Recidivism

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Recidivism \Re*cid"i*vism\ (r[-e]*s[i^]d"[i^]*v[i^]z'm), n.
     The state or quality of being recidivous; relapse, specif.
     (Criminology), a falling back or relapse into prior criminal
     habits, esp. after conviction and punishment.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  


           The old English system of recognizances, in which the
           guilty party deposits a sum of money, is an excellent
           guarantee to society against recidivism. --Havelock
                                                    Ellis.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  recidivism
       n : habitual relapse into crime

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  94 Moby Thesaurus words for "recidivism":
     about-face, amorality, apostasy, atheism, backing, backset,
     backslide, backsliding, backward motion, backward step, betrayal,
     bolt, breakaway, carnality, criminality, defection, delinquency,
     desertion, disenchantment, disloyalty, evil, evil nature,
     faithlessness, fall, fall from grace, flip-flop, going over,
     immorality, impiety, impiousness, impurity, irreligion,
     irreverence, lapse, lapse from grace, moral delinquency,
     peccability, prodigality, ratting, reaction, recession,
     recidivation, reclamation, reconversion, recreancy, reentry,
     refluence, reflux, regress, regression, rehabilitation,
     reinstatement, relapse, restitution, restoration, retroaction,
     retrocession, retroflexion, retrogradation, retrogression,
     retroversion, retrusion, return, returning, reversal, reverse,
     reversion, reverting, revulsion, rollback, secession, setback,
     slipping back, sternway, throwback, treason, turn, turnabout,
     turning traitor, unangelicalness, unchastity, uncleanness,
     undutifulness, ungodliness, ungoodness, unmorality,
     unrighteousness, unsaintliness, unvirtuousness, vice, viciousness,
     wantonness, waywardness, wrongdoing