Transitional Life Events and Desistance From Delinquency and Crime (From From Boy to Man, From Delinquency to Crime, P 134-162, 1987, Marvin E Wolfgang, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-109901)

• NCJ Number: 109907
• Author(s): A Rand
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 29 pages
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis of crime patterns in a 1945 Philadelphia cohort sample (567) examined the role of life-transition events in the process of desistance from delinquent and criminal behavior.

Abstract

Events were classified as those negatively correlated with offenses, those positively correlated with offenses, and those unrelated to offenses. Life-transition events that correlated negatively with criminality included marriage, vocational training in the armed forces, and graduation from high school. Variables which correlated positively with delinquent and criminal behavior included living with a woman and gang affiliation. Persons of both races who lived with a woman persisted in their criminal careers almost 4 years longer than those who had never done so. Gang members committed more offenses during the period of gang affiliation. There was no association between criminality and fatherhood, military service, vocational training, and a college education. Additional similar studies should encompass larger offender populations who have experienced varying combinations of life-transition events. 15 tables and 8 figures. (Author summary modified)