Study Unit 11 – Pathway and Life-Course Perspectves
SAMPSON AND LAUB’S DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR (5)
- Sampson and Laub emphasised the importance of certain events and life changes, which can alter
an individual’s decision to commit (or not commit) criminal actvity
- Theory assumes that early antsocial tendencies among individuals, regardless of social variables,
are often linked to later adult criminal ofending
- Some social structure factors also tend to lead to problems in social and educatonal development,
which then leads to crime
- Another key factor in this development of criminality is the infuence of delinquent peers or
siblings, which further increases an individual’s likelihood for delinquency
- Strongly emphasise the importance of transitons, or events that are important in altering
trajectories toward or against crime, drastcally changing a person’s criminal career
E.g. marriage, employment, or military services
- Provide a more specifed and grounded framework that identfed the ability of individuals to
change their criminal trajectories via life-altering transitons
E.g. the efect that marriage can have on a man or woman, which can be quite profound
GENDERED PATHWAYS TO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR (10)
- Gendered pathways research has focused on girls’ and women’s life histories in order to
understand links between child and adult experiences and ofending behaviours
- The pathways perspectve recognises various biological, psychological and social realites that are
unique to the female experience and synthesises these key factors into important theoretcal
trajectories that describe female ofender populatons
- Women’s criminal development and recidivism are based on factors either:
a) Not typically seen with men,
b) Typically seen with men but in even greater frequency with women, or
c) Seen in relatvely equal frequency but with distnct personal and social efects for women
Chesney-Lind:
- Criminally involved women have life histories plagued with physical and sexual abuse, poverty, and
substance abuse
- Female ofending pathways are unique from male ofending pathways
- Highlight the intersecton of abuse, depression, and drugs for women:
Victmisaton and trauma often lead to depression and other internalised mood disorders,
which then frequently lead to self-medicatng behaviour by abusing drugs
- Although boys and girls generally run away at approximately the same rates, girls are more
frequently arrested for this behaviour compared to boys
- This serves as a mechanism for getng girls involved in the juvenile justce system and can
ultmately lead to:
a) Their incarceraton if they choose to contnue to fee from abusive homes or violate other
conditons placed on them;
b) Surviving the streets;
c) Prosttuton, which can facilitate drug use; and
d) Relatonships (sometmes violent) with antsocial men who provide for licit or illicit fnancial
needs
, Kathleen Daly:
- Reveals how experience with abuse, substance abuse, poverty, dysfunctonal families, and intmate
relatonships are distributed diferentally across women ofenders
- Five unique pathways to felony court:
1) “Harmed and harming” women, who experienced abuse or neglect as children, were
labelled as “problem” children, acted out frequently, and sufered from substance abuse and
mental illness
2) “Street” women, who often fed from abusive homes as children and became addicted to
substances and involved in prosttuton and other criminal means, which contributed to
extensive criminal histories
3) “Battered” women, whose involvement in the CJiS was directly attributable to the abuse they
experienced from violent intmate partners
4) “Drug-connected” women, who became recently addicted to substances in the context of
intmate or familial relatonships
5) “Other’ women, who have been described elsewhere as “economically motvated” with no
histories of abuse, addicton, or violence
- Although a signifcant amount of abuse and trauma is found in women ofenders’ lives, not all
women in the system have been abused
Similarly, not all girls who experience abusive and traumatc home situatons become
involved in criminal behaviour
- The context of abuse and victmisaton plays a primary role in the pathways argument, contending
that child abuse is more relevant to female ofending behaviour than male ofending behaviour
E.g. girls are more likely than boys to be sexually abused by someone close to them
- The relatonal proximity between the abuser and the child typically results in the abuse being more
frequent over a longer period of tme, producing more acute short- and long-term impacts
Impacts include low self-esteem, shame, depression, substance abuse, and anxiety
McClellan, Farabee, and Crouch:
- Found several results that illustrate the diferences in women’s pathways to crime compared to
men’s pathways, including higher rates of:
Child and adult victmisaton,
Depression, and
Overall illicit drug use
MOFFIT’S DEVELOPMENTAL TAXONOMY REGARDING LIFE-COURSE-PERSISTENT ANTISOCIAL
BEHAVIOUR (10)
- Contnuity is the hallmark of the small group of life-course-persistent (LCP) antsocial persons
- Across the life-course, these individuals exhibit exchanging manifestatons of antsocial behaviour
The underlying dispositon remains the same, but its expression changes form as new social
opportunites arise at diferent points in development
- It is possible that the etological chain begins with some factor capable of producing individual
diferences in the neuropsychological functons of the infant nervous system
Factors that infuence infant neural development are myriad, and many of them have been
empirically linked to antsocial outcomes
- There is good evidence that children who ultmately become persistently antsocial do sufer from
defcits in neuropsychological abilites
SAMPSON AND LAUB’S DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR (5)
- Sampson and Laub emphasised the importance of certain events and life changes, which can alter
an individual’s decision to commit (or not commit) criminal actvity
- Theory assumes that early antsocial tendencies among individuals, regardless of social variables,
are often linked to later adult criminal ofending
- Some social structure factors also tend to lead to problems in social and educatonal development,
which then leads to crime
- Another key factor in this development of criminality is the infuence of delinquent peers or
siblings, which further increases an individual’s likelihood for delinquency
- Strongly emphasise the importance of transitons, or events that are important in altering
trajectories toward or against crime, drastcally changing a person’s criminal career
E.g. marriage, employment, or military services
- Provide a more specifed and grounded framework that identfed the ability of individuals to
change their criminal trajectories via life-altering transitons
E.g. the efect that marriage can have on a man or woman, which can be quite profound
GENDERED PATHWAYS TO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR (10)
- Gendered pathways research has focused on girls’ and women’s life histories in order to
understand links between child and adult experiences and ofending behaviours
- The pathways perspectve recognises various biological, psychological and social realites that are
unique to the female experience and synthesises these key factors into important theoretcal
trajectories that describe female ofender populatons
- Women’s criminal development and recidivism are based on factors either:
a) Not typically seen with men,
b) Typically seen with men but in even greater frequency with women, or
c) Seen in relatvely equal frequency but with distnct personal and social efects for women
Chesney-Lind:
- Criminally involved women have life histories plagued with physical and sexual abuse, poverty, and
substance abuse
- Female ofending pathways are unique from male ofending pathways
- Highlight the intersecton of abuse, depression, and drugs for women:
Victmisaton and trauma often lead to depression and other internalised mood disorders,
which then frequently lead to self-medicatng behaviour by abusing drugs
- Although boys and girls generally run away at approximately the same rates, girls are more
frequently arrested for this behaviour compared to boys
- This serves as a mechanism for getng girls involved in the juvenile justce system and can
ultmately lead to:
a) Their incarceraton if they choose to contnue to fee from abusive homes or violate other
conditons placed on them;
b) Surviving the streets;
c) Prosttuton, which can facilitate drug use; and
d) Relatonships (sometmes violent) with antsocial men who provide for licit or illicit fnancial
needs
, Kathleen Daly:
- Reveals how experience with abuse, substance abuse, poverty, dysfunctonal families, and intmate
relatonships are distributed diferentally across women ofenders
- Five unique pathways to felony court:
1) “Harmed and harming” women, who experienced abuse or neglect as children, were
labelled as “problem” children, acted out frequently, and sufered from substance abuse and
mental illness
2) “Street” women, who often fed from abusive homes as children and became addicted to
substances and involved in prosttuton and other criminal means, which contributed to
extensive criminal histories
3) “Battered” women, whose involvement in the CJiS was directly attributable to the abuse they
experienced from violent intmate partners
4) “Drug-connected” women, who became recently addicted to substances in the context of
intmate or familial relatonships
5) “Other’ women, who have been described elsewhere as “economically motvated” with no
histories of abuse, addicton, or violence
- Although a signifcant amount of abuse and trauma is found in women ofenders’ lives, not all
women in the system have been abused
Similarly, not all girls who experience abusive and traumatc home situatons become
involved in criminal behaviour
- The context of abuse and victmisaton plays a primary role in the pathways argument, contending
that child abuse is more relevant to female ofending behaviour than male ofending behaviour
E.g. girls are more likely than boys to be sexually abused by someone close to them
- The relatonal proximity between the abuser and the child typically results in the abuse being more
frequent over a longer period of tme, producing more acute short- and long-term impacts
Impacts include low self-esteem, shame, depression, substance abuse, and anxiety
McClellan, Farabee, and Crouch:
- Found several results that illustrate the diferences in women’s pathways to crime compared to
men’s pathways, including higher rates of:
Child and adult victmisaton,
Depression, and
Overall illicit drug use
MOFFIT’S DEVELOPMENTAL TAXONOMY REGARDING LIFE-COURSE-PERSISTENT ANTISOCIAL
BEHAVIOUR (10)
- Contnuity is the hallmark of the small group of life-course-persistent (LCP) antsocial persons
- Across the life-course, these individuals exhibit exchanging manifestatons of antsocial behaviour
The underlying dispositon remains the same, but its expression changes form as new social
opportunites arise at diferent points in development
- It is possible that the etological chain begins with some factor capable of producing individual
diferences in the neuropsychological functons of the infant nervous system
Factors that infuence infant neural development are myriad, and many of them have been
empirically linked to antsocial outcomes
- There is good evidence that children who ultmately become persistently antsocial do sufer from
defcits in neuropsychological abilites
