Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology最新文献

The link between victimization and offending has been one of the most consistently revealed associations in criminology. Despite the wealth of literature produced on this topic, much still remains unknown, particularly from a developmental perspective. The current study expands on previous developmental research by examining whether low self-control, Machiavellianism, and callous-unemotional traits significantly distinguish victims or offenders from those who identify as both. To do so, we use data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The analyses demonstrated that displaying high levels of low self-control and Machiavellianism differentiate victims from those who are victims and offenders. However, none of the investigated traits distinguished offenders from the overlap group. Additionally, the results were revealed to not be dependent upon the biological sex of the sample. We conclude by discussing the implications of the results of this study for future theory development and research.

It is well-established that unstructured unsupervised socializing with peers (UUS) motivates deviance while in that specific context. In this article, we extend this situational view by arguing that repeated UUS may also gradually shape adolescents’ norms and decision making beyond the situation. Specifically, we argue that UUS promotes short-term mindsets, i.e., an increased focus on present rewards at the expense of considering future consequences. We test this hypothesis with fixed-effects models, using longitudinal data from a representative sample of 1,675 adolescents from Zurich, Switzerland. Consistent with our preregistered predictions, more frequent UUS is associated with increased short-term mindsets. Thus, our finding suggests that the effects of UUS on later deviance might be driven by becoming more present-oriented. This link offers new insights into the developmental pathways toward adolescent delinquency and offers a potential target for intervention.

Human trafficking, among which domestic sex trafficking, is often only understood from the perspective of the victim, since research on traffickers — and in particular on their criminal careers — hardly exists. This is unfortunate, given that the wealth of longitudinal criminal career research on other offender populations has resulted in important theoretical and practical insights. This study therefore examines the offending trajectories of 630 domestic sex traffickers who were brought to court in the Netherlands, based on longitudinal judicial data. The results show that they are a heterogeneous and versatile offender group, similar to general offenders. A group-based trajectory analysis identified four subgroups following different offending trajectories between ages 12 and 35. Low-rate offenders (36%) start their criminal career late, mostly in adulthood, and for a relatively large share of them human trafficking is their first offense. Early-peak offenders (28%) are the youngest human traffickers and late-peak offenders (21%), after a slow start, do not seem to desist from offending on a regular base in adulthood. High-rate-persistent offenders (15%) have the youngest age of onset of crime in general and account for 40% of all criminal cases. On average, they have already more than 20 criminal cases registered against them, before committing human trafficking. This most problematic subgroup seems to be larger among domestic sex traffickers, than among general offenders. More research on criminal careers of domestic sex traffickers (and human traffickers in general) is needed, and should also focus on risk and protective factors that influence their offending trajectories.

Parent–child conversations about how to interact with the police are colloquially known as “The Talk.” Studies have largely focused on the influence of age, race, and gender on the occurrence of such conversations. We extended this examination to other potentially influential factors as well as beliefs about whether parents should have “The Talk.” Parents of 5 to 17 year olds (N = 1131) completed questionnaires to assess the influence of demographics, child factors, and parent factors, on whether parents have talked to their child about how to interact with the police, and whether they believe parents should have such conversations. Though most parents believed parents should have “The Talk,” only half of parents had “The Talk” (around age 7). Binary logistic regressions revealed that whereas parental factors (anxiety, perceived discrimination) reduced beliefs that parents should have such conversations, child factors (affective reactivity) influenced whether parents had “The Talk.” Also, with greater perceived police bias and legitimacy, parents were more likely to have “The Talk” and believed parents should. Given that not all parents are having “The Talk” or believe parents should, we conclude that parents might need help in learning how to talk to their children about how to interact with the police.

Mental illness is firmly established as a risk factor for criminal legal system contact, particularly for women and Indigenous people. While patterns of criminal legal contact vary by gender and Indigenous status, we do not know how mental health contacts factor into these patterns. The aim of this research is to examine whether mental health characteristics and service contacts vary across patterns of criminal legal system contact defined by group-based trajectory modelling and to explore whether any such variation is consistent across gender and Indigenous status. Using linked administrative data from a 1990 Australian birth cohort (to age 23/24 years, N = 45,141), we estimate trajectories of criminal legal system contact and assess variation across groups defined by gender and Indigenous status. We then examine whether types of mental illness diagnoses and mental health service contacts varied across trajectory groups and whether this was consistent across gender and Indigenous status. Findings point to important differences in mental health system contact across offending trajectory groups. Differences are suggestive of variation in mental health system utilization at the intersection of gender and Indigenous statuses that are conditioned by patterns of criminal legal system contact. We conclude by outlining the implications of these patterns for life course theories of offending and for gender and culturally informed support and interventions directed towards system-involved individuals with mental health needs.