metric. Unlike recidivism -- which reduces success to whether someone is rearrested or reconvicted -- desistance captures the gradual process by which individuals move away from crime over time. This includes recognizing positive progress, accepting that setbacks can occur, as well as accounting for social support, stable housing, employment, and education, all of which make long-term change possible. By looking at desistance, decision-makers can see beyond fear and understand how people actually succeed after incarceration.
This episode's guests are Professor Shadd Maruna, head of the Department of Sociology, Social Policy, and Criminology at the University of Liverpool, who is an internationally recognized criminologist and leading desistance scholar. Also, Dr. Ronald F. Day, chief operating officer of The Fortune Society which provides support to the formerly incarcerated.
