Papers to note: the first prison experience and recidivism

02/12/2015

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has published Crime and Justice Bulletin No.187, which examines the question of whether short prison sentences (up to 12 months) exert a special deterrent effect. The study found that the subsequent time to re-offend did not depend on the type of sentence received. This "suggests that there is no particular deterrent effect in receiving a prison sentence for people who had not previously been sentenced to prison". View the bulletin here.