NCJ Number
231129
Journal
Criminology and Public Policy Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2010 Pages: 279-305
Date Published
May 2010
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This study examined linkage of group-based offending trajectories to the total monetary costs of crime.
Abstract
Results show a pattern in which the low offending group imposed roughly equal costs in both their juvenile and adult years; the medium offending group imposed higher costs in their juvenile years; and the high-rate chronic offending group imposed significantly higher costs in their adult years. Furthermore, these results were largely consistent across methods to calculate offending costs. Key findings illustrate that the high-rise chronic trajectory group imposed significant and substantively large monetary costs of society, and the consistency of the higher costs of this trajectory in relation to the other more prevalent, but less frequent, costs of the trajectories suggests the need to shift attention and resources to early prevention and intervention programs; these programs also provide monetary benefits beyond reduced crime and victims costs to prevent and reduce the escalating costs of frequent and serious offending across the life course. If policymakers support effective programs that target children early in the life course, such as family and parent training programs, then individuals on a high-rate chronic offending trajectory might have an opportunity to move to a trajectory with lower or no offending, both of which exert significantly lower monetary costs. Data were collected from the Second Philadelphia Birth Cohort. Tables, figures, and references