Repeat Offenders: Misguided Perceptions Lead to Injustice

Introduction

The term repeat offender is a misleading term as it implies multiple repeat offenses with relatively close events in time, either of a specific offense type, or of a different offense type. Its use clearly puts a picture in the minds of the public that a repeat offender is a dangerous offender, and is someone who is out of control and should be locked away. I will examine this perception to see if this perception is true or false.

Repeat Offender

First, I will determine a common understanding of the term Repeat Offender. The legal definition of Repeat Offender follows from Black's Law Dictionary, eighth edition, page 1110: A person who has been convicted of a crime more than once; RECIDIVIST. [Cases: Sentencing and Punishment, 1202. C.J.S. Criminal Law. §§ 1643, 1650, 1652].

There are two facts we can immediately extract from this definition. 1) The definition is not time limited, 2) conviction of a crime more than once. This last requirement of the definition for a repeat offender implies a repeat offense for the same crime, same crime category, or a crime whether same or other. In other words, the term and definition are sufficiently ambiguous as to imply almost anything, thus the continued misuse and abuse of the term.

Federal courts have held that the facts behind a conviction that reflect conduct that is "functionally identical" or "equivalent" to offenses specifically enumerated in the statute are covered the same as if they were enumerated specifically. With these latter definitions derived from federal court cases, we can now see that to be a repeat offender the offense must 1) be functionally identical or 2) equivalent to a prior offense. There still exist ambiguity with the clearer definition of repeat offender, thus repeat offender or repeat crime can be either tightly or loosely interpreted and still fall within these definitions. Remember Black's Law Dictionary, eighth edition, the definition of repeat offender is not time limited, giving rise to the following type of statement heard from the public.