Defining Patterned Offending: Theoretical Distinctions Among Low Frequency Offenders

• NCJ Number: 137682
• Author(s): C Y-A Chien; D S Elliott; S Menard
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Correlates and Continuities in Delinquency: Studies from the National Youth Survey for the 1991 ASC meeting in San Francisco

Annotation

In 1979 Elliott, Ageton, and Canter asserted that delinquency theories should account for patterned offending, not for an isolated event; Hirschi opposed this assertion, arguing that delinquency theories are applicable to a single delinquent act.

Abstract

To research this contradiction, data were obtained from a longitudinal survey of a national youth panel, an ongoing project that follows respondents who were between 11 and 17 years of age in 1976. Independent variables included family involvement, school involvement, association with delinquent peers, family normlessness, school normlessness, and attitudes toward deviance. Strain variables, family strain and school strain, measured the discrepancy between aspirations and success in respective social contexts. Research data indicated that delinquency theories work well for broader category classification but do not distinguish well among low-rate frequency offenders, that delinquency is a behavioral continuum, and that the Elliott theory discriminates better for males than for females. An appendix contains data on the national youth panel. 10 references and 2 tables