Further Analyses of a Longitudinal Survey of Crime and Delinquency - Final Report to the National Institute of Justice - Executive Summary

• NCJ Number: 96728
• Author(s): D P Farrington
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 81-IJ-CX-0022 (D/L)
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This report summarizes the background and findings of an English longitudinal survey of crime and delinquency, the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, which collected data on 411 males from 1961-62 when most were aged 8 through 1980 when the youngest was 25.

Abstract

In general, this survey found that youths convicted at the earliest ages (10-12) tended to have the most convictions and the longest criminal careers. The incidence of both official and self-reported offenders tended to peak around age 17. Far more offenses were committed according to self-reports than according to convictions. The summary describes predictors of criminality indicated by the Cambridge Study's results and theories advanced to explain these findings. Reasons for the relative inefficiency of delinquency prediction are discussed, as are methods for identifying the most persistent or chronic offenders at an early age. Other topics covered in the summary include research comparing one-track versus two-track justice for juveniles and the relationship between a biological variable and other nonbiological ones.