myAIPMDesistance-Focused Criminal Justice Practice
Kristofer Bret Bucklen | National Institute of Justice
In a data-driven and outcome-focused environment, the criminal justice system increasingly relies on metrics to determine the impact of criminal justice interventions and to examine behavioral changes in individuals currently or formerly subjected to them. Using recidivism as a core metric for the criminal justice system has been criticized. It is argued that recidivism is limited as a metric because it focuses on failure rather than success. Critics claim that using recidivism to exclusively measure the success of criminal justice interventions is like using school dropout rates to exclusively measure the success of teachers. The author provided some actionable guidance on what types of desistance-focused criminal justice interventions should be pursued by police as the concept has largely been investigated by academic criminology rather than implemented into criminal justice policy and intervention.
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Bucklen, K. (2021) Desitance-Focused Criminal Justice Practice. National Institute of Justice. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/301501.pdf