The Business Case for Preventing Recidivism

Message From the President and CEO

By Alfonso E. Lenhardt, President and CEO

People’s futures intrigue me. Young children have their lives in front of them and dream of anything and everything. Teens and young adults have high hopes for a certain lifestyle or what they may achieve. Later, our hopes may be tempered by our life experiences, but most of us still strive to accomplish goals we consider important.

And then there are those who squander their lives and the hope they may once have had. More than 2.3 million Americans have committed crimes so serious that are separated from society and sentenced to prison or jail. There, chances are that they are shut away, often with little opportunity to improve their lot. Worse, they are frequently exposed to career criminals who teach them new crimes.

As Regina Schofield, the former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, noted last year at NCPC’s National Conference on Preventing Crime, “We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem.” Our prisons are bursting at the seams and, in several states, inmates have been released before their sentences were up because of overcrowding. As a society, we are paying too much to maintain our prison system—in the neighborhood of $49 billion in state spending and $35 billion in federal spending. This is money that could be better spent on other budgetary priorities. This is the first principle of what I call the business case for preventing recidivism and fostering reentry.

We must move beyond retribution as a society. Retribution robs us of too many potential resources—people who could contribute to society. In earliest colonial America, offenders were sentenced to jail to give penitence and reflect on their offenses, then released to rejoin their compatriots and the larger community. That’s because no one could be spared from the colonists’ common endeavor. While a small number of prisoners are hardened criminals who will never be rehabilitated and should spend the rest of their lives behind bars, we shouldn’t be obliterating the futures of the rest—and their potential to play a contributing role in society. This is the second principle behind my business case for preventing recidivism.

I believe in the business proposition that most people who come out of prison can, if given a good chance, successfully reenter society and become contributing citizens. If we were to accomplish that feat, we would close the revolving door of our nation’s prisons, reduce the cost of our prison system, reduce the $450 billion yearly national cost of crime, and develop skilled ex-offenders who can become productive members of society. Some may even become social workers, ministers, or other professionals who work with ex-offenders and help them make the right choices when they reenter society, interrupting the cycle of recidivism much as they did themselves.

What will it take to make this happen? Our prisons need to continue the process started by some with meaningful counseling and training. Afterwards, there must be a direct release to a social network that provides employment, housing, and a nurturing family or social structure. These are essential parts of any reentry program, and half-hearted efforts won’t do the trick. Evidence-based, proven drug abuse and treatment programs both inside prison and after release are another essential component.

Many offenders got into trouble because of a lack of focus in their early lives, a lack of education, a lack of discipline, substance abuse, or mental health problems—some of them serious. They deserve the fresh start that professional guidance and supervision will provide. And when they succeed, society will profit.

Editor’s Note: Elsewhere in this issue of Catalyst, Debra Whitcomb takes an in-depth look at a five-agency federal initiative that is seeking to reduce the cost of our corrections system by preventing recidivism. In addition, Famin Ahmed writes in What Works about an intriguing Girl Scout program that unites daughters in activities with their incarcerated mothers—behind bars. The program is intended to help both avoid future brushes with the law.