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Assessing the impact of 'available street time' and mortality on estimates of recidivism

Technical and background paper series no. 35

Anna Ferrante Nini Loh and Max Maller
ISBN 978 1 921532 50 4 ISSN 1836-2052
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, March 2010

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Abstract

This methodological study assesses the impact of two factors—'available street time' and mortality—on the estimation of recidivism. Using survival analysis techniques to derive estimates of reoffending, the study compares adjusted and unadjusted rates and assesses how these rates vary for different offender populations and over different follow-up periods. In contrast to many previous studies, it finds that adjusting for time spent in custody and mortality makes little difference to the two-year recidivism rates of large offender populations.