recidivist
Habitual crime repeater
A recidivist is someone who repeatedly relapses into criminal behavior, especially after punishment or treatment.
The term appears most often in legal and criminological contexts: a habitual recidivist with multiple convictions, recidivist offenders face longer sentences.
It can extend to any persistent backslider: a recidivist smoker who can't quit.
Person repeatedly convicted
- reoffenderRepeat lawbreaker
- convictJailed offender after trial
- felonSerious crime perpetrator
- offenderOne who breaks rules
lawbreaker · delinquent · inmate · prisoner · jailbird · parolee · probationer · ex-con
Revert to bad habits
- reoffendCommit crime again
- relapseReturn to former illness
- recurrenceReturn of something previous
- regressionReturn to former state
reversion · return · lapse · setback · fall · slip · retrogression · deterioration
Impossible to correct
- hardenedMade tough or unfeeling
- unrepentantFeeling no remorse
- irredeemableImpossible to reform
- unregenerateRefusing to reform
incorrigible · unapologetic · intractable · chronic · inveterate · persistent · habitual · entrenched
Recovery from injury/addiction
- prison systemOrganized network of jails
- paroleConditional early release
- probationSupervised trial period
- correctionsAdjustments to fix errors
sentencing · mandatory minimum · three-strikes law · criminal justice · incarceration · reentry · reform · intervention
repeat offender
Person repeatedly convicted
- reoffenderRepeat lawbreaker
- convictJailed offender after trial
- felonSerious crime perpetrator
offender · lawbreaker · delinquent · inmate · prisoner · jailbird · parolee · probationer · ex-con · habitual offender
backslide
Revert to bad habits
- reoffendCommit crime again
- relapseReturn to former illness
- recurrenceReturn of something previous
regression · reversion · return · lapse · setback · fall · slip · retrogression · deterioration · repeat
unreformable
Impossible to correct
- hardenedMade tough or unfeeling
- unrepentantFeeling no remorse
- irredeemableImpossible to reform
unregenerate · incorrigible · unapologetic · intractable · chronic · inveterate · persistent · habitual · entrenched · ingrained
rehabilitation
Recovery from injury/addiction
- prison systemOrganized network of jails
- paroleConditional early release
- probationSupervised trial period
corrections · sentencing · mandatory minimum · three-strikes law · criminal justice · incarceration · reentry · reform · intervention · supervision
- rule breakersrulebreaker, transgressor, violator, offender, lawbreaker
- criminalsmurderer, thief, burglar, criminal, killer
- repeat offendersrepeat offender, habitual offender, habitual criminal, chronic offender, career criminal
- criminal traitsconvicted, guilty, accused, arrested, wanted
- recidivismreoffending, repeat offender, repeat offense, rearrest, reconviction
- captivesprisoner, captive, inmate, detainee, hostage
recidivistreformed
Improved after abandoning wrongdoing
rehabilitated · redeemed · penitent · converted · success story
recidivistfirst-time offender
Person's initial crime
first offender · amateur · first-timer · innocent · clean record
- recidivism reductionLowering repeat offense rates