Youth Pathways In and Out of Offending

Youth Pathways In and Out of Offending

Life-course Approaches

- Across individual change. This involves studying humans at a snapshot in time, such as in court. 

- Within individual change. This is a longitudinal approach whereby a group is followed over time to see how life changes, and how this impacts on offending at different times.

Three main foci:

1. Developments in humans over time. 

2. Explain why these developments took place. 

3. Assess how interventions/changes impact on lives over time. 

Onset - The Pathways into Crime

- Focus on onset - the factors which influence the entrance into crime.

- Draws on a range of theoretical iedas - social learning (friendships/family influences), social bonds (strength of ties to community), developmental (psychological processes of age development), symbolic interactionism (labelling and effects of sanctions on behaviour). 

- Farrington et al (2006) found there to be certain risk factors which are the strongest onset indicators:

Family involvement in crime, neglectful parenting, poverty, high risk-taking behaviour and low attainment. This applied only to low-level offenders, not a criminal career sample. 

The Glueck's 'Unravelling Juvenile Delinquency' (1950)

- Unravelling Juvenile Delinquency (Glueck and Glueck, 1950); traced a sample of delinquent boys compared with non-delinquent boys from the same social backgrounds. 

They found that:

- The earlier the onset, the longer the criminal career. 

- Crime declines with age (maturation). 

- Strongest factor responsible for onset and continued offending is the family.

Is Crime Adolescent Limited (AL) or Life-Course Persistant?

Moffitt, 1993

Moffitt…