adj. Prone to relapse into immoral or antisocial behavior.
adj. Recurring (of a disease or another medical problem).
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adj. Tending or liable to backslide or relapse to a former condition or habit.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Liable to backslide to a former state.
Word Usage
"Now, specifically how that is structured -- I mean, what the President has said is that he would like to see it structured narrowly enough so that it does target the 9 percent of recidivous* criminals who commit 70 percent of the violent crimes."