Rethinking Recidivism

Prisons are as old as civilization, yet the way incarceration looks has changed over time. One of the biggest changes is the increase of the number of people in prison, influenced significantly by the long-term rise in recidivism, or the tendency for a convicted criminal to reoffend and be re-imprisoned for a similar crime. If more people cycle in and out of the system, then prison populations rise which strains the entire justice system. This paper seeks to address recidivism in two countries with differing rates and approaches to imprisonment: the United States and Norway. We hope to provide actionable insights for justice departments around the world on how to reduce recidivism rates by comparing the systems of both countries\u27 federal prisons using literature review, data collection and analysis, and synthesis of our results