CHAPTER-11

RECIDIVISM
The habit of relapsing into crimes by the criminals is known as Recidivism and the Recidivist is a person who relapses into crime again and again. The State, UT and Citywise number of recidivists (past offenders) under IPC crimes during 2010 are shown in Table-11.1. The share of recidivists among all offenders has decreased to 8.2% during 2010 as compared to 9.0% in 2009. In absolute terms, the number of past offenders involved in repeating IPC crimes during 2009 was 2,40,481 as compared to 2,56,049 during 2009 accounting for an decrease of 6.0% in 2010 over 2009. Chhattisgarh has reported the highest cases of recidivism (71.3%) among States while Chandigarh has reported the highest cases of recidivism in the country (32.6%) amongst UTs as compared to the National average of 8.2%.Yearwise variation of recidivist is shown at Fig. 11.1. Out of total arrestees (29,47,122) during 2010, there were as many as 91.8% (27,06,641) new offenders, 5.6% (1,63,858) were convicted once in the past, whereas 1.7% (49,139) were convicted twice and only 0.9% (27,484) were convicted three times or more. 68.1% (1,63,858) out of the total recidivists (2,40,481) during 2010 were those convicted once in 139 the past, 20.4% (49,139) were convicted twice, while 11.4% (27,484) were habitual offenders i.e., they were convicted thrice or more in the past, as depicted in Fig. 11.2. The following table shows conviction frequency of recidivists during 2006-2010.

Table-11 (A) Category of Recidivists Arrested During 20062010 Number of Recidivists Convicted in the Past Year Once 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Twice Thrice or more 14,453 15,134 20,613 25,316 27,484

Sl. No.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1,73,421 44,303 1,74,008 49,647 1,54,343 47,129 1,79,384 51,349 1,63,858 49,139

FIGURE 11.1
Percentage of Recidivists (out of total arrested) During 2006-2010
9 8.8 8.6 8.4

Percentage

8.2 8

9.0 8.7 8.6 8.2 7.7

7.8 7.6 7.4 7.2 7

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Year

FIGURE 11.2
Recidivists under IPC During 2010
Recidivists Convicted Thrice or More 11.4%

Recidivists Convicted Twice 20.4%

Recidivists Convicted Once 68.1%

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