NCJ Number
212612
Journal
Criminology Volume: 43 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2005 Pages: 919-954
Date Published
November 2005
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the development of criminal behavior from early adolescence to late adulthood based on conviction data for a sample of Dutch offenders.
Abstract
Building on and expanding insights gained from earlier studies, such as Moffitt and Sampson and Laub on the development of offending behavior over the life course, this study used data over a period of 60 years pertaining to a large sample of Dutch offenders to ask four questions: (1) is there evidence for criminal trajectories that are distinct in terms of time path from early adolescence to late adulthood; (2) is there evidence for a small group of persistent offenders; (3) is there evidence for criminal trajectories being distinct in the mix of crimes committed, more specifically is there evidence for persistent offenders to be disproportionately engaged in violent offenses; and (4) is there evidence that different offender groups have different social profiles in life domains other than crime? The study contributes to other criminological research on the developmental course of crime and to expand its scope by presenting findings on offending trajectories that extend up to age 72. Data was compiled from the large-scale Criminal Career and Life-Course Study (CCLS) and is a representative sample of 4 percent of all the cases of serious offenses tried in the Netherlands in 1977. Results indicate that high-rate persisters engage in crime at a very substantial rate, even after age 50. The high-rate persistent trajectory group disproportionately engaged in property crimes rather than violent crimes. The results suggest that the phenomenon of incarceration and mortality play a prominent role in whether criminal potential translates into actual behavior. Tables, figures, references