Hypertext Webster Gateway: "recidivism"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Recidivism \Re*cid"i*vism\, n.
The state or quality of being recidivous; relapse, specif.
(Criminology), a falling back or relapse into prior criminal
habits, esp. after conviction and punishment.
The old English system of recognizances, in which the
guilty party deposits a sum of money, is an excellent
guarantee to society against recidivism. --Havelock
Ellis.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
recidivism
n : a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: {backsliding}, {lapse},
{lapsing}, {relapse}, {relapsing}, {reversion}, {reverting}]
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