To almost everyone, recidivism means “committed another crime and went back to prison.” But the BJS tracks three different numbers under “recidivism”: rearrest, reconviction, and return to prison, and they are not interchangeable. The one being used to get to 71% is rearrest, the loosest and highest of the three. The actual return-to-prison rate for that same population over the same five years is 46%, still serious and still worth addressing, but 25 points lower than what the surrounding context wants you to conclude.
