NCJ Number
102289
Date Published
1986
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This analysis of data from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study found that juvenile patterns of offense specialization do exist and remain even when race, gender, unique juvenile career stages, and adult offender status are separately controlled.
Abstract
The data consisted of officially based information to age 26 on 27,160 males and females born in 1958 who resided in Philadelphia from the ages of 10 through 18. The study asked whether more adult offenders come from former delinquents, whether juveniles begin to specialize in their delinquency careers, and whether more adult offenders come from juvenile specialists. The results indicated that over half the persons who committed at least one offense during early adulthood also experienced contact with the police during their youth. Although the tendency to specialize within one crime category was indicated throughout, the probabilities of like-offense transitions were greater among adult offenders. The inclination toward offense specialization was augmented for males with lengthy juvenile careers. A few unique patterns were discovered, such as a concentration among females in status-status transitions, among males for property-property transitions, and among nonwhite males for robbery-robbery transitions. Tables and approximately 25 references.