Study Stats Flashcards
Cambridge Study (West & Farrington)
The longitudinal survey of crime and delinquency in 411 males, mostly born in 1953 and from working class families.
Followed for 40+ years.
Ages 10 - 16: 85 males (21%) were convicted. At age 40, 164 males (40%) were convicted. (Young are convicted less.)
Crime runs in families: 6% of families accounted for more than half the convictions, around half of convicted boys had convicted parents.
Berlin Crime Study (Dahle, 1999)
Male adult offenders admitted to prison in 1976.
»Property offences and fraud = 60%
»Robbery and bodily harm = 10%
Sexual offences and homicide rare.
Categories of offenders:
Adolescent-limited offenders – reached maximum offending by age 20 then decreased.
Limited serious offenders – seriousness escalated but ceased around age 30.
Persistent serious offenders – accumulated risk factors and high recidivism.
Occasional offenders – low delinquency, absence of childhood risk factors, offending may be associated with critical life events, specialist offending.
Late-starting offenders – similar to occasional but offending not triggered by life events, professional criminals (e.g., fraud, burglary).
Children Australian courts 2010/11.
36,236 defendants were in Children Australian courts 2010/11.
Offences include theft 21%, acts intended to cause injury 20%, unlawful entry with intent 13%, public order offences 9%, traffic offences 8%. 25% of offenders were 17, 24% were 16, 17% were 15, 10% were 14, 5% were 13, 3% were 10-12. 79% of defendants were male, 21% female.
90% were sentenced non-custodial orders. 1% of the population commit crime, most are re-offenders and tend to grow out of crime and only some are life-long persistent offenders.
Recent crime rates - myths debunked
Between 2010/2011/12 rates dropped by 13%.
In 2011/12 2.6% of delinquents had a recorded offence by police.
Our views about juvenile delinquency are influenced by sources such as the media and aren’t always accurate.
