Executive Summary

Executive Summary


Background

Similar to other states, recidivism continues to be a central measure in Utah’s criminal justice system. This site shows trends in 3-year recidivism rates for individuals that served time in prison on a leading felony weapon offense that were released on parole between 2014 and 2018. Four types of recidivism rates are included: 1) any return to prison 2) a return based on one or more technical violations 3) a new crime & 4) a new violent crime. Some exclusions were made for those paroled to locations that are not meaningful for recidivism analyses. A justice reform marker is further available on selected figures to indicate the year Utah implemented broad criminal justice reform. This event is important to highlight because some of its policies impacted how quickly parolees moved in and out of prison upon a revocation, which impacted both the parole population and its composition. This site was developed to in a flexible manner add new cohorts as they become available.


Key Findings

  • Technical violations were the most common reason for being returned to prison within 3-years after release, making up ~80% of all recidivism cases.

  • New crimes while on parole represented (~20%) of all returns. The majority of these crimes (~70%) were non-violent offenses and 30% was related to a violent offense.

  • Recidivism rates were the highest for those classified as intensive-to-high risk to re-offend at >80%.

  • Those who served time in prison on a Felony 3 weapon offense tend to return to prison on a modestly higher rate compared to Felony 2’s.


Offense Degree

Column {data-width=650}

Recidivism by Year

Recidivism by Risk

Column

Make-up of recidivism by return type by offense degree (all years)

Make-up of new crimes by offense degree (all years)

Definitions

Definitions


Key-Terms

  • Leading Weapon Offense: The most serious offense an individual served time in prison for.

  • 3-year Recidivism Rate (Any Return): A return to prison from parole within 3-years after prison release for any reason (a technical violation(s) or a new crime)

  • 3-year Recidivism Rate (Technical Violation): A return to prison from parole within 3-years after prison release for one or more technical violations.

  • 3-year Recidivism Rate (New Crime): A return to prison from parole within 3-years after prison release for a new crime only (any crime).

  • 3-year Recidivism Rate (New Violent Crime): A return to prison from parole within 3-years after prison release for a new violent crime.

  • High/Intensive Risk: Individuals that classify as high or intensive risk to re offend on the Level of Service Inventory Revised Assessment (LSI-RNR).

  • Moderate/Low Risk: Individuals that classify as moderate or low risk to re offend on the Level of Service Inventory Revised Assessment (LSI-RNR).

  • Felony 3 (F3): Individuals that served time in prison on a Felony 3 degree offense prior to being released on parole.

  • Felony 2 (F2): Individuals that served time in prison on a Felony 2 degree offense prior to being released on parole.

  • Felony 1 (F1): Individuals that served time in prison on a Felony 1 degree offense prior to being released on parole.