Two Processes of the Development of Persistent Offending: Activation and Escalation (From Straight and Devious Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood, P 82-100, 1990, Lee N Robins and Michael Rutter, eds. -- See NCJ-125912)

• NCJ Number: 125914
• Author(s): M Le Blanc
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 19 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Canada Ministry of the Attorney-General
• Sale Source: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Research is reported on how activation and escalation combine to support the development of persistent offending.

Abstract

The activation process refers to the way the development of persistent offending is stimulated as soon as it has begun and to the way persistence is assured. The process of escalation means the existence of a sequence in the appearance of diverse forms of delinquent activities which ranges from minor infractions to serious crime as the subject increases in age. To study activation and escalation characteristics, a sample of 470 French-speaking boys from Montreal was used. The boys ranged in age from 14 to 16 years and had been convicted and given a sentence other than a fine or compensatory measure. They were followed longitudinally to assess their delinquency patterns over time. Analysis of offending patterns showed that crime types could be graded according to starting and ending ages, duration, frequency, and seriousness. For most boys, illicit activities progressed from minor crimes to more serious ones. Most progressed in sequence, many going from exploration to explosion and then to conflagration. About 25 percent of the subjects limited themselves to crimes common to a single stage, usually the stage of explosion. Other subjects went through several stages; they did not all start nor end with the same stage, and their transition from one stage to another was not always standard. 26 references, 3 tables, and 2 figures.