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

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70 Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research Summary and comparative analysis There have been only a few studies in Australia examining recidivism in the general adult offender population. Unlike prison populations who are relatively easy to identify, general offender populations are more difficult to sample. More often than not, research relies on the identification of convenience samples of, for example, police arrestees or community corrections participants. This variation in sample selection results in some differences in the estimation of recidivism. Of the four studies presented, each varied in their sample, data, location and observation period. Not surprisingly, this resulted in different recidivism estimates, but which overall suggested that: • • • around half of police arrestees self-report having been arrested at least once in the past 12 months, with 18 percent imprisoned in that time more than 60 percent of police arrestees will be rearrested within ten years, but with high volume offender samples being arrested in much shorter time frames about one in four adult offenders released from a community corrections order will return to corrections (either as an additional community services or other custodial order) within two years. Juvenile detainee recidivism There is no systematic national data collection which provides information about the prevalence of prior imprisonment among juvenile detainees. Recently however, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare established a national minimum dataset for juvenile justice. It collects data on juvenile contact and multiple episodic contact with the juvenile justice system (AIHW 2006), although the results were not yet available at the time of writing this report. As with adult prisoners, juvenile detainees are a select group of offenders who can be relatively easily identified through their participation in a custodial corrections order. For this reason, both self-reported and administrative analyses have been conducted to measure the extent of their recidivism and contact with the criminal justice system. Table 9 provides a summary of five key Australian research studies that have used samples of juvenile detainees in their analysis of recidivism.
Table 9: Indicator and index specifications: examples from Australian research, juvenile offenders Observation period Key findings Author Context/sample Data Quantification 55% of the juvenile detainees reported a prior episode of detention, 34% were detained within the previous 12 months, while 44% were detained in the previous 24 months. Observation period was retrospective for each detainee’s lifetime. The observation will vary depending on the age of the prisoner. Self-reported data Episode of imprisonment irrespective of offence type This study surveyed the juvenile detainee population in all Australian states and territories in 2004. There were 467 respondents. Prichard J & Payne J. 2005. Alcohol, drugs and crime: a study of juvenile detainees The average number of prior detention episodes was three and the average time since the last episode of detention was 14 months. 79% of juvenile detainees progressed to adult corrections including both community corrections and custodial care. Episode of imprisonment irrespective of offence type Corrective services data 49% of juvenile detainees progressed to adult imprisonment. Observation period varied between offenders – maximum was 7 years, minimum was 6 years. This study estimated the proportion of Queensland juvenile detainees who progressed to adult corrections, defined as at least one admission to adult custody or participation in an adult supervised community corrections order in Queensland. The sample consisted of 1,503 young offenders aged between 10 and 17 years who had been ordered to serve a supervised juvenile justice order during the 1994–95 year. The observation ended in 2002, after 7 years. Buckman J, Livingstone M & Lynch M 2003 Youth justice: criminal trajectories Exploratory analysis revealed that progression to adult corrections was higher for males, Indigenous offenders, offenders living in a low socioeconomic residential location and offenders subject to a care and protection order as a juvenile. Episode of contact with corrective services as an adult irrespective of offence type Recidivism in Australia 71
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