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Results for desistance from crime (scotland)

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Author: Smith, David J.

Title: Social Inclusion and Early Desistence from Crime

Summary: This paper examines the pattern of change in the level of offending as young people move through adolescence between the ages of 12 and 17. In particular, it examines why offending declines among a substantial proportion of young people after the age of 14, whereas it continues among others. The analysis focuses on factors connected with social inclusion and bonds with school and family. It draws on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (the Edinburgh Study), a longitudinal research programme exploring pathways into and out of offending among a single cohort of young people who started secondary school in the City of Edinburgh in 1998. The key findings are as follows: Offending peaked around the age of 14 among both boys and girls in the Edinburgh Study cohort. This finding is based on a broad measure of self-reported delinquency. The peak age for a measure of more serious self-reported delinquency was also 14 for girls, but was 14-15 for boys. After the age of 14 there was a fairly steep and steady decline in the proportion of young people involved in broad delinquency among both boys and girls. Among those who continued to be involved, the amount of offending also declined. There was a similar decline in the proportion involved in more serious delinquency, except that in boys this started after the age of 15 rather than 14. It was therefore common for young people to reduce their offending sharply or stop altogether in early or middle adolescence. At sweep 3 (age 14), 52.2 per cent of boys had engaged in four or more delinquent acts in the previous 12 months. By sweep 6 (age 17), nearly half of these (amounting to 24.5 per cent of the total) had stopped or sharply reduced their offending. Among girls, the proportion offending was lower, and the rate of desistance from offending was higher. There was no evidence that deprivation at the level of the individual family was associated with continuing to offend. Young people from higher social classes and intact families were no more likely than others to desist from offending. Desistance was, however, associated with the characteristics of the neighbourhood where the young person lived. Continuing to offend was more common in deprived neighbourhoods, whereas desistance was more common in advantaged ones. Also, desistance was less likely in neighbourhoods perceived to be disorderly, and where residents were dissatisfied with the neighbourhood. Bonds with teachers and parents, and parents’ involvement in school, were associated with desistance from offending. Young offenders who had been caught by the police were considerably more likely to continue offending than offenders who had not been caught.

Details: Edinburgh, Scotland: Centre for Law and Society, The University of Edinburgh, 2006. 21p.

Source: The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, Report No. 12: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest12.pdf

Year: 2006

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc/findings/digest12.pdf

Shelf Number: 102905

Keywords:
Desistance from Crime (Scotland)
Families (Scotland)
Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)