If recidivism rates are high, that means the the rehabilitation function of our criminal justice system (and the broader society) is substantially ineffective. Does that indicate something inherent about the people being imprisoned, or does it instead indicate that our systems are poorly designed and failing?

There are many societies around the world with much lower incarceration rates, much milder penalties, less recidivism, and much lower overall amounts of crime. Shouldn’t we be investigating what they are doing right and trying to copy it, instead of doubling down on our current methods which seem to be extremely (monetarily and socially) expensive failures?

Or do you think Americans are just on average inherently defective compared to people who live in other developed countries?

I think you are asking the right question when asking if there is something inherent with the people, or if the systems are failing. But being binary about it strikes me as a tribal. The realistic answer to your question is that a little of both are true. There is no black and white answer here.

I think you may have been being sarcastic with your last comment on Americans being defective, but it may not actually be that far from the truth, and I'm American. I'm sure we could copy some strategies and be so much better at everything like the extremely developed Europeans across the pond, but the American society and certain features that are rotting from within has a lot to do with it.

Band-aids are nice though and I see no harm in using them.