This report, Recidivism Among Federal Drug Trafficking Offenders, examines a group of 10,888 federal drug trafficking offenders who were released in calendar year 2005. These 10,888 offenders, who were all U.S. citizens, represent 42.8 percent of the 25,431 federal offenders who were released in calendar year 2005 and analyzed in the Commission's 2016 report, Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview. In the future, the Commission will release additional publications discussing specific topics concerning recidivism of federal offenders. This report would be useful to law enforcement, criminal psychologists and profilers, attorney, judges, policymakers, members of government and Congress, and committees concerned with drug trafficking and law enforcement. Additionally, students writing essays about Federal drug crimes may also be interested in this primary source book for essential research and facts. Related items: The Past Predicts The Future: Criminal History and Recidivism of Federal Offenders can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/past-predicts-future-criminal-history-and-recidivism-federal-offenders Alternative Sentencing in the Federal Criminal Justice System is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/052-070-07686-1?ctid=1103 Federal Probation: A Journal of Correctional Philosophy and Practice print subscription available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/727-001-00000-0?ctid= The Evolution of Los Zetas in Mexico and Central America: Sadism as an Instrument of Cartel Warfare available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/evolution-los-zetas-mexico-and-central-america-sadism-instrument-cartel-warfare

After decades of stability from the 1920s to the early 1970s, the rate of imprisonment in the United States has increased fivefold during the last four decades. The U.S. penal population of 2.2 million adults is by far the largest in the world. Just under one-quarter of the world's prisoners are held in American prisons. The U.S. rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 out of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5 to 10 times higher than the rates in Western Europe and other democracies. The U.S. prison population is largely drawn from the most disadvantaged part of the nation's population: mostly men under age 40, disproportionately minority, and poorly educated. Prisoners often carry additional deficits of drug and alcohol addictions, mental and physical illnesses, and lack of work preparation or experience. The growth of incarceration in the United States during four decades has prompted numerous critiques and a growing body of scientific knowledge about what prompted the rise and what its consequences have been for the people imprisoned, their families and communities, and for U.S. society. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States examines research and analysis of the dramatic rise of incarceration rates and its affects. This study makes the case that the United States has gone far past the point where the numbers of people in prison can be justified by social benefits and has reached a level where these high rates of incarceration themselves constitute a source of injustice and social harm. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States examines policy changes that created an increasingly punitive political climate and offers specific policy advice in sentencing policy, prison policy, and social policy. The report also identifies important research questions that must be answered to provide a firmer basis for policy. This report is a call for change in the way society views criminals, punishment, and prison. This landmark study assesses the evidence and its implications for public policy to inform an extensive and thoughtful public debate about and reconsideration of policies.

Over the past fifty years, American criminal justice policy has had a nearly singular focus – the relentless pursuit of punishment. Punishment is intuitive, proactive, logical, and simple. But the problem is that despite all of the appeal, logic, and common sense, punishment doesn't work. The majority of crimes committed in the United States are by people who have been through the criminal justice system before, many on multiple occasions. There are two issues that are the primary focus of this book. The first is developing a better approach than simple punishment to actually address crime-related circumstances, deficits and disorders, in order to change offender behavior, reduce recidivism, victimization and cost. And the second issue is how do we do a better job of determining who should be diverted and who should be criminally prosecuted. From Retribution to Public Safety develops a strategy for informed decision making regarding criminal prosecution and diversion. The authors develop procedures for panels of clinical experts to provide prosecutors with recommendations about diversion and intervention. This requires a substantial shift in criminal procedure as well as major reform to the public health system, both of which are discussed in detail. Rather than ask how much punishment is necessary the authors look at how we can best reduce recidivism. In doing so they develop a roadmap to fix a fundamentally flawed system that is wasting massive amounts of public resources to not reducing crime or recidivism.