Chapter 6: Developmental patterns of offending

Abstract

Chapter 6 examines developmental patterns of offending. It begins with discussions of classic research on “chronic offenders” by Wolfgang and his colleagues and on “criminal careers” and “career criminals” by Blumstein and his colleagues. Both teams of researchers discovered that a relatively small number of offenders is responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. The developmental perspective that emerged in recent decades helps to explain the patterns of offending revealed in these classic studies. Developmental criminologists examine the age-linked development of problem behaviors and the causal factors that influence this development. Chapter 6 describes five key themes of the developmental perspective and the research associated with these themes: age of onset of problem behaviors, continuity and change in problem behaviors, progression of seriousness of offenses, co-occurrence of problem behaviors, and desistance from offending. The chapter presents two developmental models of delinquency that have generated a good deal of research: Patterson’s early- and late-starter models and Moffitt’s adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent models of offending. Both pairs of models suggest that the causes of antisocial behavior and delinquency are quite different for individuals who begin involvement in offending in adolescence and those who begin earlier in life.

Theories

• developmental theory
• Patterson’s early- and late-starter models
• Moffitt’s adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders

Key Terms

• recidivists
• chronic offenders
• criminal career
• participation
• frequency
• career criminals
• age of onset
• behavioral continuity
• escalation
• generality of deviance
• desistance
• early starter
• late starter
• adolescence-limited offenders
• life-course-persistent offenders

Outline

1. “Chronic offenders” and “career criminals”
   1. Wolfgang’s “chronic offenders”
   2. Blumstein’s “criminal careers” and “career criminals”
      1. Criminal careers
      2. Career criminals
   3. Theoretical perspectives on criminal careers, career criminals, and chronic  offenders
2. The developmental perspective
   1. Age of onset of problem behaviors
      1. “How early can we tell?”
   2. Continuity and change in problem behaviors
      1. Explaining continuity
      2. Explaining change
   3. Progression of seriousness
   4. Generality of deviance or co-occurrence of problem behaviors
      1. Explaining the generality of deviance
   5. Desistance from offending
3. Developmental models of delinquent behavior
   1. Patterson’s early- and late-starter models
      1. Developmental model for early starters
      2. Developmental model for late starters
      3. Tests of Patterson’s early- and late-starter models
   2. Moffitt’s adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders
      1. Life-course-persistent offenders
      2. Adolescence-limited offenders
      3. Tests of Moffitt’s developmental theory
4. Summary and conclusions