I was in an adult prison, I was 19 and turned 20 while I was in there. It was on my record the normal amount of time and I still have to declare it 20 years later because of the job I do. I was in an adult prison and have an adult record. I’m not making a mistake, the mistake you are making is infantilising people and saying they can’t do it. Of course recidivism is high because most of the people in there are on drugs which is what causes the crime in the first place. If you were saying there needs to be better treatment and support for drug addicts I fully agree and that would drastically reduce the crime rate, but don’t make the mistake that these people are stealing to feed their families. They reoffend because they go back to their lifestyle and don’t take the help that’s available. It was hard, of course it was, but it’s doable and I’m proof of that. I appreciate you are young and idealistic, but I wholly disagree with your opinions. I was in a block with 19 other females, there were only 2 of us who were not drug addicts. The rest spent their time either thinking of ways to get drugs in or talking about how many drugs they were going to do when they got out and sharing amongst each other tips and tricks to steal/con/defraud people out of money for those drugs. They had no intention of rehabilitating themselves and getting a normal job. There should definitely be better drug services but if someone does wrong they should be punished and then offered services, which they are and they choose not to take. I can see I’m not going to change your mind and you are most definitely not going to change mine, having actual lived experience of what you are talking about but it is not sticking the boot in to point out that it is a choice and I’m not saying we shouldn’t help them, I was helped, because I utilised that help but it also took hard work from me and not the easy way out.