Published on: Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Today, the United States Sentencing Commission published a new report titled Lenght of Incarceration and Recidvism (April 29, 2020). This report, the seventh in the Commission's recidivism series, uses different research designs to examine the relationship between length of incarceration and recividism. It explores three potential relationship that may exist:
- Deterrent: As the prison length increases, the likelihood of recidivism decreases.
- Criminogenic: As the prison length increases, the likelihood of recidivism increases.
- No effect: No statistally significant releationshp between prison length and recidivism is identified.
Below are the reports key findings:
- The Commission consistently found that incarceration lengths of more than 120 months had a deterrent effect.
- In two of three models, the deterrent effect extended to prison sentences of longer than 5 years (60 months).
- For incarceration lengths of 60 months or less, the Commission did not find any statistically significant criminogenic or deterrent effect.
The Training Division provides sentencing resources to help you argue for the best possible sentence for your client.