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The only reasonable solution to America's exacerbated prison population problem is through the reduction of recidivism, this much is clear. The case for rehabilitation over any other form of reduction has also been described and proven to be the best claim for the job. However, how does America transform itself from a punishment-based, overcrowded prison nightmare to a rehabilitative, much smaller and more profitable paradise? America would have to raise its prison budgets drastically, possibly even tripling the current amount going in, in order to provide these reform-based systems. It is that initial influx of cash that worries American conservatives, and rightfully so, as the United States' budget is already completely filled. However, with that initial influx for 3-5 years, America will see a massive reduction in recidivism, allowing for lower prison populations, which will allow for a reduction in the budget. Eventually, within 10-15 years, America should see a budget even lower than the one it currently has that involves rehabilitation, making sure to keep prison populations low and recidivism rates as small as the US can get them. This will both please American conservatives as well as America's liberals in the ends, so it's a wonder why the United States hasn't gone and enacted such beneficial programs already (Chen).

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How to Fix Recidivism Rates in the United States

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How to Fix Recidivism Rates in the United States

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The United States in conflicted in terms of how to solve the prison populations. While everyone agrees that cutting recidivism rates would be a solution to the problem, the ways to that goal have been the topic of debate for the last three decades. Slowly but surely, however, more and more people are going over to the side of enforcing rehabilitative systems over the current, punishment-based systems America has now. They believe that if you enact education systems, job-skills classes, less restrictions, etc that prisoners will have an easier time conforming back into civilian life and will even have the skills necessary to keep a job. Some studies that support this claim show that systems like prison education, the Pell Grant, etc reduce recidivism by up to 40%, "saving $4 to $5 for each dollar spent." However, said upfront capital for the eventual prison grants would be rather expensive, and while in the long run it's agreed to be an excellent investment, in the short term, it would be a huge drain in prison budget resources (Chen). Norway is another prime example in the claim for rehabilitation. Its incarceration rate is 1/10th that of the United States', its rehabilitation rate is just 20%, and it is widely regarded as one of the best prison systems in the world. However, it did away with cells, strict regimes, etc long ago, instead opting for a more rehabilitative and reform-based program that allows for prisoners to have some sense of relative normalcy, gain job skills, acquire an education, and so much more (Sterbenz). Perhaps if America went and enacted some of these more reform-minded programs, it too could cut down on recidivism rates, lowering its prison population.

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Timeline of Recidivism in the United States

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Timeline of Recidivism in the United States

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The table below reveals some shocking information about American prison systems over an eleven year period. The drug wars of the 80s and 90s do have to be taken into consideration for this chart, but even so, there is a clear increase in recidivism rates of around 3-4% between 1983 and 1994, with a massive jump of nearly 20% in drug crimes, while violent crimes have a 1-2% increase, property crimes a 4-5% increase, and public-order crimes a 6-7% increase. These figures show a clear problem in America's ability to rehabilitate and teach prisoners how to live a normal lifestyle after leaving prison, as this study states that by 1994, almost 70% of American prisoners were being rearrested in just 3 years ("Reentry Trends"). As with Table 1, it indicates a cycle that, if not corrected, will surmount to the total collapse of the American prison system due to minimalist conditions that will raise recidivism rates further, which will be caused by a lack of money, which in turn was caused by these high recidivism rates in the first place.

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Recidivism is the rate at which a criminal tends to reoffend. In simpler terms, essentially, it's when a criminal who has been released from prison gets rearrested and possibly reconvicted or reincarcerated. Looking at the statistics on recidivism in the table below, it's clear that America's recidivism rates indicate that the United States' prison systems are ineffective at actually teaching prisoners what they did wrong. This leads to a vicious circle of an ever-increasing prison population, as America now has to deal with new criminals while keeping old ones, adding more and more prisoners to the prison system every year, stretching resources thin and further preventing these prisoners from getting the learning experiences they need ("Recidivism Among"). Without some form of radical change to the way prisons are operated, this number will continue to compound upon itself, culminating in the complete collapse of said systems.

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The United States, the "free nation" of the world, has the highest prisoner to civilian ratio in the world by around 140 people. China, a place most commonly associated with corruption, high prison rates, authoritarianism, etc has around 600 less people in their prisons per every 100,000 citizens. A country also associated with those autocratic tendencies in the minds of the American populace is Russia, however, even their prison populations are 120-140 less than the United States', depending upon who you ask ("World Prison Populations"). Clearly, some form of overhaul needs to be done to the United States prison system, and many in America believe that said overhaul should focus on reducing high recidivism rates through rehabilitation.