The essay will describe and evaluate the influence of risk factors on the onset of offending behaviours in adolescence. It will begin by outlining what is meant by offending behaviours, and will address the concept of a criminal career. Following this, the essay shall briefly outline and define the term ‘adolescence’, before moving on to address and explain what risk factors are in relation to the onset of offending behaviour. This will lead to a brief discussion of criminological theories that provide some background and evidence for the role of risk factors. Finally, the essay will conclude with a brief outline of the key points that have been addressed.
The beginning, the duration, and the end of a person’s criminal behaviour is often referred to as a criminal career. A criminal career can be described as having a ‘beginning (onset), an end (desistance), and a career length in between (duration).’ (Farrington, 1992). It is through this definition of a criminal career that we can understand what is meant by the term ‘onset’ – the beginning of an individual’s criminal career.
Criminal careers will inevitably vary in length. Some individual’s criminal career may begin and end with a single crime (ibid), and, arguably, the majority of criminal careers will begin and end in the teenage years (Blumstein, et al, 1986). However, some criminal careers will go on much longer and into adulthood and may increase and decrease in frequency. (ibid).
There may also be a progression of crimes along a person’s criminal career, with the first crime generally being considered to be less serious. LeBlanc and Frechette argue that ‘different types of offences tend to be committed at distinctly different ages… shoplifting is typically committed before burglary, which in turn is typically committed before robbery’ (1989).
For the purposes of this essay, it is important to be clear on what is meant by adolescence. One particular definition of ‘adolescence’ states that it is ‘the period following puberty during which a person develops from a child into an adult’ (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). However, this does not necessarily conclude that adolescence ends at the age of 18, whereby an individual is legally an adult and treated as an adult under UK law (GOV.UK); It is more complex, as an individual’s development – socially, cognitively, and physically – can last a number of years, most notably up until the age of 25 (Curtis, 2015). Although, arguably, with various socio-economic changes within the UK, and more young people staying living with parents for longer, adolescence could be seen to be extended (Okimoto & Stegall, 1987).
Having defined criminal behaviour, onset, and adolescence, we can begin to evaluate what risk factors are in relation to the onset of criminal behaviour in adolescence. A risk factor could be defined as a characteristic, experience or event that increases the probability of offending (Kazdin, et al, 1997). Kazdin et al, state that risk factors can be derived from biological, psychological or sociological aspects (ibid pp. 377).
There are various areas that can be examined when exploring risk factors. In order to simplify the task, this essay will identify three key areas that can be examined when exploring and defining risk factors. These are individual, family, and sociological (Farrington & Welsh, 2007).
Individual risk factors look at the cognitive functioning of an individual. Certain studies have shown that low intelligence as early as the age of 3 could have a substantial effect on the onset of offending by an individual (Stattin & Klackenberg-Larsson, 1993).
Personality traits within an individual may also present a substantial risk of onset. A person’s temperament, level of empathy, impulsiveness and self-control, and social cognitive skills could all be important risk factors for offending (Farrington & Welsh, 2007). Whether or not these traits are a product of nature or nurture is a contested issue. The question could be asked, is criminal behaviour genetic within some individuals?
As we explore the risk factors associated with family, we can look at a number of causal influences on the onset of offending behaviour – criminal families being one of them. According to Farrington’s research through the Cambridge study in Delinquent Behaviour, ‘having a convicted parent or a delinquent older sibling by the tenth birthday were consistently among the best age 8-10 predictors of […] later offending and antisocial behaviour.’ (2015)
There are a number of other risk factors associated with family. These include physical punishment as a way of discipline (Haapasalo & Pokela, 1999), poor parental supervision and not knowing where your child is, (McCord, 1979), and having a large family size, resulting in a decrease in parental attention to each child (Farrington & Welsh, 2007). Each of these, whether presented independently of the others or not, are arguably predictive of the onset of offending.
The third category is the sociological risk factor. This includes class structure, as well as risk factors presented by school; risk factors presented by peers; and risk factors presented by the community of an individual.
Low social class has been shown to be an important risk factor. Studies have shown that youth crime is higher in visibly deteriorating inner-city areas with high neighbourhood disorganisation (McKay & Shaw, 1969); as well as assault and robbery being twice as high in some of these areas, compared with middle to upper-class areas (Elliott & Menard, 1996). This shows that socio-economic deprivation is an influential risk factor on the onset of criminal behaviour.
Dishion and Nelson mention that peer rejection at specifically aged 9-10 is a considerable contributing factor to anti-social behaviour at age 23-24 (2004). This was also found in earlier published research that proposed that ‘low popularity at age 8-10 […] significantly predicted chronic offending.’ (Farrington & West, 1993).
There are numerous causal effects and links that are associated with the onset of offending. For example, Farrington and Welsh mention, in relation to community risk factors, that ‘Offenders disproportionately come from deprived families, tend to have friends who are also delinquents, tend to attend high delinquency rate schools, and tend to live in deprived areas’ (2007). Therefore, it could be said that one presented risk factor may have links with other risk factors, and the more risk factors that an individual is exposed to, the more likely the individual is to begin offending (Battin-Pearson, 2001).
Following on from this, it is important to address that risk factors are arguably different between males and females. Due to the constraints of this essay, this section will only briefly outline some of the key theories based around this concept.
One study looking into the differences between male and female offending showed that ‘males may be more amenable to the social bonds and control offered by educational attachment. In contrast, educational attachments may be a lesser bond for females due to higher levels of social bonds/controls’ (Markowitz & Salvatore, 2014). This could mean that educational attachment may be more of a protective factor for males, but not for females – A protective factor being the opposite of a risk factor (Shader, 2004).
Another study found that less than 1% of a of a studied sample of females were either persistent or serious offenders (Caspi, et al, 2001), showing that being male could be a serious risk factor to the onset of offending in itself; This evidence is from a study by Terrie Moffitt who developed the Dual Developmental Taxonomy of Life Course Persistent offenders (LCP’s) and Adolescence Limited Offenders (AL’s) (1993).
Moffitt’s theory suggests that there are two types of offenders – LCP’s and AL’s. Moffitt suggests that LCP’s offending onset is early, and persists beyond their 20’s (ibid). As well as this, LCP’s take part in a range of criminal behaviour and it’s most likely that they have been exposed to a variety of risk factors in their early years – e.g. low intelligence, hyperactivity, poor parenting, poverty (Farrington, 2010).
AL Offenders, on the other hand, have a much shorter criminal career. Onset tends to be influenced by their peers and within their teenage years. They will then desist by about the age of 20 (Moffitt,1993).
Moffitt shows the possibility that risk factors presented early on in life, and in larger number, will result in an early onset of offending behaviour that will persist throughout adolescence and on into adulthood. This goes to show how risk factors are an important way of predicting the onset and severity of criminal behaviour in adolescence.
There are a number of theories that link risk factors to the onset of offending in adolescence; labelling theory and social control theory (Laub & Sampson, 2005); as well as other theories that contradict the influence of risk factors and argue that all criminal careers are the result of self control, and that offending is always a rational decision by the individual (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990).
This essay has looked at how risk factors influence the onset of criminal behaviour in adolescence. It has primarily outlined some key risk factor elements based around the individual, the family, and sociological factors. It then addressed the gender differences in relation to risk factors and onset of offending, as well as Moffitt’s dual taxonomy theory. It would seem that much of the evidence points to a high likelihood of a longer criminal career when an individual is presented with a large number of risk factors early on in life. It would be interesting to look at how much protective factors have an influence in counteracting onset caused by these risk factors. This essay has shown that risk factors are significantly broad and varied and, while this essay has touched on quite a few of them, there are many more that could be covered.