Life-Course Criminology



Life-Course Criminology

Age-Crime Relationship

Stability and Change in Offending

Is the Age/Crime Curve Misleading?

Data is AGGREGATE

It could hide subgroups of offenders, or “offending trajectories”

Data is Cross-Sectional

Doesn’t track stability/change over time

Data is OFFICIAL

Cannot tell us about the precursors to official delinquency (childhood antisocial behavior)

New and Old Ideas

OLD

Crime is the province of adolescents

Theories of delinquency most important

New

Why do some age out of crime while others don’t?

Why is criminality so stable over time?

What causes crime throughout life?

Antisocial Behavior Is Stable

Correlation between past and future criminal behavior ranges from .6 to .7 (very strong)

Lee Robins- Studies of cohorts of males

Antisocial Personality as an adult virtually requires history of CASB

CASB as early as age 6 related to delinquency

More severe behavior has more stability

“Early onset delinquency” powerful indicator of stability

But there is CHANGE

1/2 of antisocial children are never arrested

The vast majority of delinquents desist as they enter adulthood (mid 20s)

Explaining Stability and Change in Antisocial Behavior I

Social Selection (TRAIT) Explanation

Individuals posses a trait that is stable and criminogenic

Trait established early in life (before delinquency)

Explains stability, but change (desistance)?

If trait is stable, why do people desist from crime?

Explaining Stability and Change in Antisocial Behavior II

Cumulative Continuity

Initial antisocial behavior (regardless of cause) has CONSEQUENCES

Knife off opportunity, labeling, attract delinquent peers...

Because the consequences (social circumstances) can change, desistance is plausible

General theory or “taxons?”

General theory

Cause of antisocial behavior same for everyone.

All people tend to peak in their offending during late adolescence and desist soon thereafter

Taxonomic Theory

Different types of offenders exist

Developmental Taxonomies

Developmental Taxonomy?

All offenders are not the same, all crime is not caused by the same causal forces

There are at least two unique “offending trajectories” present

One groups maybe very stable in their offending

Another might might have a brief delinquency career

Kids are on different offending trajectories for different reasons

Review

Explaining Stability and Change

Why are some kids antisocial early in life?

Why is antisocial behavior so stable?

Why, amidst stability, is there so much change?

Trait vs. Cumulative Continuity

General vs. Taxonomic

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