Assessing the Nature and Mix of Offences Among Serious Adolescent Offenders

• NCJ Number: 248856
• Journal: Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2014 Pages: 254-264
• Author(s): Robert Brame; Edward P. Mulvey; Alex R. Piquero; Carol A. Schubert
• Date Published: October 2014
• Length: 11 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2007-MU-FX-0002
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study used longitudinal data to examine the mixture of offences during mid-adolescence and into early adulthood, a key transition period of the life course, using both self-reports and official records.

Abstract

Much of the research on specialization in offending tends to show that offending careers are marked by more versatile than specific criminal activity. One key limitation of this research has been that very few studies have used both official records and self-reports to study the longitudinal mix of offences. Data from 1,354 serious adolescent offenders were used to study the mixture of offences over a 7-year period. The results point strongly to the conclusion that generality is typical and specialization is exceptional. (Publisher abstract modified)