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Using long-term personal background and registered criminal career data on 2,714 police-identified members of Dutch Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCGs), the current study examines Dutch OMCG membership and its association with members' criminal careers. Results show that Dutch OMCG members differ from the average Dutch adult male population (N = 6,845,110) in terms of demographic, socio-economic, and criminal career characteristics. Furthermore, the findings corroborate statements that selection into Dutch OMCG membership has changed in recent years. Finally, the study explored the consequences of joining and desisting an OMCG on crime. The findings cautiously demonstrate that desistance from OMCG membership is associated with a drop in total and violent registered criminal behavior. No effects of joining an OMCG on crime were found, which is attributed to recent changes in OMCGs' membership profile. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a novel data set comprising the criminal records of 11,138 convicted mafia offenders, we compute criminal career parameters and trajectories through group-based trajectory modeling. Mafia offenders report prolific and persistent careers (16.1 crimes over 16.5 years on average), with five distinct trajectories (low frequency, high frequency, early starter, moderate persistence, high persistence). While showing some similarities with general offenders, the trajectories of mafia offenders also exhibit significant differences, with several groups offending well into their middle and late adulthood, notwithstanding intense criminal justice sanctions. These patterns suggest that several mafia offenders are life-course persisters and career criminals and that the involvement in the mafias is a negative turning point extending the criminal careers beyond those observed in general offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decisive action against criminal outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) ranks high on the criminal justice agenda. Nevertheless, in many Western European countries the number of OMCG chapters has increased rapidly. Official OMCG support clubs also have mushroomed. The present study extends prior research from the Netherlands and elsewhere by employing a gang database of 1,617 OMCG members and 473 support club members maintained by the Dutch police and examining members' juvenile and adult criminal careers based on judicial data. While committing an offense was no prerequisite of being included in the database, criminal career data show that the majority of OMCG and support club members is convicted at least once. In addition, we find there is ample variation in both the level and shape of these individual's criminal trajectories. In line with prior research, the majority of OMCG and support club members are found to be adult onset offenders. A considerable share of both samples however, follows criminal trajectories characterized by early onset, frequent and persistent criminal behavior. Building on prior theoretical accounts of OMCG evolution, these findings are interpreted against the background of recent changes in the Dutch outlaw biker landscape. Implications for the Dutch whole-of-government approach are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual offenses are often part of a larger criminal career also encompassing nonsexual crimes. However, most sexual offending typologies focus on an individual's most recent sexual offense. We compare data from Belgian and Dutch national conviction cohorts and use latent class analysis to distinguish groups of individuals based on their history of sexual and nonsexual offenses, considering continuity and variety. The resulting classification is compared between individuals convicted of sexual offenses and individuals convicted of nonsexual offenses. Results show that four latent classes can be distinguished based on continuity and variety in criminal histories of individuals convicted of sexual offenses, and that some of these classes resemble those distinguished among individuals convicted of nonsexual offenses. We find limited overlap between these latent classes and typologies based solely on the index offense. Results show marked similarities across countries. These results challenge theories of sexual offending to incorporate patterns of nonsexual offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates criminal nomadism—an individual's propensity to engage in continuous or intermittent interurban travel as a way to cope with the consequences of their criminal lifestyle and/or as a strategy to adapt to the reality of being a "career criminal." The criminal-career itinerary across Canada of 448 men convicted of sex offenses was reconstructed through individual interviews and analysis of detailed criminal records. Five distinct components of criminal nomadism (i.e., trips, nodes, paths, range, and mesolevel activity space), inspired by crime pattern theory, are suggested and analyzed. Results show that criminal nomadism is the reality of young and educated Whites who have a prolific criminal career interspersed with long incarceration sentences. Nomadic offenders did not wander freely and randomly, but rather seemed to be looking for opportunities and privacy. Sex-offending variables did not make a significant contribution to predictions, suggesting that criminal nomadism is more a general offending phenomenon than something specific to sex offending. This study provides supporting evidence that an extensive criminal career is generally associated with a geographically scattered and nomadic lifestyle. Implications for public policies and future studies are discussed. • This study explores criminal nomadism in a sample of 448 men convicted of sex crimes. • Criminal nomadism is defined as an offender's propensity to engage in interurban travel. • For each participant, the criminal-career itinerary across Canada was reconstructed. • Results suggest a link between an extensive criminal career and a nomadic lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the knowledge base on offense specialization indicates that, although there is some (short-term) specialization, it exists amidst much versatility in offending. Yet this general conclusion is drawn on studies using very different conceptualizations of specialization and emerges with data primarily through the first two to three decades of life. Using data on a sample of Dutch offenders through age 72 years, this article introduces and applies a new method for studying individual offender specialization over the life course. The results indicate that although, in general, individual offending patterns over the life course are diverse, there is also evidence of an age—diversity curve. Linking offense frequency trajectories to the estimated diversity index, the authors also examine distinct specialization patterns across unique trajectory groups. Implications for theory and research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]