No upward or downward trend in recidivism rates appears for inmates released during each of the last five fiscal years. Rates for inmates released in Fiscal Year 1995-96 are somewhat higher than both earlier years and the more recent years. The shape of the recidivism rate curves are similar for inmates released each year. Since recidivism rates are not changing much from year to year, total recidivism rates may have limited value as annual performance measures. Incomplete recidivist counts are available for this follow-up period.
Younger offenders recidivate at much higher rates than older offenders.
The shape of the recidivism rate curve for the youngest offenders released is much more rounded than that for older release groups. This means that, as compared with older age groups, these youngest offenders who do recidivate do so sooner after release. White males and females recidivate at similar rates. Black females recidivate at somewhat higher rates than white females, but there is not as great a difference between black and white females as there is between black and white males. This suggests that some factor other than race may account for much of the difference between black and white male offenders' recidivism rates.