Trevor is a habitual criminal offender. he has committed dozens of robberies and hundreds of burglaries, and has stolen approxim
ately 30 vehicles. trevor was 14 when he was first arrested for stealing a car. he is now 44 years old and just got out of prison. he spent 10 years in prison for an armed robbery. in total, between juvenile and adult institutions, trevor has spent over 20 years of his life incarcerated. his family cannot understand why he continues to commit crime. they are concerned that he will not be able to remain a law-abiding citizen. what does the research say about the effect of incarceration and an offender’s likeliness to repeat criminal behavior?
This research states that incarceration doesn't reform a criminal. He has spent almost half his life in prison but the time there didn't reform him, he continues to commit crimes. He is probably never going to be a law-abiding citizen by now, if he most likely hasn't finished high school, never had a real job nor could get one with his prison record.
The research doesn't explain neither why he started committing crimes, if it was because he has some form of mental illness, or perhaps because of a poor upbring and background, the lack of hard-working role models. If the reasons of why he started committing crimes were treated, maybe he would stop doing so.
