Cross-National Longitudinal Research on Human Development and Criminal Behavior
Abstract
Introduction. Part I: Lessons of Longitudinal Research. Natural Histories of Delinquency T.E. Moffitt. Part II: Recent Longitudinal Studies around the World. Criminal Careers in London and Stockholm: a Cross-National Comparative Study D.P. Farrington, P.-O. Wikstroem. A Longitudinal Analysis of Juvenile Arrest Histories of the 1970 Birth Cohort in Japan Y. Harada. Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare: Longitudinal Research in the State of Michigan I.M. Schwartz, S.A. Kapp, E.J. Overstreet. Methodological Annotations on Retrospection in Criminological Research P. Sutterer, T. Karger. Determinants of Patterns of Recidivism: Some Results of Survival Analysis Based on Official Crime Records of the Swiss Canton Jura S. Karstedt. Measures of Escalation and their Self and Social Control Predictors M. Le Blanc. Family Socialization and Antisocial Behavior: Searching for Causal Relationships in Longitudinal Research J. McCord. Longitudinal Research in Criminology: Promise and Practice D.S. Elliott. Examining Developmental Trajectories in Delinquency Using Accelerated Longitudinal Research Designs D. Huizinga, F.-A. Esbensen, A. Weiher. Neigborhood Context and Delinquency: a Longitudinal Analysis A.J. Lizotte, T.P. Thornberry, M.D. Krohn, D. Chard-Wierschem, D. McDowall. Initiation of Drug Selling and its Relationship with Illicit Drug Use and Serious Delinquency in Adolescent Boys W. van Kammen, E. Maguin, R. Loeber. The Probability and Timing of Rearrests for Seriously Violent Crimes: Some Descriptive Patterns in Individual Arrest Histories and their Policy Implications N.A. Weiner. Self-Reported and Officially Defined Offenses in the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort R.M. Figlio. Protective Effects of Social Resources in Adolescents at High Risk for Antisocial Behavior F. Losel. Desistance from a Delinquent Way of Life? R. Mischkowitz. Part III: Clinical Approaches, Deterrence, and Socio-Economic Development. Longitudinal Research from the Point of View of Clinical Criminology U. Gatti, A. Verde. Criminological Research: From Cohort Studies to Clinical Epidemiology KA.M. Favard. Identification and Interpersonal Maturity: Contribution to a Developmental Approach of Juvenile Delinquency E. van Poppel, M. Born. Evidence for the Adoption of a Learning Theory Approach to Criminal Deterrence: a Preliminary Study P.A. Brennan, S.A. Mednick. Development and Crime: an Explanatory Study in Yugoslavia U. Zvekic. Part IV: Future Directions of Longitudinal Research. Communities Change, Too M.W. Klein. Next Steps in Criminal Career Research A. Blumstein. A Case for a Longitudinal Study C.-G. Janson. Towards Comparative Societal Longitudinal Studies A.J. Reiss, Jr. Epilogue: Workshop and Plenary Discussions, and Future Directions E.G.M. Weitekamp, H.-J. Kerner.
Chapters (26)
a small group engages in antisocial behavior of one sort or another at every life stage, whereas
The main aim of this paper is to compare two cohorts of working-class males born in 1953, from London and Stockholm, on criminal career features between ages 10 and 25: prevalence, individual offending frequency, continuity, onset, desistance and duration. In addition, the relationship between age of onset and other criminal career features, and characteristics of chronic offenders, are reported for both cohorts. Before describing the results, the criminal career approach and cross-national comparisons are discussed, and then the two longitudinal surveys and steps taken to increase the comparability between them.
This study examines juvenile arrest histories of the 1970 birth cohort in Japan, with special reference to the relationship between age and crime. The data consist of official records of juvenile arrests of 7,442 males and 2,584 females, collected at a prefectural police headquarters near Tokyo. Findings include: (1) Age-and-crime relationships vary considerably by offense type and by dimension of criminal career, (2) There are substantial differences that can hardly be attributed to different criminal justice practices in age-and-crime relationships between the United States and Japan, (3) Criminal behavior of school-aged youths in Japan is related with time since school entry in a more consistent fashion than with biological age.
This paper describes a longitudinal study of all juveniles who exit the child welfare and youth correction system in the state of Michigan. The purposes of the study are to examine how many of the youth are subsequently sentenced to adult prisons in Michigan and/or receive some type of welfare assistance and what variables seem to be associated with these outcomes. The study is an outgrowth of a pilot research project that looked at all child welfare and delinquency cases discharged from a private residential treatment agency to see how many were imprisoned within five years. The findings revealed there were no differences with respect to the proportion of child welfare cases imprisoned as compared to delinquents. With respect to delinquents, numbers of prior felony convictions were highly correlated with future imprisonment.
Assuming that most studies in social sciences (theoretical and/or epidemiological studies, cross-sectional and/or longitudinal studies) refer to “events in the past”, hence displaying a retrospective character, the objective of the present paper is to highlight a number of issues liable to impair the valid and reliable reconstruction of past events. Inaccurate recall, forgetting, omissions and wrong dating of life events are found in the sector of criminological studies, both in official registers and, above all, in interview data (self-reported events). Possibilities of validity checks and some methodological improvements in the design of such retrospective studies will be offered for discussion.
The study examines time-related patterns of recidivism in high-risk and medium-risk groups with regard to different types of sanctions. Official crime reports offer unique opportunities for time-related analyses of recidivism, because events (sentences, offenses, arrests) are recorded in “real-time” sequential order. A disproportional sample was drawn from the official crime records of the Swiss canton Jura, and - starting from a basic offense between 1977 and 1982 - prior as well as subsequent sentences were recorded for 60 months. Survival analyses were performed for this period, which was corrected for “incapacitation time”. Risk-factors - number of prior sentences, type of prior sentences, type of offenses - determine the survivor functions indepently of the type of sanction received for the basic offense, at medium as well as at high levels of risks. The uniformity of the survivor functions of different subgroups is assumed to be caused by the “internal dynamics” (Herrmann 1991) of recidivism.
There are various definitions of escalation and three measures have been used for its analysis: crime switching, dynamic classification and developmental progression. Numerous self and social control variables have been reported to be associated with the individual level of self-reported delinquency during adolescence and young adulthood. However, we do not know which of these variables are regularly associated with the aggravation of offending.
The paper discusses methodological issues that confound interpretations of longitudinal studies. The paper addresses some of the problems in relation to a forty-year study of males.
Like several others attending this conference, I have invested the last 30 years, nearly all of my professional career, in longitudinal research. At this first NATO conference on this type of criminological study, it seems appropriate to take stock of these efforts: has this data collection strategy lived up to it’s promise? is this data collection and analysis design cost effective? While there may be consensus at this conference on these questions, there are those who have raised serious questions about the “pay-off” from longitudinal research, particularly in light of the preference given to this design by funding agencies over the past decade and the relative cost of this data collection strategy as compared to cross-sectional (and other) data collection designs.
Use of an accelerated longitudinal research design, involving multiple overlapping birth cohorts, is illustrated by examining developmental transitions in delinquent behavior across the 7-through 17-year-old age period. Considerable movement between non-delinquent, minor, and serious offending statuses was observed across the age range. Also, the relationship between delinquency status at an early age and delinquency status at a fixed later age was quite weak. However, using patterns of delinquent behavior over several years, a relatively strong relationship between age of initiation and later offending status was observed. The findings suggest limitations of cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies that involve single measurement periods separated by several years in time. Also indicated is the need for multiple years of cohort overlap in constructing “synthetic cohorts” in accelerated designs and for greater attention to multiple-year patterns of behavior in examining risk factors and in descriptions of criminal careers.
Social scientists see communities as being more than the sum of the individuals that comprise them. The community provides the context in which individuals organize their social lives, thus helping to pattern their behavior. In particular, social disorganization theory posits that individuals in disorganized communities find it difficult to form the broad social bonds and networks necessary to monitor adolescent behavior. The result of this lack of supervision is an increase in an individual adolescent’s propensity to become delinquent. Despite the appeal of this notion, very few researchers have utilized both community and individual level variables in the analysis of individuals’ propensity to commit crime. In this paper we consider the impact of both neighborhood and individual level variables on delinquency, using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study. The results suggest only marginal effects of community level variables on individuals. Some alternative models for analyzing community effects are discussed.
The longitudinal relationship of illicit drug use, violent crime, serious theft and the onset of drug selling is demonstrated in a follow-up study of 506 urban adolescent males between the ages 13 and 15 when the number of boys who started drug selling increased dramatically. Also, the boys’ yearly prevalence rates and frequency of drug selling and illicit drug use increased in each of the three years while this was not as clearly observed for serious theft and violent crime. The typical age of onset of the boys’ drug selling was later than that of illicit drug use and serious delinquency. Boys’ involvement in multiple antecedent problem behaviors increased the likelihood of their initiating drug selling. Previous illicit drug use and violent crime were independent predictors of the onset of drug selling while living in a neighborhood where drug related offenses are common, being African-American and having drug using and/or selling friends increased the likelihood for adolescent boys initiating drug selling by almost a factor of 10.
There has been scant research assessing the risk of rearrest for seriously violent crimes at the successive points in the arrest sequence. Such research requires the convergence of several components, including: a longitudinal data structure; large numbers of subjects; detailed information on the subjects’ sociodemographic characteristics and criminal histories; and statistical techniques linking the probability and timing of rearrest. In the past, these requirements have been too burdensome for researchers to satisfy. This study, however, pulls together these components and links the probability and timing of rearrests for seriously violent crimes to one another and, in turn, to public-policy concerns.
The findings from the first Philadelphia birth cohort study of some 10,000 boys who were born in 1945 and grew up in that city were published in 1972.(1) A few years later that research was continued by following up and interviewing a sample of that cohort. And, in 1990 findings were reported from a longitudinal study of over 27,000 individuals born in 1958 and who also lived in Philadelphia through their juvenile years.(2) Herein we offer data developed from an interview of a sample of 777 males and females drawn from the 1958 cohort when they were 30 years old. Additionally, the officially recorded criminal histories of these sample participants were tracked to age 30 at both local and national levels. To insure that out-migration from Philadelphia of cohort members would not have any significant effect on the completeness of adult criminal records and comparability with the earlier juvenile offense data, sample members were traced and contacted, if possible, throughout the United States.
Our knowledge on predictors and courses of antisocial, delinquent, and criminal behavior has improved substantially in the last two decades. This is particularly due to more intensive developmental, prospective, longitudinal research. Respective studies stem from various geographical regions, for example from England (e.g., Farrington & West, 1990; Kolvin, Miller, Fleeting, & Kolvin, 1988); from the USA (e.g., Elliott, Huizinga, & Menard, 1989; Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, Van Kammen, & Farrington, 1991; McCord, 1979; Robins, 1978; Wolfgang, Figlio, & Sellin, 1972); from Canada (e.g., Le Blanc & Fréchette, 1989; Tremblay, Loeber, Gagnon, Charlebois, Larivée, & Le Blanc, 1991); from Scandinavia (e.g., Magnusson, 1988; Pulkkinen, 1988; Wikstroem, 1987); and from New Zealand (e.g., Moffitt & Silva, 1988). Despite many differences in social contexts, age groups, theoretical concepts, and empirical measures, overall findings provide a fairly consistent picture:
Antisocial behavior is one of the most frequent problems in childhood and adolescence, particularly among males. It manifests in many different forms during the life course, and is subject to situational and temporal fluctuations. In its most severe form, it is more predictable than other behavioral and emotional problems. The prevalence of delinquent and criminal behavior increases strongly during adolescence and drops off again during the third decade. A small group of approximately six percent of the population exhibits relatively persistent and severe criminal behavior. The probability of chronic offending increases (a) the more frequently antisocial behavior has been exhibited in the past; (b) the more varied problem behavior is; (c) the greater the number of settings in which it occurs; and (d) the earlier the onset of delinquency and crime (e.g., Blumstein, Cohen, & Farrington, 1988; Loeber, 1982; Wolfgang et al., 1972).
Although the decline of crime with age is a universal phenomenon, there has been a lot of discussion about the factors explaining this decline. As Hirschi and Gottfredson have stated, age must be viewed as exerting a direct effect on crime (Hirschi/Gottfredson, 1983). According to their invariance hypothesis and its corollaries, the age-crime curve can neither be explained by presently known social and cultural factors nor by certain events in life.
The authors examine the methods employed by longitudinal research from the point of view of clinical criminology, in order to study the problems connected with the construction of “data” and with the interpretation of results. They underline the differences and similarities between the two approaches and, in particular, the time dimension, which is fundamental for both perspectives.
This paper, which is presented here in form of a summary, aims to discuss pragmatically and methodologically the procedures of longitudinal research rather than the results of such research.
Following the perspective proposed by Pinatel (1963), and followed up by Selosse (1983) and, more recently, by Le Blanc and Fréchette (1987), we thought it was appropriate to distinguish between three levels of interpretation of delinquency: the delinquent act, the delinquent person, and the phenomenon of delinquency. We then have to study the relationships between these three levels.
It is a long-held belief that inflicting punishment on criminals will reduce fìiture rates of crime in society. In line with this belief, the current administration in the United States has introduced punishment policies with the aim to “get tough” on violent and drug-related crime. In contrast to this belief in the effectiveness of punishment on crime, many researchers have found that punished offenders evidence similar or higher rates of recidivism than non-punished offenders (DiChiara & Galliher, 1984; Gibbs, 1975; Tittle & Logan, 1973; Zimring and Hawkins, 1973). Previous research studies concerning this topic have been designed solely to test the theory of specific deterrence. It is our contention that methodological and theoretical problems with these previous studies may have impeded their ability to assess the deterrent effect of punishment. We suggest that learning theory provides an alternative theoretical basis for the study of criminal deterrence. The availability of a large-scale, population-based longitudinal data set provides us with the ability to test principles of learning theory as they relate to criminal deterrence, and also to overcome the methodological pitfalls in this area of research.
That there is a relationship between social development and crime is almost a trivial statement. Yet, the evidence as to the direction, nature and strength of the relationship is rather inconclusive and often contradictory.
The individual vector through time that features longitudinal crime studies has a strong tendency to overlook corresponding changes over time in the community. Where community factors are noted in longitudinal studies, change often is not. A good case in point has been the development of the Program on Human Development and Criminal Behavior supported by the Mac Arthur Foundation. An effective combination of individual and community change measurement suggests methodological implications such as:
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the use of a broad mix of methods,
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sampling of both residents and residences,
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sampling of a wide range of communities,
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repeated organizational surveys,
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repeated measurements of peer networks, and
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special attention to informal social control mechanisms.
Research on criminal careers1 has been of long-standing interest, but that interest has increased in recent years. That growth of interest is partly attributable to the growing emergence of data sources - particularly machine-readable official records and a number of data sets from self-report studies.
Recently, Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi have dismissed longitudinal studies in criminology as pointless and unduly expensive. They state their case in quite general terms but have a narrow and unusual definition of longitudinal studies. Their arguments refer to one type of such studies, i.e., the protracted prospective study with data collected in waves, whereas their preferred alternative, the “cross-sectional survey” can include another type, the retrospective study with retrospective data. After a discussion of the extent to which individual-level change can be empirically analyzed with repeated cross-sectional data in the strict sense, it is concluded that such data permit only inefficient or highly special analysis. Gottfredson’s and Hirschi’s own general theory of crime claims differential constancies for basic variables. It is found that an empirical test of this central part of their theory cannot be made on the basis of a cross-sectional survey but requires a protracted prospective longitudinal study.
Historically, in the social and behavioral sciences we have evolved three major longitudinal design strategies for investigating the development of delinquent and criminal behavior. Each tends to be linked with particular disciplinary perspectives and theories.
Our principal aim in planning and running the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Cross-National Longitudinal Research on Human Development and Criminal Bahavior was to emphasize the direct exchange of ideas among the various longitudinal researchers in the field of criminology. Therefore we tried to restrict the full presentation of contributions during the workshop in order to gain time (and to save creative energy) for structured discussion, free debates, and sometimes even brainstorming sessions. The participants were expected to have studied the papers well in advance of the workshop or, in case the texts were distributed on the spot, to study them before the relevant sessions. This design allowed us, together with the method of revolving groups (see introductory remarks), to combine short, condensed presentations of the core papers with rather extended phases of either methodologically and/or substantially oriented communication.
... En ese marco, una primera distinción fundamental refiere a comprender el desistimiento como un proceso o como un estado final (Laub & Sampson, 2001). Desde el presente estudio, el desistimiento es entendido principalmente como un proceso, donde pueden presentarse signos de desaceleración de la actividad delictiva que luego pueden desembocar en el abandono de la misma Weitekamp y Kerner (1994). Como se señala desde el Proyecto Pasos (2013), es importante destacar que el proceso de desistimiento debe estar asociado a la motivación propia del sujeto y a un cambio importante en su proyecto de vida, no a que el sujeto se encuentre inhabilitado de cometer nuevos delitos (por ejemplo, mediante el encarcelamiento). ...
... doi: 10.4067/S0718- 22282009000100002.266Weitekamp, E.;Kerner, H. (1994). Epilogue: Workshop and plenary discussions and future directions. ...
El objetivo general del estudio es proponer un modelo para la construcción de una Batería de instrumentos de Evaluación para el Modelo de Intervención del Servicio Nacional de Reinserción Social Juvenil, analizando los escenarios técnicos posibles en relación a la realidad nacional.
... Following the publication of Crime and Human Nature, a plethora of integrated approaches have incorporated biological factors. Some notable recent examples include Moffitt's (1994; see also Moffitt, Lynam, and Silva, 1994) argument that there are two classes of adult criminals: life-course persistent offenders (whose antisocial behavior is based on neurophysiological abnormalities) and adolescent limited offenders (mentally healthy persons who learn antisocial behaviors through adolescent experiences). Booth and Osgood (1993:93) claim that criminality among adult males is linked to high levels of testosterone, but suggest that this relationship "is mediated by the influence [during adolescence] of testosterone on social integration and on involvement in juvenile delinquency." ...
... Research in the 1980s linked electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities to crime in a sample of Danish youth (Mednick et al., 1981) and blunt head trauma (often suffered in motor vehicle accidents) to homicide in a study of American juveniles on death row (Lewis et al., 1988). Promising recent developments include studies that connect attention deficit disorder (ADD) and minimal brain dysfunctions (MBD) to poor school performance and juvenile delinquency (Moffitt, 1990(Moffitt, , 1994Moffitt, Lynam, and Silva, 1994), and enzyme deficiencies resulting in neurotransmitter abnormalities in the limbic system to academic and disciplinary problems among young males (Ellis, 1991). ...
In American criminology throughout most of the twentieth century, biological arguments that link biochemistry, genetics, and/or neurophysiology to crime have been viewed as taboo: unthinkable and unmentionable. Despite this reputation, biological perspectives have resurged in the last two decades, reshaping theory and research in criminology. This article examines the changes in the taboo image of biological arguments in fifty-five introductory criminology textbooks: twenty published from 1961 to 1970 and thirty-five appearing from 1987 to 1996. The data show that the taboo surrounding biocriminology appears to be diminishing in textbooks: Newer texts devote more coverage to biological perspectives and are more likely to claim that there is at least some empirical evidence supporting these arguments. Furthermore, criminology textbooks that embrace interdisciplinary orientations are less likely to depict biological arguments as taboo than books that endorse sociological, and especially critical sociological, orientations.
... Early trajectory studies that included women indicated a small number of offending groups (Broidy et al., 2003;D'Unger et al., 2002;Piquero et al., 2005), lower rates of offending, and in some cases, earlier desistance from offending compared to men (Andersson et al., 2012). Moffitt (1994;Moffitt et al., 2001) reported that most of the girls who engaged in antisocial behavior fit an "adolescent-limited" pattern, with only a small subset of girls who fit a "life-course persistent" pattern. Widom et al. (2018) examined criminal career trajectories using documented cases of childhood abuse and neglect and matched controls to determine the particular impact of childhood maltreatment on trajectories of offending through mean age 51. ...
Drawing on findings from a prospective cohort design study that followed abused and neglected children and demographically matched controls into adulthood, this paper focuses on these abused and neglected girls and one important consequence—the extent to which these victims become offenders themselves. We ask four questions: Is criminal behavior among abused and neglected girls and women rare? Are abused and neglected girls at increased risk for becoming violent offenders? Does childhood maltreatment affect criminal career trajectories for girls? Do maltreated girls grow up to maltreat their own children? We conclude with discussion, suggestions for future research, and implications.
... Brojna dosadašnja istraživanja pokazala su postojanje povezanosti između niže inteligencije i izraženijeg kriminalnog ponašanja, bilo da je riječ o verbalnoj (npr. Moffitt, 1994) ili neverbalnoj inteligenciji (npr. Loney i sur., 1998). ...
Many researchers (e.g. Farrington, 2003; Joliffe and Farrington, 2004) state that the mechanism linking empathy and offending needs to be better explored, suggesting several ways in which this relationship can be viewed. One of them is based on the results of Joliffe and Farringtons’ (2004) systematic review of studies relating empathy to offending. According to these authors, there is a possibility that empathy actually mediates the relationship between some other risk factors and offending. Their review showed that intelligence is one of these risk factors. Therefore, in order to provide a better understanding of the relationship among intelligence, empathy and criminal recidivism, the aim of this study was to examine whether empathy mediates the relationship between intelligence and criminal recidivism. It was hypothesized that lower intelligence would affect intensity of criminal recidivism only indirectly, through lower empathy. The sample consisted of 1600 male prisoners in the Croatian prison system who had to serve a prison sentence longer than 6 months. Average prisoner age was 39 years (SD=11.79) and duration of the prison sentence was 27 months (SD=34.39). All prisoners came to the Center for Diagnostics in Zagreb during 2013, and they all went through psychodiagnostic testing. For the purposes of this paper, data on intelligence, empathy, personality, and criminal recidivism were used. Criminal recidivism was operationalised as the number of prison sentences during a person’s lifetime. Intelligence was measured using the Beta test, empathy using the empathy subscale from the Eysenck Impulsivity Questionnaire, and personality traits (psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism) using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised/Adult. Results of mediation analysis conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2012) showed a nonsignificant direct effect of intelligence on criminal recidivism, and a significant indirect effect of lower intelligence on criminal recidivism via lower empathy. Research findings are discussed from theoretical and practical perspectives. © 2018, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Sciences. All rights reserved.
... For example, Farrall and Bowling define desistance as the "moment that a criminal career ends" (1999). Similarly, Shover writes that desistance is the "voluntary termination of serious criminal participation" (1996:121), where termination has been defined as the "time when the criminal or delinquent behavior stops permanently" (Weitekamp & Kerner, 1994).The concern with definitions such as these is that criminal behavior is often too sporadic to identify absolute termination (Maruna, 2001:23). ...
Several studies suggest that desistance from crime is influenced by factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, prior offending, delinquent peer associations, self-control, educational attainment, and social bonds (e.g. Blumstein, Farrington, & Moitra, 1985; Elliot, 1994; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Laub and Sampson, 1993; McCord, 1980; Uggen & Kruttschnitt, 1998). In addition, Maruna (2001) alludes to the importance of personal agency suggesting that offender’s perceptions about their own ability to change are an essential component of the desistance process. Drawing upon qualitative data, Maruna finds that persisting offenders “…feel powerless to change their behavior” (2001:74). Maruna refers to this perceived lack of control over the future as a sense of being “doomed to deviance” and suggests that persistent offenders struggle to desist because they view themselves as victims of circumstance(s) and unable to change. Thus, offenders’ perceptions about their own ability to change are said to play a significant role in desistance.
Using longitudinal data involving 1,354 serious youthful offenders from the Pathways to Desistance study, the primary purpose of this investigation was to conduct a quantitative test of Maruna’s (2001) arguments. The data were used to examine the statistical relationship between future behavior and offenders’ perceptions about their ability to desist. In addition, this study examined substance abuse and social support as factors that potentially shape offenders’ expectations regarding their own ability to change. Consistent with Maruna’s (2001) work, the results indicate that offender’s perceptions about their ability to stay out of trouble with the law do impact future offending behavior. The results also show, however, that substance abuse and social support do not exert significant (direct) effects on perceived chances of staying out of trouble with the law, controlling for other variables. Implications for policy and theory are discussed.
... Their lives are more unstable in terms of settlement as well, as they move more frequently (Farrington 1995). Weitekamp and Kerner, (1994) at the Institute of Criminology, Tübingen, Germany, after a review of previous longitudinal research, have suggested that continuation or desistence in delinquent behavior is affected by the life chances a person has at different stages in his/her life course and that the consequences of crime, itself, contributes to these life chances. ...
Study on Young People in Wuhan City, PRC in the tradtion of the Philadelphia Birth Cohort Studies of Marvin Wolfgang et al. in the United States of America
... " It is the continual negotiation of one's own trajectory and transitional growth that often provides meaning to people's lives. Under the tenants of LCT, researchers have conducted investigations of the personal life histories of criminals and their related social context for almost 100 years (e.g., Blokland & Nieuwbeerta, 2005; Blumstein, Cohen, Roth, & Visher, 1986; Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1987; Glueck & Glueck, 1940; Piquero, Brame, Mazerolle, & Haapanen, 2002; Thomas & Znaniecki, 1920; Weitekamp & Kerner, 1994; see also Laub & Sampson, 2003). Several modern theories have been put forth that can be categorized under the umbrella of the LCT paradigm. ...
The prevention and treatment of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) represents a serious challenge to correctional health care staff, yet research has failed to document how the behavior develops over time. This research employed a life-course theoretical approach to assess 20 inmates who routinely engage in repetitive, serious NSSI while incarcerated. Findings indicate that these acts of NSSI were rooted in early trauma that disrupts age-appropriate trajectories and transitions. Respondents reported that NSSI started as a response to childhood experiences and became fixed prior to any form of incarceration. Self-injury within correctional facilities is explained as a coping mechanism used to reinforce personal control when faced with stress. The dual taxonomy of offenders is applied to inmates who engage in self-injurious behaviors, suggesting that a subgroup of offenders have life-course-persistent NSSI. Findings also revealed that inmates who routinely self-injure themselves are moved into increasingly restrictive milieus over time, which further aggravates the behavior.
... DeLisi and Piquero (2011) , for example, cite studies on criminal careers from 14 different nations, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but few of these studies have explicitly sought to compare the dimensions or correlates of the dimensions across cultural context. A comparative approach is important for many reasons (Farrington, 2001; Farrington and Loeber, 1999; Klein, 1989; Weitekamp and Kerner, 1994). Theoretically, to the extent that the correlates of criminal career dimensions are general, the predictors of these dimensions should be comparable cross-nationally. ...
For over 30 years, the criminal career paradigm in criminology has raised important theoretical and policy questions as well as research on the 'dimensions' of the criminal career (for example, onset, duration, lambda, persistence, chronicity, desistance). Yet few studies have examined criminal career dimensions using a cross-national comparative approach. In this paper, we use an international sample of students (aged 12–15 years) from 30 countries (International Self-Report Delinquency Study-2): (1) to determine the extent of cross-national variation in the prevalence and correlates of high-frequency, serious offenders; and (2) to explore cross-national variation in offending patterns and selected correlates of offense specialization (for example, gender, self-control, delinquent peer association). Although we find several factors are correlated with criminal career dimensions across context, important differences emerged as well that have implications for developing context-specific theories of crime and effective offender programming.
... Fagan (1989) described desistance as a reduction in frequency and severity of offending, leading to " true desistance " or actual " quitting. " Weitekamp and Kerner (1994) good " on their past and, similar to Ebaugh, crafting a new pro-social identity for themselves that incorporates, rather than denies, their previous role as an offender. ...
Although research on violent extremism traditionally focuses on why individuals become involved in terrorism, recent efforts have started to tackle the question of why individuals leave terrorist groups. Research on terrorist dis- engagement, however, remains conceptually and theoretically underdeveloped. In an effort to enhance our under- standing of disengagement from terrorism and pave the way for future empirical work, this article provides a multidisciplinary review of related research from psychology, sociology, and criminology. Significant promise for moving beyond the existing push/pull framework is found in Rusbult and colleagues’ investment model from psy- chology and Ebaugh’s research on voluntary role exit from sociology. Rusbult’s investment model offers insight into when and why individuals disengage from terrorism, while accounting for individual, group, and macro-level differ- ences in the satisfaction one derives from involvement, the investments incurred, and the alternatives available. Ebaugh’s research on voluntary role exit provides a deeper understanding of how people leave, including the emotions and cuing behavior likely to be involved. The article highlights the strengths and limitations of these frameworks in explaining exit and exit processes across a variety of social roles, including potentially the terrorist role, and lends additional insights into terrorist disengagement through a review of related research on desistance from crime, dis- affiliation from new religious movements, and turnover in traditional work organizations.
... Conversely, Farrington et al. (1990) maintained that the causes and correlates of onset are likely to be different from those of desistance and persistence in crime, a concept that Uggen and Piliavin (1998) have referred to as asymmetrical causation (see also Fagan, 1989; Farrington & Hawkins, 1991; Laub, Nagin, & Sampson, 1998; Le Blanc & Loeber, 1998; Nagin & Farrington, 1992). Others have argued that the predictors of early desistance may be different from those of late desistance (Weitekamp & Kerner, 1994). From a theoretical viewpoint, the potential implications linked to the issue of asymmetrical causation are of substantial importance. ...
In recent years, the growing literature on the topic of desistance from crime and deviant behavior has generated a large body of knowledge on this dimension of the criminal career. Despite these efforts, it has been suggested that our understanding of the processes underlying desistance remains limited. The objective of the current article is to offer a critical assessment of past desistance research and to highlight some unresolved issues in this area. Theoretical, empirical, methodological, and policy issues are discussed.
... Possible sources of variations in neuropsychological functioning related to later problematic behavior include pre-or perinatal problems, such as maternal drug abuse, poor prenatal nutrition, and brain injuries caused by birth complications, and suffering abuse and neglect as toddlers. Children with even minor neuropsychological impairments often show signs of attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and impulsive self-control problems and suffer from learning disabilities (Moffitt 1994). These children have a hard time focusing their attention, are slow at comprehending, and have problems expressing themselves, which makes it hard even for skilled parents to provide them with the positive support they need. ...
The authors analyzed delinquent development from age 12 to 32 in 270 male offenders who underwent residential treatment for problematic behavior and delinquency in a Dutch juvenile justice institution. Stable personality and background characteristics were measured on admission. The development of offending was examined on the basis of conviction data from age 12 to 32, constituting an average 13-year follow-up after release. Trajectory analysis distinguished five groups of serious offenders. Using nonlinear canonical correlation analysis, these offending groups were characterized on personality, behavioral, and background characteristics. Although delinquent activity declined for most juveniles, two groups, high-frequency chronic offenders and late bloomers, showed nontrivial levels of serious criminality until their late 20s and early 30s. High-frequency chronic offenders were characterized mainly by a criminogenic social environment. Late bloomers combined psychopathology with risk-taking behavior and poor social skills. Examining the nature of the offenses committed within each trajectory revealed that late emerging offending became increasingly violent over time.
... Loeber and LeBlanc (1990) specified four components of desistance from criminal behavior: deceleration (a reduction in the frequency of offending), de-escalation (a reduction in the seriousness of offending), specialization (a reduction in the variety of offending), and reaching a ceiling (remaining at a certain level of seriousness in offending without escalating to more serious acts). More recent statements stress the notion of desistance as a process that supports the termination of offending (Bushway et al., 2001;Laub & Sampson, 2001;Maruna, 1997;Weitekamp & Kerner, 1994). ...
... If this is the case, then risk assessment instruments that combine risk factors (see below) would not be equally effective in the different ethnic groups, and separate schemes of assessment might be required. Second, the risk factors may be similar in both groups, but more prevalent in the black group (Moffitt, 1994). In support of the latter position Fite, Wynn, and Pardini (2009) examined arrest rates in male juveniles aged 10–17. ...
Across several countries (including the UK and U.S.) people of black (African-Caribbean) origin are overrepresented in secure psychiatric services. Risk assessment instruments for pre-dicting violence are often used, but their accuracy is not known for ethnic minority patients. We therefore aimed: 1) to test the accuracy of two leading instruments (Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) and HCR20 Risk Management Scheme) in patients from a black ethnic minor-ity, and (2) to compare the levels of risk as defined by these instruments. Risk assessments were completed using only file information available at the time of discharge. Offending behavior postdischarge was obtained from official records with each patient being followed for at least 2 years. Both VRAG and HCR-20 were significant predictors of future violence for black patients, and had similar accuracy as when used on white patients. Risk assessment scores were slightly lower for black patients, but there were no significant differences in reconviction rates for either violent or general offences post discharge. The results provide an evidence base for the use of HCR-20 and VRAG as an accurate risk assessment instruments for black ethnic minority patients in the UK.
... A partir de la revisió de la literatura científica feta si podem dir que el desistiment és motiu d'una varietat de processos complexes, psicològics i sociològics, així com de factors associats. Autors com Weitekamp i Kerner (1994) perfilen més el concepte, diferenciant l'acabament, de la suspensió temporal de la conducta delictiva com si fos una ruptura. Aquests mateixos autors també consideren el desistiment com un procés (no un succés) que implica una desacceleració de la delinqüència, que pot finalitzat amb l'acabament, per tant en la no delinqüència. ...
... Along with qualitative research on sex and crime (Miller, 2001), the above-referenced studies have generated an important source of data on female delinquency. Yet, data and sample design issues have limited generalizability as most efforts are based on virtually allwhite samples from the US resulting in a lack of cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons in delinquency generally (Weitekamp & Kerner, 1994; Tonry & Farrington, 2005), and across sex in particular. This is particularly salient in criminology which has not given sufficient attention to cultural differences in delinquency nor has it focused on the offending of minorities. ...
Although sex is one of the strongest correlates of crime, contentions remain regarding the necessity of sex-specific theories of crime. The current study examines delinquent trajectories across sex among Puerto Rican youth socialized in two different cultural contexts (Bronx, United States and San Juan, Puerto Rico). Results indicate: similar substantive offending trajectories across males and females within each cultural context; that males exhibit a higher frequency of offending and higher levels of risk factors for delinquency; and there more similarities than differences in how risk/protective factors relate to patterns of offending across male versus female youth. Study limitations and implications for sex-specific criminological theories are also discussed.
Repeat offender concepts aren’t new. However no concept has ever gained as much attention as the chronic offender concept whose definition was based upon the results of the Philadelphia birth cohort studies of Wolfgang, Figlio and Sellin. In our re-analyses, for the 1945 birth cohort, we were unable to find the severity escalation effect suggested by the chronic offender concept in the minds of career criminals. We did, however, find it for the 1958 cohort. Further analyses revealed that in both cohorts, over two thirds of all offenses and in particular of the majority of violent offenses were committed as first, second, third or fourth offense, thus before anyone could be labelled as a chronic offender, according to its definition. Therefore criminal justice policies based on the chronic offender concept are of little use and can lead to desastrous consequences.
With the notable recent population growth of the Asian population in the US, the need for scholarly attention to offending patterns of this population has correspondingly increased. Utilizing waves of 1 to 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (n = 9412), the current study examines the offending trajectories among Asian populations in the US, with particular attention to the distinct experiences and offending patterns between US-born and non-US-born individuals. Employing group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) and multivariate regression, the study reveals distinct patterns of offending between Asian and non-Asian populations, while highlighting significant variations in offending trajectories between US-born and non-US-born Asian populations. Results indicate that social control factors, such as social bonds and self-control, have varied influences across US-born and non-US-born Asian populations. Overall, the findings point to the importance of considering how distinct institutional adjustment processes and identity negotiations shape offending trajectories among Asian populations in the US. The discussion focuses on how the current study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities facing Asian populations in the US, suggesting future studies incorporate institutional adjustment processes to elucidate Asian offending trajectories further.
Este artículo expone los resultados de una investigación del año 2022 sobre el modelo de reinserción de la cárcel concesionada CCP Biobío localizado en la región chilena que lleva ese mismo nombre. La investigación se enfoca en un estudio de caso, por medio de la metodología de análisis documental, que examina cómo las políticas y los programas se constituyen en el marco mediante el cual se trabajan los procesos de reinserción social. Dentro de los hallazgos se identificaron serias deficiencias del modelo, que cuestionan la posibilidad de alcanzar la reinserción social en el sistema penitenciario licitado. Ello revela, en primer lugar, la necesidad de realizar ajustes significativos para lograr procesos efectivos de resocialización, además, demuestra cómo la gestión mediante licitación limita la flexibilidad y ralentiza los cambios. Finalmente, se propone redefinir las perspectivas de reinserción al incorporar paradigmas más amplios que involucren la colaboración entre actores gubernamentales, políticas sociales y entidades privadas, como eje fundamental para mitigar el daño que causa la privación de libertad.
This study examined the clinical utility of a meditation, mindfulness, and mantra intervention for youth experiencing serious mental illness while incarcerated. Participants were 17 adolescent males, aged 16 to 18, from two units of a county detention center in the San Francisco Bay Area. Eleven (64.7%) participants were Latino-American, one (5.9 %) was Black/African American, three (17.6 %) were Caucasian-American, one (5.9%) was Asian-American and one (5.9%) self-identified as “other/mixed race.” The intervention consisted of a four-session adaptation of the Inner Resources for Teens (IRT) manualized intervention, designed to teach and practice skills for developing sustained mindfulness. Participants completed the intervention over a four-week period, attending one hour per week. They were asked to practice the techniques for ten minutes a day. Participants were assessed using the Child Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, and immediate post-treatment. Intent-to-treat analyzes found statistically significant reductions in global severity (d = − 0.44), positive symptoms distress (d = − 0.54), obsessive compulsive symptoms (d = − 0.65), paranoid ideation (d = − 0.49), and psychoticism (d = − 0.71). Positive symptoms, somatization, depression, hostility, and mindfulness non-significantly improved with small effect sizes. These findings suggest that IRT may improve symptoms of mental illness among youth in detention facilities.
The decline of criminal energy with growing age in the general offender population is replicated in a similar pattern for the active and serious criminals. Predictions of their dangerousness can be made more accurate by using longitudinal statistics on reoffending according to age, crime type, and previous convictions as base rates. For this purpose Blumstein and Larson conceived a model of the interactions between offenders and the criminal justice system. It can be used to calculate the average number of offenses committed by a given type of offender, such as street criminals or sex offenders, after release from long prison sentences. As a consequence of the aging-out effect the number of offenses will be considerably reduced after several years behind bars, even for those ex-convicts who were not able or not willing to benefit from rehabilitation programs. Abstract A key topic of penology is the effect of punishment on multi-recidivists and criminals with long sentences. It is also a political issue that provokes heated debates. All statistics show a gradual decline in offending with growing age – for males as well as for females. The older they get, the more offenders tend to desist from criminal activities. Eventually, almost all will settle down. This is called the aging-out effect. Most criminologists agree that criminal recidivism is a failure to mature, a delayed transition into adulthood, but they differ about the variance or invariance of this effect across the life span. These opinions are addressed in the criminal career debate. The psychological school, represented by Moffitt (1993, 1994), for example, claims the existence of two types of antisocial trajectories: adolescence-limited offenders (ALO) and persistent offenders (PO). The latters' antisocial behavior goes back to their childhood and their crimes tend to be more frequent and more serious than those of the former. POs also show more psychopathology than ALOs, whereas the ALOs resemble much more the nondelinquent population (abstainers) – in every respect. This concept falls in line with the results of cross-sectional studies, beginning with Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin (1972), who showed that a small number of persistent offenders do enormous damage as they account
odern criminological theories aim to explain crime, but they do so with a different emphasis on pathways to crime and ranges of explanatory factors (e.g., Thornberry & Krohn, 2002; Farrington, 2005; Wikström, 2005). Theoretical explanations of serious delinquency and violence are sometimes met with consistent empirical findings, and sometimes with equivocal results. On the one hand, meta-analyses indicate a high degree of replication of bivariate associations between explanatory/risk factors and later serious delinquency (e.g., Lipsey & Derzon, 1998; Howell, 2003). On the other hand, results from multivariate analyses based on multiple predictors vary greatly from study to study (Thornberry, 1997; Thornberry & Krohn, 2002; Farrington, 2005). This is partly caused by studies selecting relatively few of the known explanatory/risk factors of serious delinquency and under-emphasizing other factors. Although theories of antisocial and delinquent behavior often have several factors in common (e.g., juveniles' relationships with parents and peers), they differ in their relative emphasis on domains, settings, and details of explanatory factors, and the ways that these factors are interrelated (see above sources and chapters in Lahey, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2003 and in Farrington, 2005). The theories almost always share three themes with the goals of explaining (i) antisocial and delinquent behavior over the life course, particularly in terms of prevalence, frequency, and severity of delinquent acts, (ii) individual differences in antisocial/delinquent behavior and developmental changes in these differences, and (iii) non-offending or low-level offending.
There have been impressive developments in desistance research over the past two decades, and the body of knowledge in this area of research has grown significantly. In more recent years, due to the increasing numbers of entries and releases to/from prison, the topic of desistance from crime has also piqued the interest of policy-makers. This chapter offers an overview of advances in desistance research. It discusses some of the methodological challenges associated with this area of research, and provides a summary of the key findings in classic and more recent studies. Future research needs, as well as the contributions of Marc Le Blanc to this field of study, are also highlighted.
Aim was to investigate a range of potentially modifiable risk factors for boys in late childhood for later violence and homicide convictions. Boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (N = 1,517) were measured through self-reports and official records in late childhood (ages 11–13) on a large number of potentially modifiable risk factors, and were followed up in juvenile and adult criminal records in terms of violence and homicide. Predictors of conviction for homicide largely overlapped with predictors of conviction for violence. Twenty three out of 28 possible risk factors significantly predicted later violence convictions. Regression analysis identified four significant modifiable risk factors in late childhood for any violent offenders: physical abuse, parental stress, bad friends and low school motivation. The higher the number of early risk factors, the higher the probability of later conviction for violent offenses including homicide. The discussion focus on single-, and multi-modal interventions in late childhood to reduce later violence and possibly homicide.
This article first reviews cross-national research on criminal careers in London and Stockholm. There were many similarities in the findings. The major difference concerned the distribution over age of the individual offending frequency, which was fairly constant in London but peaked at age 15 in Stockholm. Cross-national research on risk factors for offending is then reviewed, especially comparing London and Pittsburgh. Generally, risk factors were similar in the two countries. Finally, the article reviews trends in crime and punishment in eight countries. Changes in crime rates, according to national victim surveys, were negatively correlated with changes in the probability of conviction. It is concluded that a coordinated programme of cross-national comparative research is needed, involving the collaboration of researchers from different countries.
This chapter tests and refines a developmental taxonomy of antisocial behavior, which proposed two primary hypothetical prototypes: life-course persistent offenders whose antisocial behavior begins in childhood and continues worsening thereafter, versus adolescence-limited offenders whose antisocial behavior begins in adolescence and desists in young adulthood (Moffitt, 1993). Two of our previous reports have described clinically defined groups of childhood-onset and adolescence-onset antisocial youths in the Dunedin birth cohort during childhood (Moffitt & Caspi, 2001) and at age 18 (Moffitt, Caspi, Dickson, Silva, & Stanton, 1996). Recently we followed up the cohort at age 26, and here we describe how the two groups of males fared in adulthood. In so doing we test a hypothesis critical to the theory: that childhood-onset, but not adolescent-onset, antisocial behavior is associated in adulthood with antisocial personality, violence, and continued serious antisocial behavior that expands into maladjustment in work life and victimization of partners and children (Moffitt, 1993).
THE TWO PROTOTYPES AND THEIR PREDICTED ADULT OUTCOMES
According to the theory, life-course persistent antisocials are few, persistent, and pathological. Adolescence-limited antisocials are common, relatively temporary, and near normative. The developmental typology hypothesized that childhood-onset versus adolescent-onset conduct problems have different etiologies. In addition, the typology differed from other developmental crime theories by predicting different outcome pathways for the two types across the adult life-course (Caspi & Moffitt, 1995; Moffitt, 1993, 1994, 1997).
Results of the Tuebingen Criminal Behaviour Development and Comparison Study. Longitudinal Analysis of 2 Samples: 200 Young Adults Released from Prison, and 200 Matched Young Males Taken from the Standard Population in the Same German Region. Presentation at a SCOPIC Conference in Cambridge_Rev. 2014
This study focuses on crime participation – that is, the numbers and proportion of the population in England and Wales who are convicted of a crime between the ages of 10-25. Data on over 47,000 male and 10,000 female offenders for six specific birth cohorts (those born in 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973 and 1978) was extracted from the Offenders Index. We related convictions in three age groups (10-15, 16-20, 21-25) to population estimates for these age groups. Striking differences in the participation rates over time were observed for both males and females. There is a remarkable decline among the 10-15 age group for more recent cohorts which echoes the increasing use of court diversionary procedures in this age group. There is no corresponding increase in participation for the later age groups. These figures suggest that efforts in the 1980s and early 1990s to divert offenders away from court convictions have been successful, and that such diversionary schemes need to be encouraged.
The main objective of this study is to go deeply into the concept of desistance and factors of protection, first on a theoretical level and later on an empiric level. The study comprises two parts, a first part which describes the profile of the desisting minor, and a second made from surveys, in which the dimensions of the emotional competence in a group of offending adolescents are evaluated. Based on a sample of 288 offending adolescents, 86 persistent offenders and 202 desisting, from the districts of Baix Llobregat, Garraf, Alt Penedès and some towns in Anoia, the socio-demographic and criminological differences and those in the educational paths followed in the Directorate General for Juvenile Justice are analyzed. A sample of 101 adolescents, 45 persistent offenders and 56 desisting, originating from mediation, open environment and internment programmes, then participate in the survey study. Adolescents desisting from offences obtain higher scores than persistent offenders, with these differences being statistically significant in the dimension of social competence and in the overall emotional competence score.
Some research suggests that recidivistic criminal offending patterns typically progress in a stepping-stone manner from less to more serious forms of offending from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Whether the progression into more serious types of offending reflects patterns of crime specialization is a matter of debate. Using data from 449 adolescent offenders who were interviewed at six time points between adolescence and adulthood, we present a new method for measuring crime specialization and apply it to an assessment of the link between specialization and offense seriousness. We measure specialization by constructing an empirical measure of how similar crimes are from each other based on the rate at which crimes co-occur within individual crime pathways over a given offender population. We then use these empirically-based population-specific offense similarities to assign a specialization score to each subject at each time period based on the set of crimes they self-report at that time. Finally, we examine how changes over time in specialization, within individuals, is correlated with changes in the seriousness of the offenses they report committing. Results suggest that the progression of crime into increasingly serious forms of offending does not reflect a general pattern of offense specialization. Implications for life course research are noted
Homicide offenders are released to communities in large numbers. Little is known, however, about how these offenders fare after release. The aim of this study is threefold: to examine recidivism patterns among released homicide offenders, to assess to what extent predictors for recidivism are similar to those for other violent offenders, and to study whether the degree of recidivism differs by type of homicide. Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, we extracted all individuals who committed a homicide in Philadelphia between 1977 and 1983 and who were paroled. Data were supplemented with court documents, police department data, and newspaper articles. We examined frequency and severity of recidivism, and used logistic regression analyses and survival analyses to examine the likelihood and time to recidivism. Of the 92 paroled homicide offenders, 54% recidivated; 15% recidivated with a violent offense. Race and original conviction for a financially motivated homicide were significant predictors of recidivism. While socio-demographic predictors of recidivism have theoretical and practical significance, focusing on factors associated with the motive of the original homicide may prove highly beneficial for intervention strategies and post-release planning.
This paper highlights the ways in which recent comparative criminological research has begun to advance theory development by directing systematic attention to the role of institutional structure. The overarching thesis is that sensitivity to the institutional context in recent criminological studies, especially those conducted in Asia, has paved the way for the productive elaboration of two highly influential theories: Routine Activities Theory and the General Theory of Crime (or self-control theory). Such theoretical elaboration promises to enhance the explanatory power of these theories by placing individual behavior in a multilevel, institutional context. The paper also outlines a transformed variant of self-control theory that posits two distinctive forms of self-control, which are likely to have differential impacts on criminal offending depending on features of the institutional structure of societies.
The myth of the criminal immigrant has permeated public and political debate for much of this nation's history and persists despite growing evidence to the contrary. Crime concerns are increasingly aimed at the indirect impact of immigration on crime highlighting the criminal pursuits of the children of immigrants. Adding to extant knowledge on the immigration-crime nexus, this research asks whether immigrants are differentially involved in crime by examining immigrant offending histories (prevalence, frequency, seriousness, persistence, and desistance) from early adolescence to young adulthood. Particular attention is afforded to the influence of various sources of heterogeneity including: generational and nativity status, and crime type. Results suggest that the myth remains; trajectory analyses reveal that immigrants are no more crime-prone than the native-born. Foreign-born individuals exhibit remarkably low levels of involvement in crime across their life course. Moreover, it appears that by the second generation, immigrants have simply caught up to their native-born counterparts in respect to their offending. Implications of the findings for theory and future research are discussed.
Moffitt's developmental taxonomy of adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders has received much empirical attention, with researchers focusing on the etiology and trajectory of offending between the two groups. Recently, Moffitt articulated a new hypothesis that has yet to be empirically assessed—that life-course-persistent offenders will be at high risk in midlife for poor physical and mental health, cardiovascular disease, and early disease morbidity. Using data from the Baltimore portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project, a longitudinal study of several thousand individuals followed from birth to ages 27 to 33, the authors test this hypothesis. We find that, compared to adolescence-limited offenders, life-course-persistent offenders are more likely to experience adverse physical and mental health outcomes. We also find that life-course-persistent offenders are more likely than their counterparts to be involved in antisocial lifestyles, which in turn increase the chances of adverse health outcomes. Future theoretical and empirical research directions are identified.
This article reviews key issues in criminology concerning the development of criminal careers, risk factors or causes of offending, and effective prevention methods. In order to advance knowledge about criminal careers and risk factors, prospective longitudinal surveys are needed. In order to advance knowledge about prevention methods, randomized experiments are needed. A new research agenda for the next millennium is recommended, including (a) multiple-cohort longitudinal surveys with experimental interventions, and (b) a coordinated program of cross-national comparative research.
Possible differences between childhood-limited antisocial youth and their stable high-antisocial counterparts were examined. Children were 11 years old at wave 1 (T1) and 13.5 at wave 2 (T2). At both waves, the same parent, teacher, and self-reports of antisocial behavior were used. Stable highs and childhood-limited antisocial youth differed somewhat in family and individual background. Stable highs had less effortful control, perceived more overprotection, had a higher level of familial vulnerability to externalizing disorder, and lived less often with the same parents throughout their lives than the childhood-limited group. Both groups had similar levels of service use before T1, but after that period, the childhood-limited youth received more help from special education needs services than from problem behavior services, and vice versa for stable highs. The results suggest that the childhood-limited antisocial youth recovered not only from antisocial behavior but also from academic failure, peer rejection, and internalizing problems.
Although all good social science research is by its very nature comparative, criminology and criminal justice have only recently embraced cross‐national research as a mainstream activity. This paper presents a brief history of the development of the subfield of empirical comparative criminology and criminal justice, assesses a typology of comparative studies, and identifies sources of comparative data. In addition, the paper discusses the benefits and drawbacks of using various available data sources which support macro‐, micro‐, or mixed‐ level analyses. Finally, the paper discusses the impediments to and the future of comparative crime and criminal justice research.
This chapter reviews 10 years of research into a developmental taxonomy of antisocial behavior that proposed two primary hypothetical prototypes: life-course-persistent versus adolescence-limited offenders. According to the taxonomic theory, life-course-persistent offenders' antisocial behavior has its origins in neurodevelopmental processes; it begins in childhood and continues persistently thereafter. In contrast, adolescence- limited offenders' antisocial behavior has its origins in social processes; it begins in adolescence and desists in young adulthood. Life-course-persistent antisocial behavior originates early in life, when the difficult behavior of a high-risk young child is exacerbated by a high-risk social environment. The chapter presents four groups of existing studies, which suggests that the pattern of antisocial behavior that begins early in life, is pervasive across settings, is characterized by aggressive personality traits, includes physical aggression, and persists into adulthood is associated with relatively more genetic influence than is the pattern of later-onset, situational, transient delinquency.
Criminological theorists and criminal justice policy makers place a great deal of importance on the idea of desistance. In general terms, criminal desistance refers to a cessation of offending activity among those who have offended in the past. Some significant challenges await those who would estimate the relative size of the desisting population or attempt to identify factors that predict membership in that population. In this paper, we consider several different analytic frameworks that represent an array of plausible definitions. We then illustrate some of our ideas with an empirical example from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study.
This article provides an overview of the measures and actions taken by the Member States of the European Union in their fight against organised crime and transborder crime. The Action Plan to Combat Organized Crime adopted by the Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs during the Dutch EU Presidency, submitted some 30 recommendations with respect to greater harmonisation regarding the fight against organised crime in the EU Member States. The author gives a concise summary of the most relevant changes and the structural characteristics per Member State, paying attention to developments in the specific countries and the organisations involved. One of the conclusions reached is that few or no reforms within national investigative and prosecution authorities may be directly traced back to the regulatory impulses of the EU. Although the EU Action Plan has not yet realised a convergence of the systems, the European process of integration has increased the mutual transparency and knowledge of one another's systems.
Worldwide, criminologists have long been interested in the longitudinal patterning of criminal activity. Recently, methodological
and statistical advances have “caught up” with longitudinal data and have provided criminologists with a unique window within
which to study, document, and understand developmental trajectories of criminal activity. One such technique, the trajectory
procedure, allows researchers to study howcriminal activity changes over time in a group-based framework. This methodology
is well suited for studying crime over the life course because there may be different groups of offenders, their offending
trajectories may exhibit different shapes at different ages, and they may be differentially affected by distinct factors.
This paper presents an overview of the trajectory methodology, outlines its strengths and weaknesses, and summarizes key conclusions
of the well over 80 studies that have used this technique. It concludes by pointing to several future research directions.
This article updates comments published in this journal in 1994 about the nature of the American juvenile justice system, which laid out reasons that it might not serve as a useful model for other nations. Since that time, the US system has moved further right towards the justice model and away from the welfare model. Individualistic philosophies and political conservatism have combined to produce a more adult-like and punitive juvenile system, applied to increasing numbers of minors and to increasingly younger minors. Successful demonstrations of community absorption or treatment have been too few to balance the rightward direction. European scholars are urged to undertake increased studies in two critical areas: (1) the nature, functions, and comparative differences in their juvenile justice systems, and (2) the nature of local communities and their contributions to patterns of delinquency.
This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of conduct disorder (CD), substance misuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms to the history of delinquency, current institutional behavioural problems and critical incidents (CI). Fifty-four adolescents in a secure facility were screened for ADHD and CD and completed the Maudsley violence questionnaire, the disruptive behaviour and social problems scale and the self-report delinquency scale. Substance misuse history as well as CI over the previous 10 weeks were also recorded. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that substance misuse and violent cognitions were the best predictors of self-reported delinquency. In contrast, ADHD predicted disruptive institutional behaviour above and beyond that of CD and substance misuse. The findings suggest that ADHD symptoms are important in predicting institutional behavioural disturbance, whereas substance misuse and violent cognitions are better predictors of delinquency in the community.
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