Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
Lecture 1 – 4/9/24
Reading guide – waar op focussen tijdens het lezen
- What are their main arguments
- What are the main (theoretical) concepts
- What did they test? What are the main results
- What are the implications for theory? Practice
Major questions course – Why study crime over the lifecourse?
Comes from observations from crimes – Data, relationships ages and crime (adolescents are more
involved – tijdens deze levensfase wordt er vaak misdaden gepleegd)
Focussing on Crime over the Lifecourse
- Until 1970/80s much research on crime focused on adolescents
Research: find a group of youth on school surveys test your theory repeat
- Growing interest in criminal behaviour over the time
‘Criminal careers’
Small percentage of offenders account for majority crimes; 6% 52% of all crimes –
criminal behaviour is concentrated on a small percentage of the population
Introduces idea for crime over the time, changing
- Hirshi & Gottfredson (1983):
Age-crime curve on the ‘brute facts of criminology’
Crime declines with age; ‘maturational reform’, ‘ageing-out’
Invariant
Consistent explanations across age
Difference in degree
- The great debate (naar aanleiding van theorie hierboven)
Age crime curve
Why does crime decline with age?
- Changes in social roles and contexts
- Depends on the type of crime – some types require a type of skills or money dus gebeuren op
latere leeftijd
What does it tell us?
- How crime distributed across a population according to the age of a population
- How distribution varies by crime type or over time
- shared social behaviors over time
D’Unger et al. (2002)
- Sex differences in age patterns of delinquents/criminal careers
- Philadelphia birth cohort
- Real different between females and males, were the males have more categories and other ages
Critiques of aggregate age-crime curves
- What does it NOT tell us??
Gender
Early v/s late starters
, Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
Crime types
- Why does this matter?
Our theoretical frameworks should be able to account for the age-crime relationship
Who is the target for crime prevention/reduction
Why does crime decline with age?
Life course research
- Between individuals differences is normal to research v/s within-individual differences what you
research with this type of research
- Within this research you see different social pathways
Like educational system
Life course concepts
- Trajectories: criminal behaviour over the lifecourse, education can be it, some can lead to others,
they influence each other
- Transitions: happen within trajectories, high school > university, relation > single, much more
common, many people go through it
- Turning point: lead to sustain change, NOT the same as transitions! may not be expected,
Age effect – as you get older it will get an effect on your behaviour
Period effect – what’s happening in that specific time period, having effect on the context
Cohort effect – birth cohort, generational effects, how you grow up depends on when you were born
Life course research
1. Social-historical time and place
- Period effect
- When and where you were born matters: birth cohort, historical context, social change
- Example effect due to COVID-19: many effects on different developments
2. Human Agency
- Agency; the capacity to exercise control over our lives
Intentional choices/actions
Made within societal constraints
- Decider choice making
3. Linkes lives
- Individuals are linked with others
Parents, peers, partners, siblings, communities
4. Timing
- The age at which events occur affect trajectories and transitions
E.g. timing of arrest, interventions, parental incarceration, negative life event
- Stage of development
, Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
- Social norms
Key terms
- Cumulative continuity (of disadvantage) – If something happens (events/actions) it will have a
causal effect on your (criminal) behaviour
- Self-selection – traits/disposition explain behaviour, variations in traits variation in behaviour
People do not choose who they want to hang out with, underlying chance is effective
Lecture 2 – 18/9/24
Consider… imagine you were given 1 million euros to invest in preventing or reducing crim where
would you invest the money Multiple options; early childhood, schools, jobs, prison,
neighbourhoods
Theories and mechanisms
Social mechanisms – underlying reasoning why two things connect, a mechanism explaining by
opening the black box and showing the cogs and wheel of the internal machinery. A mechanism
provides a continuous and contagious chain of causal or intentional links between the explanans and
the explanandum, why is that the case
Theoretical frameworks
- No single theoretical paradigm: many explanations for criminal behaviour, but they do not explain
behaviour over the time very often
Genetic and biological factors
Low self-control
Developmental theories – cognitive, social
Informal and formal social controls
Social bonds, connections
Social learning perspectives
Strain
- Statistic theories
Population heterogeneity, self-selection
Traits/dispositions explain behaviour – relatively stable
Variations in traits variations in behaviour
Q: How do these traits develop (in childhood)?
Gottfredson & Hirschi (1990): A general Theory of Crime
Theory of low self-control – invariance, rank-stable
Low self-control – impulsive, insensitive, physical (as opposed to mental), risk-
taking, short-sighted
Self-control is al you need to explain criminal behaviour
Low self-control
Develops in early childhood (age 7-9), stable thereafter
o Parental socialization; learning what’s good/bad
, Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
o Any changes are due the opportunity and ability
Static perspective: CRITIQUE
Gottfredson & Hirischi: crime is due to variations in low self-control, robust
predictor
BUT only explains small amount of variation, same individual differs in criminal
behaviour depending on social location, self-control does change over time,
opportunity matters (social context)
- Dynamic theories
Dynamic and typological are use in life course criminology
Development heterogeneity
Events/actions have causal effect: Actions/exposures/etc. future actions
Age-graded effects: exposure to different thing different reaction different stage of
age
Within-individual difference
- Typological theories
Combination of static and dynamic theories
Different: types of offenders, causes and mechanisms, predictions for behaviour
Describe criminal behaviour in different groups
Theoretical frameworks: implications
- Static v/s dynamic (change over time) : different expectations about how to explain and predict
behaviour
When should we intervene?
What factor(s) should we address?
Moffit theory
Age-crime curve
- Age-crime curve masks subtypes of offenders/patterns
E.g. situational vs persistent: early onset, chronic, serious violent, drug-related
- How can we explain why people will start earlier, different types/sources of causes
‘chronic’ offenders
- Criminal career research
Chronic offenders account for large proportion of crime
Early onset
Behavioral problems
Social problems
Lecture 1 – 4/9/24
Reading guide – waar op focussen tijdens het lezen
- What are their main arguments
- What are the main (theoretical) concepts
- What did they test? What are the main results
- What are the implications for theory? Practice
Major questions course – Why study crime over the lifecourse?
Comes from observations from crimes – Data, relationships ages and crime (adolescents are more
involved – tijdens deze levensfase wordt er vaak misdaden gepleegd)
Focussing on Crime over the Lifecourse
- Until 1970/80s much research on crime focused on adolescents
Research: find a group of youth on school surveys test your theory repeat
- Growing interest in criminal behaviour over the time
‘Criminal careers’
Small percentage of offenders account for majority crimes; 6% 52% of all crimes –
criminal behaviour is concentrated on a small percentage of the population
Introduces idea for crime over the time, changing
- Hirshi & Gottfredson (1983):
Age-crime curve on the ‘brute facts of criminology’
Crime declines with age; ‘maturational reform’, ‘ageing-out’
Invariant
Consistent explanations across age
Difference in degree
- The great debate (naar aanleiding van theorie hierboven)
Age crime curve
Why does crime decline with age?
- Changes in social roles and contexts
- Depends on the type of crime – some types require a type of skills or money dus gebeuren op
latere leeftijd
What does it tell us?
- How crime distributed across a population according to the age of a population
- How distribution varies by crime type or over time
- shared social behaviors over time
D’Unger et al. (2002)
- Sex differences in age patterns of delinquents/criminal careers
- Philadelphia birth cohort
- Real different between females and males, were the males have more categories and other ages
Critiques of aggregate age-crime curves
- What does it NOT tell us??
Gender
Early v/s late starters
, Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
Crime types
- Why does this matter?
Our theoretical frameworks should be able to account for the age-crime relationship
Who is the target for crime prevention/reduction
Why does crime decline with age?
Life course research
- Between individuals differences is normal to research v/s within-individual differences what you
research with this type of research
- Within this research you see different social pathways
Like educational system
Life course concepts
- Trajectories: criminal behaviour over the lifecourse, education can be it, some can lead to others,
they influence each other
- Transitions: happen within trajectories, high school > university, relation > single, much more
common, many people go through it
- Turning point: lead to sustain change, NOT the same as transitions! may not be expected,
Age effect – as you get older it will get an effect on your behaviour
Period effect – what’s happening in that specific time period, having effect on the context
Cohort effect – birth cohort, generational effects, how you grow up depends on when you were born
Life course research
1. Social-historical time and place
- Period effect
- When and where you were born matters: birth cohort, historical context, social change
- Example effect due to COVID-19: many effects on different developments
2. Human Agency
- Agency; the capacity to exercise control over our lives
Intentional choices/actions
Made within societal constraints
- Decider choice making
3. Linkes lives
- Individuals are linked with others
Parents, peers, partners, siblings, communities
4. Timing
- The age at which events occur affect trajectories and transitions
E.g. timing of arrest, interventions, parental incarceration, negative life event
- Stage of development
, Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
- Social norms
Key terms
- Cumulative continuity (of disadvantage) – If something happens (events/actions) it will have a
causal effect on your (criminal) behaviour
- Self-selection – traits/disposition explain behaviour, variations in traits variation in behaviour
People do not choose who they want to hang out with, underlying chance is effective
Lecture 2 – 18/9/24
Consider… imagine you were given 1 million euros to invest in preventing or reducing crim where
would you invest the money Multiple options; early childhood, schools, jobs, prison,
neighbourhoods
Theories and mechanisms
Social mechanisms – underlying reasoning why two things connect, a mechanism explaining by
opening the black box and showing the cogs and wheel of the internal machinery. A mechanism
provides a continuous and contagious chain of causal or intentional links between the explanans and
the explanandum, why is that the case
Theoretical frameworks
- No single theoretical paradigm: many explanations for criminal behaviour, but they do not explain
behaviour over the time very often
Genetic and biological factors
Low self-control
Developmental theories – cognitive, social
Informal and formal social controls
Social bonds, connections
Social learning perspectives
Strain
- Statistic theories
Population heterogeneity, self-selection
Traits/dispositions explain behaviour – relatively stable
Variations in traits variations in behaviour
Q: How do these traits develop (in childhood)?
Gottfredson & Hirschi (1990): A general Theory of Crime
Theory of low self-control – invariance, rank-stable
Low self-control – impulsive, insensitive, physical (as opposed to mental), risk-
taking, short-sighted
Self-control is al you need to explain criminal behaviour
Low self-control
Develops in early childhood (age 7-9), stable thereafter
o Parental socialization; learning what’s good/bad
, Notes Lecture Criminal Behaviour over Lifecourse
o Any changes are due the opportunity and ability
Static perspective: CRITIQUE
Gottfredson & Hirischi: crime is due to variations in low self-control, robust
predictor
BUT only explains small amount of variation, same individual differs in criminal
behaviour depending on social location, self-control does change over time,
opportunity matters (social context)
- Dynamic theories
Dynamic and typological are use in life course criminology
Development heterogeneity
Events/actions have causal effect: Actions/exposures/etc. future actions
Age-graded effects: exposure to different thing different reaction different stage of
age
Within-individual difference
- Typological theories
Combination of static and dynamic theories
Different: types of offenders, causes and mechanisms, predictions for behaviour
Describe criminal behaviour in different groups
Theoretical frameworks: implications
- Static v/s dynamic (change over time) : different expectations about how to explain and predict
behaviour
When should we intervene?
What factor(s) should we address?
Moffit theory
Age-crime curve
- Age-crime curve masks subtypes of offenders/patterns
E.g. situational vs persistent: early onset, chronic, serious violent, drug-related
- How can we explain why people will start earlier, different types/sources of causes
‘chronic’ offenders
- Criminal career research
Chronic offenders account for large proportion of crime
Early onset
Behavioral problems
Social problems
