ABSTRACT
Criminal recidivism refers to reoffending within a particular follow-up period. As the time period increases, the probability of recidivism also increases. Recidivism can be measured by self-reports of offending or by official measures such as rearrest, reconviction or reincarceration. Recidivism is often measured as a dichotomous variable, but it is also useful to measure the time to reoffending, the number of re-offences, and the types and financial costs of re-offences. For some purposes (e.g. in studying sex offenders), it is useful to define recidivism according to the commission of similar types of re-offences. Recidivism is defined according to the commission of a subsequent offence during a certain follow-up period, but often there is more interest in a small minority of persistent or chronic offenders who account for the majority of offences.
