Study finds incarceration leads to reduced rate of reoffending

Does time behind bars help lead to a crime-free life for youths? A new study suggests that might be the case.

Spending time behind bars reduced the rate of reoffending for B.C. youths, according to a new study out of Simon Fraser University.

The long-term study included data from B.C. Corrections and interviews with around 1,700 offenders spanning several years, from their teens into their 30s.

“We examined whether increases in the amount of time spent incarcerated from one year to the next were associated with decreases in the number of convictions from one year to the next,” said Evan McCuish, the study’s author. “We found that, to put it simply, incarceration reduced re-offending for this particular sample of kids involved in serious and violent offences.”

McCuish said the next phase of his research will help establish if the findings are more a result of prison acting as a form of rehabilitation, or a deterrent to committing other crimes.

Meanwhile, Canadian politicians have called for tougher bail laws and harsher punishments for violent offenders.

McCuish said other research on the U.S. prison system has produced starkly different findings from his own.

“The research effectively, overwhelmingly showed that incarceration was not reducing reoffending,” said McCuish. “They casted the wider net, more people were incarcerated for less serious offenses.”

He believes this is a result of the vast differences in the two countries’ approach to incarceration, including the United States’ use of privately owned jails.

“The reason why we found what we did is probably because, unlike in the United States, in Canada when people are incarcerated there is much more of an emphasis on rehabilitation rather than punishment.”

McCuish said Canada needs more research on its own justice system to find the best solutions moving forward.