NCJ Number
205874
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 50 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2004 Pages: 412-435
Editor(s)
Elizabeth P. Deschenes
Date Published
July 2004
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study provides descriptive information on the length of criminal careers among a sample of serious offenders paroled from the California Youth Authority (CYA).
Abstract
The majority of the past research on criminal careers has examined prevalence, frequency, specialization, and desistance. Little of this research has focused on the length of criminal careers, or career duration, which can have important implications for theory and policy. The current study provides descriptive information on the length of criminal careers among a sample of serious offenders paroled from the CYA, examines the factors associated with career length, and explores the race differences in career length, as well as how key risk factors relate to career length differently across race. Data for this study came from a larger study of the criminal careers of serious offenders in CYA institutions collected between 1965 and 1984. The sample included 377 male parolees who were released from the CYA at various ages beginning at age 18 and followed, on average, for more than 150 months. The dependent variable for the study was career length, and the independent variables were based, in part, on the risk factors that have been associated with serious and persistent criminal offending. Three key findings emerged from analysis of the data. First, among this sample, the average career length was a little more than 17 years, with a range of 4 to 30 years; these length estimates were substantially similar across race. Second, when the correlates associated with career length were examined in a continuous and dichotomous fashion, the researchers found several relatively robust effects. Those individuals with an early-onset age tended to have longer criminal careers, while at the same time preventive/deterrent effects were found to be associated with length of stay in prison or jail and cognitive abilities. The third main finding concerned the split-race analysis. The analysis found that the correlates associated with career length were more similar than different across race. Policy implications and theoretical and empirical directions for future research are addressed. 4 tables, appendix, 7 notes, and 51 references