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Judiciary Committee refines recidivism definition and reporting limits in H410
Summary
Committee adopted technical changes to H410 that simplify the statutory definition of recidivism, set the recidivism event date at arraignment for the subsequent offense, and start the recidivism 'clock' on release from incarceration or sentencing to a noncustodial sentence; three‑ and five‑year lookbacks moved to the annual report.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to approve draft 4.2 of the committee amendment to H410 on March 13, adopting changes designed to simplify recidivism measurement and make reporting more consistent.
Office of Legislative Counsel explained the changes: the date of a recidivism event will be the arraignment date for the subsequent offense to provide a consistent, recordable point of reference; the period used to calculate recidivism will begin on the later of an individual’s release from incarceration or the date the individual is sentenced to a noncustodial sentence; and the specific three‑ and five‑year look‑back windows will be detailed in the annual recidivism report rather than being embedded in the statutory definition. Counsel said the changes aim to simplify data collection and allow the research arm (CRG) to disaggregate instances such as offending while still incarcerated.
Members discussed whether crimes committed while incarcerated should count as recidivism; several said that acts committed before completion of an initial sentence are typically treated differently. Members agreed CRG could disaggregate those events in the annual report.
Why it matters: A consistent statutory definition with clear event and clock dates helps produce comparable recidivism statistics for policy evaluation and for annual reports requested of the research arm.
What’s next: The committee reported the amendment and asked staff to send the correct final draft to the clerk and CRG for data work and disaggregation in future reports.
