NCJ Number
186970
Journal
Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2000 Pages: 1143-1172
Date Published
November 2000
Length
30 pages
Annotation
A study of how interaction between gender and age at the onset of offending relates to specialization in offending used data from 27,160 individuals who were born in Philadelphia in 1958 and who lived there between their 10th and 18th birthdays.
Abstract
The research focused on Moffitt’s dual taxonomy, which contrasts offending that is limited to adolescence with offending that persists over the life course. This taxonomy indicates that persistent offenders will display greater variety in offending than do those whose offending occurs only during adolescence. The present research examined direct relationships between gender, age of onset of delinquency, persistence, and offending specialization, as well as the interaction of these influences and offending specialization. Data came from the second Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study. The study included information on official police contacts and on crimes up to age 26 for individuals arrested in the Philadelphia region. Results provided some support as well as some inconsistency with hypotheses derived from Moffitt’s theory. The significant relationship between onset age and offending specialization was consistent with the theory and suggested that early-onset offenders were more versatile than late-onset offenders in their offending patterns. In addition, offenders who began offending early in the life course and persisted into adulthood exhibited more diverse and versatile offending patterns than those who did not. However, results suggested that males and females did not differ statistically or substantively in their respective levels of offending specialization across five offending transitions. The analysis concluded that the findings were both consistent and inconsistent with Moffitt’s dual taxonomy of offending behavior. Tables, figures, footnotes, and 46 references (Author abstract modified)