Review Lifecourse Theories Review Sampson and Laub Moffitt

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6 F 19 D 34 C 24 B 17 A
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Developmental Criminology

• Basic Concepts/Questions
• Developmental Theories
• Policy Implications

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The Age-Crime Relationship
Arrest Rate
4000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0
Property Crimes, peak age 16
Violent Crimes, peak age 18
10 20 30 40 50
Age at Arrest
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Is the Age/Crime Curve Misleading?

• Data is AGGREGATE
• It could hide subgroups of offenders, or
  offending trajectories
• Data is Cross-Sectional
• Doesnt track stability/change over time
• Data is OFFICIAL
• Cannot tell us about the precursors to official
  delinquency (childhood antisocial behavior)

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Antisocial Behavior Is Stable

• COHORT STUDIES CHRONIC 6
• Correlation between past and future criminal
  behavior ranges from .6 to .7 (very strong)
• Lee Robins- Studies of cohorts of males
• Antisocial Personality as an adult virtually
  requires history of CASB
• CASB as early as age 6 related to delinquency
• More severe behavior has more stability
• Early onset delinquency powerful indicator of
  stability

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But there is CHANGE

• 1/2 of antisocial children are never arrested
• The vast majority of delinquents desist as they
  enter adulthood (mid 20s)

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New and Old Ideas

• OLD Crime is the province of adolescents
  theories of delinquency most important
• Easier to find/survey adolescents too!
• New (Considering stability/development )
• Central causes of delinquency lie in childhood
• Theories of adolescent delinquency are at best
  incomplete
• Lifecourse Questions
• Why do some age out of crime while others dont?
• Why is criminality so stable over time?
• What causes crime at different stages of life?

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Terminology

• Career Criminal Paradigm
• Early roots in criminologystudies of robbers,
  fences, and so forth
• Crime as an occupation ? specialization,
  escalation, etc.
• Empirical evidence little specialization, crime
  not as an occupation
• Developmental Criminology replaces Career
  Criminal paradigm in 1980s

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Lifecourse Theory I

• Must explain why there is stability (continuity)
  in antisocial behavior
• Must explain childhood precursors to offending
  (childhood antisocial behavior)
• Severe (age inappropriate) temper tantrums
• Deviant/criminal behavior
• Must explain desistence, or change
• Antisocial children, but not adults
• Adults that age out

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Lifecourse Theory II

• Types of Lifecourse Theories
• Continuity Theories (TraitGH)
• Continuity and Change Theories (Sampson and Laub)
• Continuity or Change Theories (Moffitt)

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Continuity Theories

• Some thing that is stable over time and related
  to crime
• Gottfreson and Hirschi ? Low self-control
• Becomes very stable by age 8
• Causes crime and other nastiness
• Problem?
• Why do people desist? Explain childhood
  recoveries or adult desistence?
• GH
• People desist its a law or constant like
  gravity, which doesnt need explanation

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Sampson and Laub

• Important/Popular book Crime in the Making
  Pathways and Turning Points Through Life
• First to fully outline lifecourse criminology
• Put forth a lifecourse theory
• Use Glueck data to test theory

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Pathways and Turning Points

• Pathways stability
• Turning Points opportunity for change

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Sampson and Laub
Childhood Adolescence Adulthood

• Context
• Poverty
• Neighborhood
• Others

• Parenting
• Supervision
• Discipline
• Social Bonds
• Family
• School
• Delinquent Peers

Delinquency
Adult Crime

• Social Bonds
• Marriage
• Good Job

Length of Incarceration

• Individual
• Differences
• Temperament
• Conduct disorder
• diagnosis

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Continuity

• Stability of Trajectory
• Individual differences (traits) possible
• Cumulative Continuity
• Delinquency/crime has effect on adult social
  bonds
• Delinquency/crime can lead to incarceration,
  which also has effect on adult social bonds
• These bonds, in turn, have effect on future crime

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Just a little picture
Because I care
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Change

• Turning Points Adult Social Bonds
• Quality Marriage
• Quality Employment
• Why would these things reduce crime?
• SL they increase informal control (bind
  individuals to society, give them something to
  lose)
• Other explanations (spend less time with criminal
  friends, etc.)

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Sampson and Laub II

• New Book/Articles based on follow-up data from
  Gleuck sample
• Followed until age 70
• Similar to original theory
• Employment, marriage, military service
• More complex-why a turning point?
• Knife off past from the present/future
• Supervision/monitoring (control) but also
  opportunities for social support/growth
• Change to structure/routine activities
• Opportunity for identity transformation

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How do people desist?

• Desistence by Default
• No conscious decision to stop offending
• Rather, roles, structure, social context changes
• Human Agency
• Vague concept that implies people have some say
  in the matter.
• Not same as rational choice nor is it a trait
• Interaction land a good job but still must want
  to keep
• Theoretical Importance
• Lives do not unfold in predictable sequences
• Desistence more difficult to explain than onset
  or persistence

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Terrie Moffitt

• A Stability or Change Theory
• Argument
• There are 2 different kinds of offenders in the
  world
• These types can be characterized by their unique
  offending trajectories
• Failure of Mainstream Criminology?
• During adolescence, these two groups look rather
  similar

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Moffitts 2 Groups of Offenders

• LCPs
• Early Start, Stable over lifecourse, 5 of
  general population (small group)
• Therefore
• Why start so early? Why so stable?
• ALs
• Late starters, desist in adulthood, very
  prevalent in population
• Therefore.
• Why start so late? Why desist right away?

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Explaining the LCP trajectory

• Presence of Neuropsychological Deficits
• Where do they come from?
• Why do they matter?
• INTERACTING WITH
• Ineffective Parenting
• Monitoring, supervision, etc.
• This dual hazard puts them on bad pathhowever
  

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Cumulative Continuity for LCPs

• What in the environment is affected?
• Peer Rejection
• School Failure
• Parenting
• THEREFORE
• Cumulative continuity
• Contemporary continuity (still have N.P. Deficit,
  personality traits)

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Explaining the ALs

• Maturity Gap
• Knifing off Bonds as rewarding
• Mimic
• Why do ALs desist?
• However, some may exhibit continuity
• Snares as another example of cumulative
  continuity

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Key Moffitt Questions

• Why do we need 2 theories?
• How does she account for stability and change?
• Specific explanations of LCP and AL offending

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Policy Implications

• The seduction of the chronic 6
• The promise of early intervention
• Theory Specific Implications
• Moffitt ? causes of neurological deficits,
  effective parenting, other?
• SL ? family context, parenting, bonds (child and
  adult)