Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

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90 Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research The difference between male and female recidivism rates is complex. There are almost as many studies that find no difference by gender as those that do. Moreover, gender is one variable unlikely to be defined and measured differently in different contexts. Nonetheless, there are a few important issues worth noting. First, every study that confirmed the gender differential found that females are less likely than males to engage in recidivism. Although the gender differential itself was not well established, the direction appeared consistent. Second, most of the studies that found a difference between males and females examined the juvenile offender population. This suggests that there is strong evidence in Australia that juvenile female offenders are less likely to be recidivists. Finally, the gender differential in recidivism rates appears to be related to the offender population studied. Most of the studies that found no gender differential focused on the more serious offender populations – that is, offenders released from prison. Studies that focused on the general offender population – that is, those offenders who came into contact with the police – found that females were less likely to be identified as recidivist offenders. This suggests that at the more serious end of the offending scale, there is no difference between males and females, but for the average offender having contact with the police, gender is an important factor in recidivism. Indigenous status The relationship between an offender’s Indigenous status and propensity to reoffend has received considerable attention in the Australian recidivism literature. An overwhelming majority of studies find significant differences been Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders, where Indigenous offenders are more likely to be recidivists. Broadhurst and Loh (1995) estimated the probability that an offender apprehended in Western Australia would be rearrested within ten years. The probabilities are presented in Figure 8 and illustrate the significant difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders. Eighty-eight percent of Indigenous male offenders will be rearrested within ten years, compared with 52 percent of non-Indigenous males. Note also that the gender differential noted in non-Indigenous offenders is much less apparent in Indigenous offenders.
Figure 8: Probability of arrest by Indigenous status Probability 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0.518 Source: Broadhurst & Loh (1995) Non-Indigenous 0.883 Indigenous Male Female Similar differences in Indigenous status are identified in recidivism studies of released prisoners and juvenile detainees. The research consistently shows that released Indigenous prisoners are more likely to be reconvicted (Jones et al. 2006; Victoria Department of Human Services 2001) or reimprisoned (Jones et al. 2006; Thompson 1995) than their non-Indigenous counterparts. One study found that Indigenous status was not a significant factor associated with rearrest. Makkai et al. (2004) used multivariate survival analysis to predict rearrest among a sample of property offenders apprehended in the Australian Capital Territory. The analysis controlled for factors such as education, drug use history, gender, age and offence history, and found that Indigenous status was not a distinguishing factor. The advantage of this analysis was in the number of factors accounted for in the model. The results were significantly different from most of the research on this topic. However, this study highlights the importance of understanding that several other factors, in addition to a person’s Indigenous status, influence the likelihood of them being rearrested. 0.361 Recidivism in Australia 0.849 91
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Recidivism in Australia: findings a
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Research and Public Policy Series N
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