Statistics show that U.K. prisons released more than 11,000 people from jail in the first quarter of 2022. Yet, law enforcement will eventually arrest an estimated 24% of these released prisoners, considering the adult reoffending rate.
Every illicit activity, rearrest, and reincarceration goes into a person’s criminal record. This document is usually shared publicly and used for online check-ins or background checks.
However, questions arise, especially from those who want to know why the government databases keep inmate records even after a convicted individual is released or arrested.
How can inmate records help reduce recidivism risks in society? Can inmate records actually influence the course of jurisprudence in the United Kingdom?
This article will show the rationale for keeping criminal records even if the convicted individual has been released, rehabilitated, or reformed. It will also discuss how criminal records and an online ability for quick check-ins can help reduce recidivism risks in society.
Why Make Criminal Records Public?
The United Kingdom treats criminal records as public documents that people can check through various methods allowed by the government. Inmate records check-ins are fast, and background checks use different sources to search for possible criminal records of an individual.
These public records help landlords, mortgage firms, loan agencies, firearm dealers, and employers assess the people with whom they plan to interact.
Can Criminal Records Lower Recidivism Rates?
Many see criminal records and online check-ins as barriers that may prevent people with prior convictions from truly tasting freedom. However, looking at this issue from another perspective may reveal how these public documents can help reduce recidivism rates.
Recidivism is the act of reverting to criminal activities despite being punished. Many factors push people released from prison to commit the same crimes again.
Countries have their ways of dealing with criminal records, primarily upon an inmate’s release. In the United States, criminal records are public records, making them available to everyone. Meanwhile, countries like Germany don’t provide public access to criminal records unless the inmate gives permission.
A conviction record may hamper one’s ability to land jobs with stable salaries, affordable housing, and career advancement. However, these records can also positively affect the country’s recidivism rates:
- Employers and property owners (landlords) can quickly assess people with prior convictions through online check-ins and decide how to help them.
- Welfare organisations can correctly tailor-fit their programs to cater to the specific needs of each individual released from prison.
Impact of Criminal Records and Online Check-Ins on Recidivism Rates
To help people understand the link between criminal records and recidivism risks, here are some of the effects of criminal records and online check-ins on a person with previous convictions:
- Employers can better screen people with criminal records and prevent them from being placed in a position to be lured again into committing a crime. A correct assessment can help employers and managers decide which tasks to delegate to people with previous convictions.
- Released inmate records can help improve recidivism models used to study the effects of current rehabilitation programs done by the government.
- Criminal records can help determine whether a person is going “clean” (not reoffending) or turning into a habitual recidivist. One indicator that people have changed is when they have stopped their wrongdoings and consistently lived clean after prison release.
These data are crucial for developing recidivism risk reduction programs that can further improve methods to reduce the reincarceration of former inmates.
Inmate Records’ Effects on Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the study of the law and its fundamental principles. It questions the role U.K. laws play in society and how the legal system operates. The law’s context and intentions are put under the spotlight and become the basis for implementing the specifics of each statute in the country’s legislation.
Criminal records, court decisions, and other legal documents that provide information on how enforcers execute the law are crucial in forming a country’s jurisprudence.
Criminal records are beneficial for developing jurisprudence for the following reasons:
- A criminal record details the case, decision, and penalties imposed on a person guilty of a crime. Here, judges can extract data to provide a basis for decisions on other issues with similar situations.
- Criminal records, though they can limit the opportunities of a person released from prison, can help provide better decisions, fair penalties, and appropriate punishments that can lead to rehabilitation and repentance.
The law isn’t perfect, but through the watchful eyes and minds of people daring to step towards perfection, improvements in each statute improve jurisprudence. Though criminal records may affect a person individually, they can help improve programs and policies that will lessen recidivism risks in society as a whole.
References
- Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2022
- Court Records in Germany
- Recidivism
- Why Criminal Background Checks Are Necessary?
- Court Records in Germany