Any discussion of criminal justice policy inevitably includes the word “recidivism.”Usually more than once. Recidivism is the reoccurrence of crime among people known to have committed crimes before. At all levels of justice, from local probation offices to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, if we judge the impact of interventions at all, we do so in part by measuring recidivism.

In a report we published with the Harvard Kennedy School, we conclude that recidivism is often the wrong measure. And using it exclusively to assess the quality of justice is like using a school’s dropout rate to measure the success of teachers — it may be pertinent, but it is inadequate and often misleading.

First, recidivism is not reducible to the behavior of individuals. For example, an illegal act cannot become the basis for recidivism until it is reported to law enforcement. And many crimes, including half of all violent crimes, are never reported to police, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Social context also matters. Naturally, law violators have different statistical probabilities of coming into contact with police depending on where they live. In America, where one lives is largely determined by income and demographics. Pound for pound, poor people and people of color are more likely to be surveilled by law enforcement and more likely to be among those considered recidivists.

Rather than asking “what’s the recidivism rate?” we should ask an entirely different set of questions about justice interventions. Are we really helping people convicted of crimes to form better relationships with their families and their law-abiding friends? Are we helping them to advance their educational goals? Are they more likely to develop the skills and abilities required for stable employment? Are we helping them to respect others and to participate positively in the civic and cultural life of their communities?

Read the full article about the "recidivism trap" by Jeffrey Butts and Vincent Schiraldi at The Marshall Project.