Developmental & Life-Course Theories Notes

Developmental & Life-Course Theories

• Objective: To understand the patterns of criminal behavior over time.
• Research Findings:
  • Crime Peaks in Adolescence: Criminal activity is observed to peak during adolescence and declines as individuals age (Blumstein et al., 1986; Farrington et al., 2013).
  • Consistent Behavior: Some individuals exhibit a consistent level of criminal or conforming behavior throughout their lives.
  • Variable Criminality: Others show variability in criminal behavior as they age (Laub & Sampson, 2003; Sampson & Laub, 1993).

Age-Crime Debate

• Age-Crime Curve: Shows an increase in crime rates during early adolescence, peaking in mid to late teenage years, and decreasing through early adulthood (Farrington, 1986).
  • Emerging Adults: Defined as individuals aged 18 to 25 (Arnett, 2000).
  • Critiques of Age-Crime Distribution:
  • Misapplications may arise from advocating longitudinal studies over cheaper cross-sectional studies (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1983).
  • Age-crime curve may reflect changes in opportunity rather than changes in criminal propensity (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990).

Criminal Careers

• Research Basis: Informed by early life-history and longitudinal data (Shaw, 1930; Glueck & Glueck, 1950; Wolfgang et al., 1972).
• Key Factors in Criminal Careers:
  • Onset: Initiation of criminal activity.
  • Continuity: Persistence and escalation of criminal activity.
  • Change: Can involve desistance or termination of criminal activity.
  • Five Dimensions:
  1. Prevalence: Number of individuals involved at any level.
  2. Frequency: Number of offenses committed by active offenders.
  3. Age of Onset: Age at which the first crime is committed.
  4. Age of Desistance: Age at last crime committed.
  5. Criminal Career Length: Calculated as age of desistance minus age of onset.

Prevalence, Frequency, Age of Onset, & Desistance

• Prevalence Statistics:
  • By age 30, up to 96% of self-reported criminal involvement and 40% in official records (Farrington, 2002).
• Crime Frequency: Peaks at age 16 for self-reports and ages 17-20 for convictions, followed by a decline (Piquero et al., 2003).
• Age of Onset: Peaks for minor crimes at ages 13-14 and for serious crimes at ages 17-19 (Farrington, 1990).
• Desistance: Average age of last crime ranges from 20-29 years (Farrington, 1992).
• Career Length:
  • Average of 10.4 years from first to last conviction (Farrington, 1992).
  • Includes one-time offenders averages 7.1 years.
  • For all crimes, the average is 25.6 years (Laub & Sampson, 2003).

Key Theories in Developmental & Life-Course Criminology

• Self-Control Theory: (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990)
• Developmental Pathways Model: (Loeber et al., 1993)
• Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential Theory: (Farrington, 2005)
• Developmental Taxonomy: (Moffitt, 1993)
• Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control: (Sampson & Laub, 1993, 2003)
• Life-Course Perspective on Social Learning: (Giordano, 2010)

Developmental Taxonomy: Terrie Moffitt

• Background: Schmidt-Nielsen Professor at Duke University and King's College London.
• Contributions: Noted for work identifying patterns of criminality at different developmental stages.

Dual Taxonomy of Offending

• Moffitt's Proposition: Two distinct groups of offenders:
  • Adolescence-Limited (AL):
  • Engage in delinquency during adolescence, cease as they transition to adulthood.
  • Motivated by social factors and maturity gaps.
  • Life-Course Persistent (LCP):
  • Develop conduct disorders early in life, continuing criminality into adulthood.
  • Associated biological and psychological deficits leading to chronic behavior.

Life-Course Persistent Offenders (LCP)

• Characteristics:
  • Small percentage of total youth; their deviance has biological roots linked to neuropsychological deficits.
  • These deficits can result in lower verbal ability and executive functioning, leading to a higher likelihood of antisocial conduct.

Adolescence-Limited Offenders (AL)

• Characteristics:
  • Represent the majority of youth delinquents.
  • Rebellion linked to a maturity gap; no significant deficits compared to LCPs.
  • Tend to conform to social norms as they mature, leading to natural desistance from criminal behavior.
  • Processes of Social Mimicry: AL youth often imitate behaviors from LCP youth, leading to initial delinquency but eventually adhere to societal norms as they age.

Summary of Empirical Evidence

• Significant support for the distinctions between AL and LCP groups, including various subgroups like chronic and sporadic offenders.