The U.S. operates one of the largest and most punitive criminal justice systems in the world. On any given day, 1.9 million people are incarcerated in more than 6,000 federal, state and local facilities. Another 3.7 million remain under what scholars call 'correctional control' through probation or parole supervision. Yet despite its vast reach, the criminal justice system often fails at its most basic goal: preventing people from being rearrested, reconvicted or reincarcerated. Criminal justice experts call this 'recidivism.' About 68% of people who leave prison in any given year are rearrested within three years, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. It's certainly easy to blame individuals for getting rearrested or reincarcerated. But if you take a closer look at life after release ' which often includes employment discrimination, housing barriers and exclusion from basic social services ' recidivism seems less like a personal failure, I would argue, and more the...
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