Chapter 6: Developmental Theories of Delinquency (Life-Course, Propensity, and Trajectory)

developmental theory

the view is that delinquency is a dynamic process influenced by social experiences and individual characteristics

adolescent-limited offenders

kids who get into minor scrapes as youths but whose misbehavior ends when they enter adulthood

life-course theory

focuses on changes in criminality over the life course; developmental theory

latent trait

a stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, such as defective intelligence or impulsive personality, that makes some people delinquency prone over the life course

propensity

an innate inclination, preference, or tendency to act in a specific way

life-course persisters

delinquents who begin their offending career at a very early age and continue to offend well into adulthood

overt pathway

pathway to a delinquent career that begins with minor aggression, leads to physical fighting, and eventually escalates to violent delinquency

covert pathway

pathway to a delinquent career that begins with minor underhanded behavior, leads to property damage, and eventually escalates to more serious forms of theft and fraud

trajectory theory

the view that there are multiple independent paths to a delinquent career and that there are different types and classes of offenders

authority conflict pathway

pathway to delinquent deviance that begins at an early age with stubborn behavior and leads to defiance and then to authority avoidance

problem behavior syndrome (PBS)

a cluster of antisocial behaviors that may include family dysfunction, substance abuse, smoking, precocious sexuality and early pregnancy, educational underachievement, suicide attempts, sensation seeking, and unemployment, as well as delinquency

integrated theories

theories that incorporate social, personal, and developmental factors into complex explanations of human behavior

social capital

positive relations with individuals and institutions, as in a successful marriage or a successful career, that support conventional behavior and inhibit deviant behavior

General Theory of Crime (GTC)

a developmental theory that modifies social control theory by integrating concepts from biosocial, psychological, routine activities, and rational choice theories

self-control theory

the theory of delinquency that holds that antisocial behavior is caused by a lack of self-control stemming from an impulsive personality

cumulative disadvantage

the tendency of prior social problems to produce future ones that accumulate and undermine success

turning points

positive life experiences, such as gaining employment, getting married, or joining the military, which create informal social control mechanisms that limit delinquent behavior opportunities

state dependence

the propensity to commit crime profoundly and permanently disrupts normal socialization over the life course