By Sarah Roebuck
Corrections1
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia has achieved the lowest recidivism rates for the state in over two decades, the Virginia Department of Corrections announced.
Virginia’s 19% three-year re-incarceration rate for State Responsible (SR) inmates from the FY2019 cohort is tied with Minnesota for the second-lowest rate in the United States, data from VADOC indicates.
Virginia’s 19% recidivism rate is the lowest it has seen in over 20 years, improving on the 20.6% rate from FY2018, VADOC said. This also marks the 11th straight year that the state has had either the lowest or second-lowest recidivism rate in the nation.
Virginia tracks its three-year re-incarceration rate by waiting at least four years to gather and log all court data, VADOC said. This rate is then compared to 33 other states that have publicly shared similar recidivism statistics.
For FY2020, South Carolina had the lowest comparable recidivism rate at 18.5%. However, as of December 4, 2023, when looking at the FY2019 cohort, Virginia holds the lowest recidivism rate in the nation for that year. South Carolina’s FY2020 rate, though, has already been released and is lower than Virginia’s FY2019 rate.
“I am pleased to see that Virginia’s recidivism rate has dropped yet again,” said Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Terrance “Terry” Cole. “This shows that so many returning Virginians are making the most of their opportunities to succeed, and that our public safety agencies are working hard to keep Virginia safe and improve lives in the process.”
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