NCJ Number
212089
Date Published
2000
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This report presents a review of the characteristics of chronic offenders and analyzes which type of young people become poly-users of governmental and community resources in Australia.
Abstract
Criminological research has established that a small proportion of individuals are responsible for the vast majority of crime committed in any society; these offenders are referred to as chronic offenders. While research has informed us of the characteristics of chronic offenders, it has remained relatively silent about why they commit so many crimes and how their behavior might best be managed. The current analysis focuses on chronic offenders who may be poly-users or recipients of various types of social services and offers suggestions for future research into the social service use of poly-users. The literature suggests that there are two types of social service users: governmentalized users and marginalized users, each of which is described in turn. The lack of research on poly-users makes it difficult to form effective social policy regarding youth in need and regarding how to respond to chronic offenders who may be poly-users. Three avenues for research in this area are offered and include a quantitative analysis of governmental data and a retrospective qualitative analysis of post release reports. References