Chapter Nine:

1. Chapter Nine: Developmental Theories: Life Course and Latent Trait

2. Developmental Theory • The view that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by social experiences as well as individual characteristics • Developmental factors include biological, social, and psychological structures and processes • Attempts to provide a more global vision of a criminal career encompassing its onset, continuation, and termination • Difference between this theory and many others is that it attempts to explain what prompts one person to engage in persistent criminal activity while another finds a way to steer clear of crime

3. Questions of Developmental Theory • Why do people begin committing antisocial acts? • Why do some stop while others continue? • Why do some escalate the severity of their criminality while others deescalate and commit less serious crimes as they mature? • What causes people to begin to commit crime again once they have stopped? • Why do some criminals specialize?

4. Life Course Theories • Views that criminality is a dynamic process • Individual characteristics, traits, and social experiences influence this process • Theoretical views studying changes in criminal offending patterns over a person’s entire life • As people travel through their life course they are exposed to perceptions and experiences and thus their behavior may change as well • Considered integrated theories

5. Life Course Concepts • Problem Behavior Syndrome (PBS) • Pathways to crime • Age of onset/Continuity of Crime • Adolescent-limited and life-course persisters

6. Problem Behavior Syndrome (PBS) • A cluster of antisocial behaviors which may include: • Family dysfunction • Sexual and physical abuse • Substance abuse • Smoking • Precocious sexuality and early pregnancy • Educational underachievement • Suicide attempts • Sensation seeking • Unemployment • Crime

7. Pathways to Crime • Authority conflict pathway • Path to a criminal career that begins with early stubborn behavior that leads to defiance and ultimately authority avoidance • Covert pathway • Path to a criminal career that begins with minor underhanded behavior that leads to property damage and eventually escalates to more serious forms of criminality • Overt pathway • Path to a criminal career that escalates to aggressive acts, leading to physical fighting and eventually escalates to violent crime

8. Age of Onset/Continuity of Crime • The earlier the onset of criminality, the more frequent, varied, and sustained the criminal career • Poor parental discipline and monitoring are keys to the early onset of criminality • Continuity and desistance • Poor parental discipline and monitoring are a key to the early onset of criminality • Gender and desistance • For males early antisocial behavior is linked to later problems at work and involvement with drugs • For females early antisocial behavior is linked to relationship problems, depression, tendency to commit suicide

9. Adolescent-Limited and Life-Course Persisters • Adolescent limited offender • Considered “typical teenagers” • Engage in rebellious teenage behavior • They eventually reduce their offending around 18 • Life course persistent offender • Begin their offending at a very early age • Continue to offend well into adulthood • A small group of offenders

10. Age-Graded Theory • Individual traits and childhood experiences are important to understand the onset of delinquent and criminal behavior • They alone cannot explain the continuity of crime into adulthood • Experiences in young adulthood and beyond can redirect criminal paths • Repeat negative experiences create cumulative disadvantage • Positive life experiences can help a person become reattached to society (social capital) • Delinquents can choose to “go straight” • Find more conventional paths more beneficial and rewarding

11. Factors That Increase the Likelihood of Criminality • Weak social bonds • Accumulation of deviant peers • Labeling by the justice system • Unemployment or underemployment • Long-term exposure to poverty

12. Latent Trait Theories • Some people have a personal attribute or characteristic that controls their inclination or propensity to commit crime • This disposition is often called the “latent trait” • It may be present at birth or established early in life • Though the propensity to commit crime is stable, the opportunity to commit crime fluctuates over time

13. Latent Traits • Defective intelligence • Damaged or impulsive personality • Genetic abnormalities • Physical-chemical functioning of the brain • Environmental influences on brain function

14. Types of Latent Trait Theories • Crime and human nature • Personal traits may outweigh the importance of social variables as predictors of criminal activity • Traits influence the crime-noncrime choice • General theory of crime (self-control theory) • The most prominent latent trait theory • Shifted focus from social control to self control • The view that the cause of delinquent behavior is an impulsive personality • Those who are impulsive may find that their bond to society is weak

15. Analysis of the General Crime Theory • Explains why some people who lack self-control can escape criminality and why some might not escape • Some criticisms that remain unanswered • Tautological • Different classes of criminals • Ecological differences • Racial and gender differences • Moral beliefs • Peer influence • People change • Effective parenting • Modest relationship • Cross-cultural differences • Misreads human nature • One of many causes • Some criminals are not impulsive

16. Policy Implications of Developmental Theories • Multi-systematic treatment efforts designed to provide at-risk youth with personal, social, educational, and family services • SMART • Fast Track