NCJ Number
104466
Date Published
1986
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Relatively accurate predictions of chronic criminality are possible as early as age 13, although the most accurate prediction requires information on juvenile criminal records accumulated through age 16.
Abstract
Earlier identification might promote more productive programming to try to prevent future criminality, but it also risks including some juveniles who would have desisted from criminality on their own. The five types of factors consistently correlated with chronic criminality among urban males are family characteristics, biological or physical endowments, familial experience, predelinquent behavior, and criminal acts later in youth. The major theories of crime causation all help to explain how certain characteristics lead to early antisocial behavior, peer rejection, poor school achievement, and a drift toward more serious delinquent behavior. Families with low incomes, criminal fathers, psychotic mothers, large numbers of siblings, and siblings with criminal records are more likely to produce delinquent boys. Certain biological or physical impairments are also associated with increased rates of delinquency. These familial and physical characteristics interact to hinder normal socialization. Longitudinal studies that include juveniles and adult arrest records have shown the possibility of predicting chronic criminality with varying degrees of accuracy. Farrington's scale applied to 411 subjects produced accurate predictions in 95 percent of the cases. Whether the predictive accuracy is sufficient to justify differential treatment is a policy decision. Sufficient evidence currently does not exist for determination of the effects of different policies. Figures and 2 notes.