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Recidivism
Person repeating an undesirable behavior following punishment / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about recidivism in criminology and penology. For recidivism in medicine, see Recidivism (medicine).
"Repeat offender" redirects here. For other uses, see Repeat Offender.
"Reoffender" redirects here. For the Scottish alternative rock band song by Travis, see Re-Offender.
Recidivism (/rɪˈsɪdɪvɪzəm/; from recidive and -ism, from Latin recidivus "recurring", from re- "back" and cado "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to extinguish it. Recidivism is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense.[1]
![]() | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (December 2019) |
The term is frequently used in conjunction with criminal behavior and substance abuse. Recidivism is a synonym for "relapse", which is more commonly used in medicine and in the disease model of addiction.[medical citation needed]