NCJ Number
82872
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This presentation discusses results of current research on career criminals, with attention to research done in California on offender typologies.
Abstract
The definition of career criminal varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with some areas using a specific definition and others using a broad definition. The career criminal program is an operational way of setting priorities on which to focus resources. It allows police and prosecutors to incapacitate career criminals by reducing their street time, provided that cooperation prevails among all segments of the criminal justice system. Personal interviews with incarcerated career criminals in California indicated that less than 10 percent specialized in one particular type of crime. Most offenders looked for the opportunity to commit any kind of crime, and most engaged in at least four kinds of crime at any one time. Moreover, an association existed between likelihood of arrest and the amount of crime committed. Intensive criminals plan their crimes in advance and consider themselves to be professional criminals. They commit many crimes without being punished. Intermittent criminals, on the other hand, commit relatively few crimes, do not plan in advance, and are much more likely to be caught. Older persons do not commit as much crime as younger offenders; after age 30, the crime rate decreases greatly. Thus, career criminal programs should focus on the offender's age as well as the category (intermittent or intensive). Other research results discussed focus on the offender's motivation for committing crime, social stability as a factor, current pattern of case dispositions, and consistency of parole decisions. The speaker is associated with the Rand Corporation and has a grant from NILECJ.