Recidivism in India: An Analytical Study

The purpose of punishment in India is to reform an offender and reintegrate him back into the society. But due to certain factors this process of reformation fails and further leads to recidivism. A recidivist is a person who relapses into crime again and again. There has been an increase in the recidivism rates around the world. In this research paper, the factors resulting in recidivism have been discussed, the legal provisions relating to the same in India have been mentioned along with few case laws and also the author has mentioned two extreme opposite criminal justice systems , one following retributive theory of punishment i.e. Saudi Arabia and the other, rehabilitative i.e. Norway. The impact of such systems on the crime rates and recidivism in their countries have been analyzed and finally the position of India with respect to the same has been analyzed along with some suggestions.