Summary KRM 310 (Sect A) Study Unit 11- Pathway and life-course theories

KRM 310 study unit 11
Erin Polyblank


STUDY UNIT 11- PATHWAY AND LIFE-
COURSE PERSPECTIVES
WHY IS THE AGE-CRIME CURVE IMPORTANT?

 The age-crime curve indicates when a population of youth starts to engage in
offending, at what age the largest proportion of youth engages in offenses,
and in which period much desistance takes place.
 Why is the population age-crime curve important:
1. In longitudinal data sets, the shape of the age-crime curve represents the
number of individuals who engage in crime in at least the first 3 decades
of life.
2. The sum of different age-crime curves of successive cohorts represents
community level of crime as it changes over time.
- Thus, the age-crime curve of a given cohort is a building block toward
understanding the community level of crime.
3. One of the litmus tests for interventions is whether interventions
eventually reduce community levels of crime or, on a narrower level,
reduce the age-crime curve.
- There are two major ways that the age-crime curve can be reduced:
 By lowering the peak of the curve.
 By reducing the base of the curve.
4. Both lowering of the peak and reducing of the base of the curve reduce
the number of active offenders.
- Important is which methods promote desistance among active
offenders.
5. Most of the serious offenders-including violent offenders—are situated in
the downslope of the age-crime curve.
- Thus, the lowering of the tail end of the age-crime curve is likely to
affect the volume of serious crime in populations.
6. The higher and longer the downslope of the age-crime curve, the larger
the population of people who may not have outgrown offending or who
may have started offending during adulthood.




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, KRM 310 study unit 11
Erin Polyblank




MEASUREMENT ISSUES

 Although many reports on the age-crime curve use cross-sectional
information, such information confuses age, period, and cohort effects.
o The best quantification of the age-crime curve is accomplished in cohort
studies in which a defined population of the same participants may
contribute to the age-crime curve from childhood to subsequent ages.
 Most published age-crime curves are based on official records, fewer on self-
reports, and fewest on combinations of self-report and official records.
o Age-crime curves based on self-reported delinquency tend to show an
earlier peak than official records.

SAMPSON AND LAUB’S DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL

 Sampson and Laub have proposed a developmental framework that is largely
based on a reanalysis of original data collected by Sheldon and Eleanor
Glueck in the 1940s.
 Sampson and Laub emphasized the importance of certain events and life
changes, which can alter an individual's decisions to commit (or not commit)
criminal activity.
 This model contains elements of other theoretical perspectives.
o The model assumes that early antisocial tendencies among individuals,
regardless of social variables, are often linked to later adult criminal
offending.
o Some social structure factors (e.g., family structure, poverty, etc.) also
tend to lead to problems in social and educational development, which
then leads to crime.
o Another key factor in this development of criminality is the influence of
delinquent peers or siblings, which further increases an individual's
likelihood for delinquency.
 Sampson and Laub also strongly emphasize the importance of transitions, or
events that are important in altering trajectories toward or against crime,
such as marriage, employment, or military service, drastically changing a
person's criminal career.




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