NCJ Number
209647
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2005 Pages: 55-71
Date Published
2005
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study used 5-year post-parole data on violent offending and homicide victimization from a sample of parolees from the California Youth Authority to examine the extent to which self-control is related to both violent offending and homicide victimization.
Abstract
While independent research confirms a strong link between self-control and offending, and between self-control and victimization, researchers have yet to examine, in detail, how self-control relates to violent offending and homicide victimization within a sample of high-rate offenders. This study attempted to test Gottfredson and Hirschi’s hypothesis that self-control would relate to each of these two outcomes by analyzing data from a sample of serious youthful offenders who were paroled from California Youth Authority institutions and followed for 5 years. The longitudinal nature of the data allowed key independent and dependent variables to be placed in their correct temporal order. Data for the sample were 3,995 subjects drawn from 2 parolee cohorts. Detailed background information was collected for each parolee, including both criminal history and mortality data. The two dependent variables were violent offending and homicide victimization; the independent variables were classified into four categories: low self-control, family risk factors, criminal history risk factors, and control variables. Using rare-events logistic regression models, results of analysis indicate that self-control is related to both violent offending and homicide victimization. The results also show that other risk factors are also uniquely related to each outcome. Study limitations and implications for future research are discussed. References, table