CRIM1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Shoplifting, Criminal Record, Longitudinal Study
L6: Developmental Theories
1. The BIG research studies that inform Developmental Theories of Offending
2. Criminal Careers, Career Criminals & the Age-Crime Curve
3. Physical Aggression over the Life Course
4. Desistance from Crime Developmental Theories of Offending
Patterson’s Transactional Theory of Aggression
Tremblay’s Developmental Origins of Aggression
Sampson/Laub Age-Graded Theory of Social Control
Development Theories
Development theories assume that different factors (biology, psychology, social factors) have different
effects on offenders at different ages & stages in a person’s life
Developmental theories explain crime (and how it varies) over the life-course…”life-course criminology”
Developmental theories try to explain what triggers the START (onset) of criminal offending & and what
triggers the END (desistance)
3 Developmental Theories:
1. Thornberry’s Interactional Theory
2. Sampson/Laub’s Age-Graded Theory of Social Control
3. Tremblay’s Developmental Origins of Aggression
1. Thornberry’s Interactional Theory
Explores the relationship between past and present criminal behavior
Causal processes are dynamic
Different forces shape each other over time
Causal influences are age-dependent…and differentially influence people at different ages
People react differently according to different ages.
More about Thornberry’s theory and Rochester Youth Development Study in a moment….
2. Sampson/Laub’s Age-Graded Theory of Social Control
Focuses on stability and change over the life-course
Finds that prior offending is a major predictor of future offending
But…Turning Points in a person’s life influence onset and desistance
3. Tremblay’s Developmental Origins of Aggression
Focuses on early childhood aggression (before age 2)
Examines learned violence versus innate violence
Also introduces epi-genetics to understand aggression - How smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, physical
activity, obesity, psychological stress, trauma, physical stress, infectious diseases, environmental pollutants,
sun exposure, working night shift and other environmental factors can change our epi-genomes and trigger
aggression
Some Big Studies that inform Developmental Theories of Offending
1. Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study
2. Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development
3. Pittsburgh Youth Study
4. Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study
5. Rochester Youth Development Study
1. Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study
Wolfgang, Figlio and Sellin, studied a male birth cohort (born in 1943), through to 1963
Book published in 1972 found that 6% of juveniles accounted for
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52% of all juvenile contacts with police
70% of all felony offenses
Small group of “career criminals”
Implication? Lock up these chronic offenders
2. Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development
Data collection initiated by Dr. Donald J. West, taken over by David Farrington
Followed criminal careers of 411 London boys born 1953
Self-report and interview data, psychological testing
They collected data 8 times over 24 years
Main findings:
1. Small group of boys commit the vast majority of offences
2. Childhood factors predict continuity of antisocial and criminal behaviour into adulthood
3. Poverty, poor parenting and/or criminal family and personalities marked by impulsivity, hyperactivity
increase risk of offending
4. Adolescent offending is motivated by desire for material goods, excitement and status with peers
5. Effective parenting and consistent discipline reduces the risk of offending
6. Employment, marriage and residential relocation can encourage desistance from offending.
3. Pittsburgh Youth Study
PYS is led by Rolf Loeber, Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, David Farrington and Dustin Pardini
Explores:
- development of antisocial and delinquent behaviour from childhood to early adulthood,
- risk factors that impinge on their development
- help seeking and service provision of boys' behaviour problems.
- alcohol and drug use
Consists of three cohorts of boys who were in the first, fourth, and seventh grades when the study began in
1987-1988 (called the youngest, middle, and oldest cohorts, respectively).!
From this pool, there were 1,165 (1st grade), 1,146 (4th grade) and 1,125 (7th grade) children randomly
selected for potential participation in the screening.
Main Findings:
‘Promotive Factors’ of non-delinquency
1. Being accountable (adolescents willingly tell their parents of their whereabouts)
2. Believing one is likely to be caught if one offends
3. Low physical punishment from parents
4. Having a good relationship with peers
5. Low peer substance use
4. Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study
- Founded by Phil Silva, now led by Richie Poulton and Terri Moffitt
- Known as the Dunedin Study
- A detailed study of human!health, development and behaviour
-Followed the lives of 1037 babies born!between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973!!at Queen Mary
Maternity Hospital, Dunedin, New Zealand, since their birth.
Moffitt’s Dual Taxonomy Identified from the Dunedin Study
Two main types of ‘anti-social’ offenders
1. Adolescent Limited Offenders
Onset (age of where someone has their first criminal offence) of antisocial behaviour in adolescence
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Desistance (stop offending) in young adulthood
Common, temporary, normative
2. Life-Course Persistent Offenders
Early onset of antisocial behaviour (childhood)
Worsens during adolescence and adulthood
5% of all offenders but persistent over time
Adolescent Limited Offenders:
Self-report studies:
Most juveniles (90% +/-) report engagement in at least one form of law-breaking behaviour
Low level law breaking:
Under-age drinking, !
smoking marijuana, !
shoplifting, etc?
Most of it is youth typical/risk-taking behaviour – it does not shape us to become life-course persistent offenders
Risk factors during adolescence!
Physical changes (maturity gap)
Changes in schooling (eg expel, suspensions)
Changes in family relationships
Changes in roles/status
Changes in peer relationships
“Snares”
Criminal record/ Incarceration/ Addiction
Life-course Persistent Offenders
Neuropsychological issues - hyperactivity, difficult temperament, subtle cognitive deficits, other pre-natal risks
Inadequate parenting:
parental conflict
family breakdown
parental criminality
harsh or inconsistent discipline
parental mental health issues
- Poverty
-Peer rejection and poor relations
5. Rochester Youth Development Study
Terence P. Thornberry (University of Maryland, Project Director) with Marvin D. Krohn (University of
Florida), Alan J. Lizotte (University at Albany, SUNY)
Started at the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center (SUNY) in 1986 to study the causes and
consequences of delinquency and drug use in an urban sample of adolescents
A sample of 1,000 seventh and eighth grade students were selected from the Rochester, New York public
schools during the 1987-1988
Initial sample was 73% male & 27% female
Students and their primary caretakers were interviewed nine times at six-month intervals from 1988 (age 14)
until 1992 (age 18), then annually from 1994 (age 21)
Also collected data from the files of official agencies, including the Rochester public schools, police
department, probation department, family court, and social services
Theoretical Models
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
L6: developmental theories: the big research studies that inform developmental theories of offending, criminal careers, career criminals & the age-crime curve, physical aggression over the life course, desistance from crime developmental theories of offending. Development theories assume that different factors (biology, psychology, social factors) have different effects on offenders at different ages & stages in a person"s life. Developmental theories explain crime (and how it varies) over the life-course life-course criminology . Developmental theories try to explain what triggers the start (onset) of criminal offending & and what triggers the end (desistance) 3 developmental theories: thornberry"s interactional theory, sampson/laub"s age-graded theory of social control, tremblay"s developmental origins of aggression, thornberry"s interactional theory. Explores the relationship between past and present criminal behavior. Causal in uences are age-dependent and differentially in uence people at different ages. More about thornberry"s theory and rochester youth development study in a moment : sampson/laub"s age-graded theory of social control.
