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Glite Dictionary
reoffense

reoffense

6.3
Committing a crime again after being punished before
  • noun
  • /ˌriːəˈfɛns/
  • US
translation icon : reincidencia
  • His risk of sexual reoffense, I testified, was no greater than that of any other garden-variety sex offender.

Examples

  • Studies show that effective rehabilitation can reduce the rate of reoffense among former inmates.

  • The parole board is concerned about his potential for reoffense given his history.

  • In a review of research on drug courts, Belenko (2002) concluded that participation in drug courts reduced substance abuse and reoffenses both during and after court supervision.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The constructs of "mental disorder" and "risk for reoffense" are malleable, lending themselves to use as pretextual weapons of prejudice wielded against gay men, racial minorities (especially African American men), and immigrants.

    Blog text (17)

  • Many experts believe that lack of support after release increases the chances of reoffense.

How Often

recidivist
4 9.8
reoffense
  • US
6.3
offense
  • US
351 3.3
first time
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

reoffense singular
reoffenses plural

Morphology

reoffense = offense (transparent) = re + offense

The prefix 're-' straightforwardly adds the meaning 'again' to 'offense', yielding the sense of another offense after a previous one.

Etymology

The word reoffense starts with re- meaning 'again', just like in repeat, and ends with offense, which means 'a crime' or 'wrong act'. So reoffense simply means committing a crime 'again'.