NCJ Number
197974
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 30 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2002 Pages: 603-622
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
November 2002
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study examined late onset offenders in comparison with persistent offenders and investigated the correlates of adult offending using childhood, adolescent, and adult predictor variables.
Abstract
Using 1942 and 1949 birth cohort data from Racine, Wisconsin, this study investigated the correlates of crime for adult onset and persistent offenders. The study attempted to assess whether the correlates of crime were different for adult offenders with a juvenile record than for adult offenders with no juvenile record. The study established that, contrary to conventional criminological wisdom, when the focus was on official adult offending, adult onset was not a rare event. In the Racine data, there appeared to be more similarities than differences in the effect of predictor variables on adult offending among juvenile onset offenders and adult onset offenders. The overall conclusion is that the predictors of adult offending are similar for all adult offenders, independent of past delinquency. This finding may also be interpreted to indicate that the correlates of initiation of adult offending are similar to the correlates of continuation from juvenile offending to adult offending. The results imply that late onset offenders may not need to be analyzed separately from persistent offenders. Appendices A-B and references