Combating Recidivism Through Practical Action Plans and Programs: A Critical Appraisal

A common belief is expressed that imposing sanction on the criminal offenders is the only procedure to restrain crimes in a society. Many a times the offenders are convicted after committing an offence and after a certain period of time they are released. A large number among them again perpetrate crimes; are rearrested, and resentenced. Sometimes they remain undetected after repeating the crimes and are never convicted. Such tendency of a delinquent to relapse into a transgression is called recidivism which is ultimately a consequence of the malfunction of the paradigmatic prison management. The preeminent objective of the prison system should be reducing the crime rates in a positive manner. But the provisions of prison system alone cannot reduce the crime rates. It is obvious that maximum prisoners will return to the communities of their own at some point of time. So, to combat recidivism it is imperative to apprehend as well as effectuate some implicit action plans and programs with practical purpose and active participation of the prisoners is also necessary. Accomplishing the specific plans and programs does not signify that the necessity of sanction is nullified. Proper and reasonable sanction along with various practical and correctional programs inside and outside the prison can embed the combat against recidivism with an enthusiastic approach. This work tries to discern the pivotal reasons behind recidivism along with the fact-based specification of the real scenario regarding recidivism. The sphere of this article is limited to the action-based guidelines.