What term refers to the act of repeating an offense?

• A. Recidivism
• B. Rehabilitation
• C. Deterrence
• D. Recurrence

Answer: (A)

The act of repeating an offense is described as recidivism. In criminal justice, recidivism refers to a convicted person committing new crimes after being released or after a prior offense, making it a standard measure of how often someone returns to criminal behavior. It captures the tendency to reoffend and is used to assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation, reintegration, and deterrence efforts.

Rehabilitation focuses on turning an offender away from crime through treatment and education, not on repeated crime itself. Deterrence aims to discourage crime in general by threats or punishment, not the behavior of a specific individual returning to crime. Recurrence is a general term for happening again, but in this context the precise term used is recidivism, which specifically describes reoffending after conviction.