The more times imprisoned the less are the prospects of rehabilitation, the greater the prospects of re-offending. For a person with limited education, few employment prospects and little income the prospects of re-offending are great. If that person is also highly visible to police so that in the event of offending the prospect of arrest is also great then the vicious circle is likely to be quickly completed. For many Aboriginal people this vicious circle is the reality of their lives. Where alcohol dependence is also a factor then so much faster is the circle completed and the process repeated.
Aboriginal recidivism is a matter of serious concern.
Statistics with respect to recidivism among the Australian prison population are inadequate, but statistics that do exist present a grim picture. Recently the authors of the original study updated it to examine the recidivism of prisoners released for the first time from prisons between 30 June 1975 and 30 June 1987. These very high recidivism rates for Aboriginal people in Western Australia could well be repeated if similar studies were conducted in other States. Some evidence received by Commissioners has certainly suggested that this would be the case. The Northern Territory study was based on a computer tracking of 3,371 individual sentenced prisoners or persons serving fine default imprisonment over the four-year period.