Criminal Careers of Those Born Between 1953 and 1978

• NCJ Number: 189868
• Author(s): Julian Prime; Steve White; Sarah Liriano; Kinnari Patel
• Date Published: March 2001
• Length: 35 pages
• Sale Source: Great Britain Home Office
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Home Office Statistical Bulletin, 4/01

Annotation

This statistical bulletin presented an updated analysis of the criminal histories of offenders in England and Wales between 1953 and 1978.

Abstract

This statistical bulletin examined the criminal convictions (on a 5-year cycle) of people born in 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, and 1978 from England and Wales. The estimates were based on data from the Offenders Index database containing criminal histories of those convicted of a “standard list” offense between 1963 and 1999. The analysis presented was based on the number of court appearances where an offender was convicted of one or more offenses rather than on number of convictions. Several key findings were highlighted and included: (1) the earlier a male offender had his first conviction the more likely he was to be convicted again; (2) 33 percent of males and 9 percent of females born in 1953 had been convicted of at least one “standard list” offense before the age of 46; (3) two-thirds of all court appearances where a conviction occurred before the age of 46 for males born in 1953 were attributable to about one-quarter of offenders or 8 percent of the male population; (4) the majority of offenders had been convicted on only one occasion; (5) 22 percent of males currently 10- to 45-years-old were estimated to have a conviction for at least one “standard list” offense; (6) 55 percent of male offenders and 80 percent of female offenders had a criminal career of less than a year in length; (7) nearly half of male offenders and two-thirds of female offenders born in 1953 were first convicted of theft or possession of stolen goods; (8) the peak age of known criminal activity for males was 19, of which 11 percent of those born in 1953 were known to be criminally active; (9) 7.5 percent of males and half of one percent of females born in 1953 had received a custodial conviction before the age of 46; and (10) for males and females born in more recent cohort years the proportion with at least one conviction was lower than those born in earlier cohort years. Tables and graphs