Home  »  Crime and the community  »  Crime in the community  »  Recidivism

Recidivism

About 60 per cent of those in custody in Australia have been imprisoned before. Reoffending behaviour or recidivism can be influenced by many factors including poor education and employment histories, mental illness and bad physical health, as well as drug and alcohol misuse.

An AIC study into reducing recidivism through vocational education and training examines the impact of education on reoffending behaviour. It looks at the results of a Queensland vocational education and training program that show an offender’s chance of returning to prison after two years was 32 per cent for non-participants in the program compared with 23 per cent for participants. To find out more about this subject, explore the AIC and other related research this website.

---

Reports and papers by other agencies

• Breaking the cycle : effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders
  Ministry of Justice, The Stationery Office. 2010
• Unlocking value : how we all benefit from investing in alternatives to prison for women offenders
  Ellis Lawlor, Jeremy Nicholls and Lisa Sanfilippo, New Economics Foundation. 2010
• Treatment effectiveness in secure corrections of serious (violent or chronic) juvenile offenders
  Luz Anyela Morales, Vicente Garrido and Julio Sanchez-Meca, Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra). 2010
• Comorbid substance and non-substance mental health disorders and re-offending among NSW prisoners
  Nadine Smith and Lily Trimboli, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. 2010
• Reconviction patterns of offenders managed in the community : a 60-months follow-up analysis
  Arul Nadesu, Department of Corrections. 2009
• The Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment Program : impact of program participation on re-offending by defendants with a drug-use problem
  Rohan Lulham, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. 2009
• Inquiry into strategies to prevent high volume offending and recidivism by young people : final report
  Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, Parliament of Victoria. 2009
• Reconviction patterns of released prisoners : a 60-months follow-up analysis
  Arul Nadesu, Department of Corrections. 2009
• What works : effective recidivism reduction and risk-focused prevention programs : a compendium of evidence-based options for preventing new and persistent criminal behavior (PDF 5.1MB)
  Roger Przybylski, Colorado Department of Public Safety. 2008
• Inquiry into strategies to prevent high volume offending and recidivism by young people : discussion paper
  Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, Melbourne : Parliament of Victoria. 2008
• Reconviction patterns of released prisoners : a 48-months follow-up analysis
  Arul Nadesu, Wellington, NZ : Department of Corrections. 2008
• Monitoring trends in re-offending among adult and juvenile offenders given non-custodial sanctions (PDF 386kB)
  Nadine Smith and Craig Jones, New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. 2008
• The deterrent effect of higher fines on recidivism: driving offences (PDF 519kB)
  Steve Moffatt and Suzanne Poynton, New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. 2007
• Recidivism of sex offenders : research paper
  Karen Gelb, Sentencing Advisory Council, Victoria. 2007
• To break the cycle : prevention and rehabilitation responses to serious repeat offending by young people (PDF 215kB)
  David Cappo, Commissioner for Social Inclusion, South Australia. 2007
• Who returns to prison? Patterns of recidivism among prisoners released from custody in Victoria 2002-03
  Shasta Holland, Kym Pointon and Stuart Ross, Department of Justice, Victoria. 2007
• Performance audit: prisoner rehabilitation (PDF 820kB)
  NSW Auditor-General. 2006
• Reducing the risk of recidivism
  Talina Drabsch, NSW Parliamentary Library. 2006
• Reoffending among young people cautioned by police or who participated in a youth justice conference (PDF 543kB)
  Sumitra Vignaendra and Jacqueline Fitzgerald, New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2006

Recent publications

• Technical and background paper: Measuring juvenile recidivism in Australia
  24 May 2011
• Reducing recidivism through vocational education and training programs
  29 January 2008
• Recidivism of sexual offenders
  13 April 2004
• Youth justice : criminal trajectories
  04 September 2003

Recent events