Violence and Serious Theft

Development and Prediction from Childhood to Adulthood

Rolf Loeber, David P. Farrington, Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, Helene Raskin White

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781135606428
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy
• Index: Psychology

In this volume, top experts in the field of delinquency discuss the implications of the findings of the Pittsburgh Youth Study for current conceptualizations of antisocial behavior. Violence and Serious Theft is unique in that it combines the strengths of three disciplines to explain delinquency in young people: developmental psychopathology, criminology, and public health. The book addresses questions in two main areas: serious offending as an outcome over time and developmental aspects of serious offending; and factors which explain why some young males become violent and/or commit serious crime while others do not. Violence and Serious Theft is a resource for researchers, practitioners and students in developmental, school and counseling psychology; psychopathology, psychiatry, public health and criminology.

Part I

Introduction and Methods

One

Introduction and Key Questions

ROLF LOEBER, DAVID P. FARRINGTON, MAGDA STOUTHAMER-LOEBER,AND HELENE WHITE RASKIN

Over the past century, the United States has had a much higher rate of violence than most European countries. What is far less known is that this does not apply to all forms of violence. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 compare police reports of the rate per 100,000 inhabitants for homicide and rape in the United States and a few European countries for the years 1982–1999 (Farrington & Jolliffe, 2007). The data clearly shows that the rate of homicide and rape is substantially higher in the United States compared to that of England and Wales, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Figures 1.3–1.4 also indicate that the rates of robbery and burglary in the United States, based on victim surveys, were similar when compared to several European countries, especially since the 1990s.

Figure 1.1 Rate of Homicide According to Police Data in the United States; England and Wales; Switzerland; and the Netherlands

Figure 1.2 Rate of Rape According to Police Data in the United States; England and Wales; Swit-zerland; and the Netherlands

Figure 1.3 Rate of Robbery According to Victim Surveys in the United States; England and Wales; Switzerland; and the Netherlands

Figure 1.4 Rate of Burglary According to Victim Surveys in the United States; England and Wales; Switzerland; and the Netherlands

Figures 1.1–1.4 also reveal that crime rates between 1981 and 1999 have varied a great deal (Farrington & Jolliffe, 2007). Major increases and decreases in crime have taken place. There are decreases in homicide, rape, robbery, and burglary in the United States; increases in burglary and rape in England and Wales; and an increase in robbery in the Netherlands. Over a longer period of observation, the rate of homicide in Europe after 1200 was much higher than the rate of homicide in the United States in the twentieth century, but the European rate has decreased dramatically since the Early Middle Ages (see Figure 1.5). The current rate of homicide in the United States is similar to the rate that was common in Europe around the year 1700 (Eisner, 2004), and the question remains whether the United States can significantly reduce its levels of homicide and general violence within the near future rather than over the next 300 years. Violence and serious theft continue to inflict widespread harm on citizens. Certainly, crime continues to be featured on a daily basis in the media and contributes to people’s fear for their own and others’ personal safety. Even though the media occasionally feature case histories of the most spectacular offenders, the general public is offered very little information to increase its awareness of the causes of violence and theft. This volume documents the life course of offending and other problem behaviors of 1,009 boys between the ages of 7 and 25 in Pittsburgh. It presents new information on individuals’ delinquency careers and the putative causes of individuals’ offending from childhood to early adulthood. Such knowledge is relevant to understanding age cohort differences in offending, which in turn constitutes building blocks to understanding changing crime waves over time.

Figure 1.5 Homicide Rates in Europe (1200–2000) and the United States (1920–2000) (Eisner, 2004)

The Life Course Perspective

This volume extends earlier conceptualizations of the development of offenders and offending in a life course perspective (Elder, 1998; Farrington, 2003; Le Blanc & Loeber, 1998; Loeber & Le Blanc, 1990; Lösel & Bender, 2003; Piquero, Farrington, & Blumstein, 2003). The developmental approach to criminology focuses on changes in offending patterns with age and changes in risk and promotive factors to which offenders and nonoffenders are exposed from childhood to adulthood. This approach assumes that some of the propensity for delinquent offending may already be formed in early childhood, but that this propensity is maintained and modified through personal characteristics (e.g., psychopathic features) and exposure to risk and promotive factors in the person and his social environment. Definitions of these and other terms used in this volume can be found in Table 1.1. For example, the terms offending and offenses will include delinquent acts committed during the juvenile years (under age 18) and criminal acts committed during adulthood (from age 18 onward). We will use the following terms: middle childhood will denote ages 7–9, while late childhood will cover ages 10–12. Early adolescence will refer to ages 13–15, while late adolescence will be defined as ages 16–19. Finally, early adulthood will refer to ages 20–25.

Table1.1 Definitions of Terms

Delinquency Career Terms
Age Cohort	Individuals who are about the same age and whose progress is followed up over time.
Age-Crime Curve	A curve showing that the prevalence of offenders is low in late childhood and early adolescence, peaks in middle to late adolescence, and decreases subsequently.
Age of Onset	Youngest age at which offending is recorded, either through self-reports or official records.
All-Source Measure of Offending	Combined measure of self-reported offending, delinquency reported by parent and teacher, and official records of conviction.
Antisocial Behavior	Behavior that inflicts harm on others, which includes minor and moderate nondelinquent problem behaviors and delinquent offenses.
Arrest	Arrest by the police.
Cohort	See Age Cohort.
Conviction	Sentenced in court for committing a crime.
Cumulative Onset	The cumulative percentage of persons starting to offend up to a certain age.
Delinquency	The act of breaking one or more criminal laws when a minor (under age 18).
Desistance	Cessation or stopping of offending forever or for a long period of time. See also Early Desistance, Intermediate Desistance, and Late Desistance.
Developmental Pathway	Pattern of development in offending from less serious problem behaviors to more serious offenses.
Developmental Sequence	Order of occurrence of different problem behaviors.
Drug Dealing	Selling marijuana or other illegal drugs.
Duration	The number of years that individuals offend.
Early Desistance	The presence of offending in late childhood (ages 10–12) followed by desistance by early adolescence (ages 13–16), and continuing desistance through late adolescence (ages 17–19).
Escalation	The increasing severity of offenses committed by individuals over time.
Forward Probability	The probability that individuals escalate over time from less serious to more serious forms of offending.
Frequency	The annual rate of offending.
Gang Membership	Self-report of being a member of a gang during the assessment period.
Gun Carrying	Self-report of the carrying of a gun during the assessment period.
Intermediate Desistance	For the youngest cohort this is defined as offending in late childhood (ages 10–12) and early adolescence (ages 13–16), followed by desistance in late adolescence (ages 17–19). For the oldest cohort, intermediate desistance is defined as offending in early adolescence (ages 13–16), followed by desistance in late adolescence (ages 17–19), and continued desistance into early adulthood (ages 20–25).
Late Desistance	Offending in early and late adolescence (ages 12– 16, and 17–19, respectively) followed by desistance in early adulthood (ages 20–25).
Minor Theft	Stealing outside the home, or shoplifting.
Moderate Theft	Stealing a bicycle or skateboard, stealing things worth more than $5, joyriding in a stolen vehicle, purse snatching, dealing in stolen goods, or stealing from a car.
Moderate Violence	Gangfighting.
Offending/Offenses	Delinquent acts committed during the juvenile years (under age 18) and criminal acts committed during adulthood (from age 18 onward).
Official Offending	Offenses measured by means of information from the police or the criminal court.
Oldest Sample	Boys in the Pittsburgh Youth Study who were first studied in grade 7 (age 13).
Pathway	See Developmental Pathway.
Persistence	The proportion of offenders who continue to offend over different age blocks.
Prevalence	The proportion of a population (expressed as a percentage) who engage in illegal offenses or other problem behaviors.
PYS	The Pittsburgh Youth Study.
Reported Offending	Offending as measured by means of boys’ self-reports, and reports by parents and teachers.
Self-Reported Offending	Offending as measured by means of boys’ self-reports only.
Specialization	The tendency for individuals to commit some types of offenses disproportionally and repeatedly.
Serious Theft	Breaking and entering, or auto theft.
Serious Violence	Forcible robbery, attacking with intent to injure, sexual coercion, or rape.
Substance Use	Use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or other psychoactive substances.
Theft	See Minor Theft, Moderate Theft, and Serious Theft.
Trajectories	Classification of individuals according to their pattern of offending over time.
Violence	See Moderate Violence and Serious Violence.
Youngest Sample	Boys in the Pittsburgh Youth Study who were first studied in grade 1 (age 7).
Processes that Influence Offending
Aggravating Risk Factors	Factors that predict a high likelihood of later offending in the general population.
Hindering Risk Factors	Factors that predict a low likelihood of desistance from offending among those who had previously offended.
Preventive Promotive Factors	Factors that predict a low probability of offending in the general population.
Promotive Factors	Factors that predict a low probability of serious offending in either the general population or among offenders. See Preventive Promotive Factors and Remedial Promotive Factors.
Protective Factors	Factors that predict a low probability of offending among youth exposed to risk factors.
Remedial Promotive Factors	Factors that predict cessation of offending among those who had previously offended.
Risk Factors	Factors that predict a high likelihood of offending either in the general population or among offenders. See also Aggravating Risk Factors and Hindering Risk Factors.
Age Blocks/Life Stages
Middle Childhood	Ages 7–9.
Late Childhood	Ages 10–12.
Early Adolescence	Ages 13–15.
Late Adolescence	Ages 16–19.
Early Adulthood	Ages 20–25.

This volume tackles major topics that are current in the empirical literature. Specifically, we will focus on the following broad questions: How widespread is violence and serious theft in two cohorts of inner-city boys between the ages of 7 and 25? Are some generations of youth more seriously delinquent than other generations? To what extent are violence and serious property offenses related to drug dealing, gang membership, gun ownership, and substance use? What is the forward probability of individuals’ escalating from less serious to more serious forms of delinquency? Can individuals be classified according to their trajectories of offending? Among risk and promotive factors evident in childhood, which best predict violence and serious property crime, and what is the contribution of risk and promotive factors that emerge in adolescence?

Our Conceptual and Theoretical Orientation

Theories explain why phenomena occur. The number of theories of antisocial and criminal behavior is large (see overviews in Cullen, Wright, & Blevins, 2006; Dodge & Pettit, 2003; Farrington, 2005; Lahey, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2003; Thornberry & Krohn, 2003; Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985). Some major examples are Patterson’s (1982) combined antisocial trait and social learning theory, problem behavior theory (Jessor & Jessor, 1973), social cognitive theory (Dodge, Murphy, & Buchsbaum, 1984), psychiatric theories of comorbidities (Caron & Rutter, 1991; Hinshaw, 1992), learning theory (Akers, 1973), general strain theory (Agnew, 1992), social control theory and its modifications (Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985; Elliott, Huizinga, & Menard, 1989; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Hirschi, 1969), the social development model (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996), the moral developmental theory (Kohlberg, 1969), Farrington’s motivational theory, recently updated in his developmental/life course theory (Farrington, 1993, 2003), and more biologically oriented theories (Moffitt, 1993; Raine, 1993).

Our approach to the stud...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Part I: Introduction and Methods
• Part II: The Epidemiology of Violence, Serious Theft, Substance Use, Drug Dealing, and Gang Membership
• Part III: Prediction of Violence, Serious Theft, and Desistance
• Part IV: Conclusions
• Appendix: Publications from the Pittsburgh Youth Study
• References
• Index