• Today's Word

Recidivism

🔊 Listen to the word Recidivism

rih-SID-ih-viz-um

Definition

(noun) The tendency to relapse into previous behavior, especially criminal behavior after punishment or treatment.

Example

The program’s success was measured not by graduation rates but by lower recidivism among participants two years later.

Word Origin

From Latin recidivus, meaning “falling back, relapsing,” derived from recidere — re- (“back”) + cadere (“to fall”). The same root cadere gives us “cadence,” “accident,” “decay,” and “cascade” — all words involving some form of falling. Recidivism is, literally, falling back.

Fun Fact

In behavioral psychology, the pattern has a name: “extinction burst” — the tendency for old behaviors to actually intensify briefly before disappearing, which explains why relapse often happens just when change seems most within reach. The word is increasingly used beyond criminal justice — addiction medicine, mental health treatment, and even diet research all track recidivism rates. In the United States, studies have shown that over two-thirds of released prisoners are rearrested within three years, making recidivism one of the most debated statistics in criminal justice reform.