Analysis revealed that around 70% of offenders who received a first conviction had been rehabilitated without committing any further offenses thereafter (referred to as “non-repeat offenders” in this chapter). However, the rest, around 30% of offenders did commit offenses again (referred to as “repeat offenders” in this chapter) and were responsible for about 60% of all offenses, causing a great deal of harm to society (see Chapter 3, Section 2). This indicates that, if effective recidivism prevention measures can be established, crime trends could be significantly improved. This fact is the fundamental rationale for prioritizing effective measures for recidivism prevention in criminal justice policy.
  Upon examining the Five Year Recidivism Rate of offenders who received their first conviction in 1990, 1995 and 2000, it amounted to 14.6% in 1990, and continues on a rising trend with 15.9% in 1995 and 18.5% in 2000. In regard to general trends in the number of reported cases for non-traffic penal code offenses in Japan, it started increasing drastically from 1996 onward, and reached the biggest peak since W WII in 2002. It then decreased for four years in a row, but still maintains a relatively high level. The belief is that the rising trend in the recidivism rate and that general crime trend have a correlation in some respects. Based upon the current crime trends in Japan, strong encouragement in further efforts to establish effective recidivism prevention measures are needed.
  From this outlook, we explored effective measures for preventing recidivism through evidence-based analyses of the actual circumstances and attributes, tendencies and other characteristics of repeat offenders using the computerized criminal record database, statistical information on criminal justice and special case studies. Outcomes of this study were already introduced in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of this article. An attempt to summarize them will be made here and also the way forward for effective recidivism prevention in Japan will be explored.