Delinquent Development Among Early-Onset Offenders: Identifying and Characterizing Trajectories Based on Frequency Across Types of Offending

Abstract

Early-onset offending is generally recognized as a risk factor for persistent criminal behavior. However, variation in long-term delinquent development among early-onset offenders remains rather underexplored and poorly understood. We, therefore, used multitrajectory modeling to identify distinct subgroups of early-onset offenders ( n = 708) based on the frequency of offending across several types of offenses up to age 25. We used multinomial regression analysis to characterize subgroups on gender, ethnicity, and childhood neighborhood characteristics. Six offender subgroups could be distinguished in our data: nonrecidivists (51%), sporadic recidivists (25%), and low-rate (8%), moderate-rate (10%), high-rate adult-peaked (3%), and high-rate adolescence-peaked recidivists (3%). Males, minorities, and children from disadvantaged neighborhoods were more likely to follow re-offending trajectories characterized by increased levels of property crime, vandalism, and violent and sexual offenses. Findings are discussed in relation to criminological theory, and recommendations are made for future life-course criminological research.

Factores de riesgo en personas privadas de libertad en cárceles peruanas por delitos patrimoniales

“…La incursión en conductas infractoras antes de los 18 años de edad, también es un factor de riesgo presente en la historia de vida de los reclusos y reclusas, independiente de si fueron denunciadas, judicializadas o no; sin embargo, esta variable presenta diferencias significativas entre hombres (61.1%) y mujeres (18.9%), diferencia que puede estar mediada por temas de tipo cultural, de libertad en hombres que en mujeres durante la infancia y adolescencia. Hallazgo que concuerda con lo encontrado por Van Hazebroek et al (2019), la infracción de inicio temprano es un factor de riesgo de la conducta delictiva persistente sobre todo en hombres y niños de vecindarios desfavorecidos, en delitos contra la propiedad, vandalismo, delitos violentos y sexuales. Coincide también con los mencionado por Loeber y Farrington (2000), los infractores de inicio temprano tienen alto riesgo de desarrollar comportamientos delictivos posteriores.…”

Genetics of Externalizing Behavior and Structural Brain Development in Adolescence

“…Externalizing behavior in children and adolescents can be assessed by the broad Externalizing scale from the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the self-reported Youth Self Report (YSR) [2]. The age of onset of externalizing behavior varies between individuals, but occurs most often during childhood and adolescence, and the trajectory may present with different profiles of disruptive behavior throughout development [3][4][5]. Externalizing behavior occurs in both sexes, although boys are at increased risk of disruptive behavior [6][7].…”

Examining the Coevolution of Drug Use Variety and Different Types of Offending Frequency Among Justice-Involved Adolescents

“…This limits our understanding of whether the drug–crime relationship varies by crime type. Recent studies exploring trajectories of offending frequency note the importance of distinguishing between different types of crime to uncover the full range of criminal behavior (Van Hazebroek et al, 2019). To build upon this area of research, the current study disaggregates crime into three separate categories of offense frequencies (drug sales, property, and violence) to produce a more detailed scrutiny into how drug use variety and different types of crime frequencies coevolve among justice-involved adolescents.…”