Why no one knows what is the recidivism rate Dan Gardner The Ottawa Citizen: Mach 23, 2002 What is the recidivism rate?
It seems like a simple question to answer. It certainly is important. We want the justice system to rehabilitate or deter offenders from committing new crimes after they are released. So knowing the rate at which offenders commit new crimes after being released is crucial. And yet, the recidivism rate in Canada is unknown. There are many reason for this, but the most basic one is the constitution. The federal government handles offenders sentenced to more than two years, while the provinces deal with offenders serving less than two years, and young offenders. (Some provinces further subdivide young offenders by age group.) As a result, there isn’t one correctional system in Canada — there are many. The basic problem is that if an offender is let out of one system and later sent to another, neither system will know that the other is involved. So if an offender does time in an Ontario jail and is later sentenced to a federal prison, Ontario will never hear about it. The same is true if
