SCCa criminal who starts doing illegal things again, even after he or she has been punished 累犯，惯犯
—recidivism noun [uncountableU]
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.
Originrecidivist
(1800-1900)Frenchrécidiviste, from récidiver“to go back to bad behavior”, from Latinrecidere, from cadere“to fall”