Incarceration usually does not reduce reoffending and may sometimes increase it.

• A. Incarceration and recidivism
• B. Incarceration and crime reduction
• C. Rehabilitation
• D. Restitution

Answer: (A)

Relationship between incarceration and recidivism. The statement is asserting that locking people up usually does not lower reoffending, and may even raise it. This aligns with substantial criminology research showing that incarceration often fails to produce lasting desistance from crime and can increase the likelihood of future offending after release, due to factors like stigma, worsened employment prospects, damaged social ties, and exposure to criminal networks while imprisoned. Therefore, the option that links incarceration with recidivism best fits the claim. The other terms describe different ideas: crime reduction would imply fewer crimes due to incarceration, which contradicts the claim; rehabilitation focuses on changing behavior rather than the empirical effect on reoffending; and restitution concerns compensating victims and is not about reoffending.