Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010

This report "[e]xamines the 5-year post-release offending patterns of persons released from state prisons in 2005 by offender characteristics, prior criminal history, and commitment offense. It provides estimates on the number and types of crimes former inmates commit both prior to their imprisonment and after release. The report includes different measures of recidivism, including a new arrest, court adjudication, conviction, and incarceration for either a new sentence or a technical violation. It also documents the extent to which the released prisoners committed crimes in states other than the one that released them." Highlights include: about two-thirds (67.8%) of released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within 3 years, and three-quarters (76.6%) were arrested within 5 years; a sixth (16.1%) of released prisoners were responsible for almost half (48.4%) of the nearly 1.2 million arrests that occurred in the 5-year follow-up period; and about 10.9% of released prisoners were arrested in a state other than the one that released them during the 5-year follow-up period.