From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrecidivistre‧cid‧i‧vist /rɪˈsɪdɪvɪst/ noun [countable] technical SCCa criminal who starts doing illegal things again, even after he or she has been punished —recidivism noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
recidivist• Toxic substances and nutrients were the prime suspects along with the well-known recidivist, sedimentation.• Art, it seems, is the perpetual recidivist, always ducking back into the aesthetic as soon as vigilant life averts its gaze.Origin recidivist (1800-1900) French récidiviste, from récidiver “to go back to bad behavior”, from Latin recidere, from cadere “to fall” 