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Low empathy is an important psychological construct for understanding persistent criminal and antisocial behavior. In this study the affective empathy (the capacity to experience the emotions of others) and cognitive empathy (the capacity to understand the emotions of others) of 100 young male offenders (aged 16-17) in Buenos Aires was assessed using the Basic Empathy Scale. The level of empathy of young offenders who were repeat offenders (N=49) was then compared to one-time offenders (N=51). In addition, data on family criminality, school achievement and socioeconomic status was also obtained for both groups. The results showed that repeat offenders had significantly lower affective and cognitive empathy, and that these relationships held independently of the other related factors. These findings suggest that low empathy may be an important explanatory factor for repeat offending of juveniles in Argentina, and therefore may be a useful target for interventions designed to reduce repeat offending [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Early behavior problems may correlate with adult offending. However, the relationship between early problem behavior and lifetime arrests among known offenders has received little empirical examination. In addition, few studies have explored how the associations between early problem behavior and lifetime arrests may differ among Whites and Nonwhites. It is crucial to understand how early problem behavior is associated with lifetime offending given the growing number of interventions targeting early problem behavior that has the promise to interrupt criminal careers. This study begins to explore the relationship between early problem behavior and lifetime arrests using a sample of men and women who were recently incarcerated in New Jersey. Findings suggest that early problem behavior and the usage of various drugs impact lifetime arrests; however, these factors differ between Whites and Nonwhites. Policy implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores individual characteristics linked to an increased risk of persistence in collective violence. A sample of collective violence offenders (n = 438) was identified based on individuals' involvement in a collective violence incident in 2011/2012 or due to them being recorded in a police database of 'known' football hooligans. For the current analyses, persistence was defined as recidivism to collective violence assessed over a 4- to 5-year time span. Criminal career data were obtained from the police (register data). Individual characteristics concerned criminal career measures, behavioral indicators of personality traits and childhood problematic behavior. Due to a lack of other available data sources, behavioral indicator data were largely obtained from police and probation service information. The results of this study indicate that offender characteristics can be linked to persistence in collective violence. Results contrast currently dominant theoretical perspectives on the etiology of collective violence. Theoretical and practical implications 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]

Criminal career duration has not been well investigated. There are very few longitudinal data sets that last long enough and enough subjects to investigate criminal career duration, and especially the characteristics and risk profiles of especially life course persistent offenders. The aim of the study was to describe the predictability of criminal career duration based on both official records and self-reports of offending, and to put the results in the context of the Moffitt theory of "adolescent limited" and "life course persistent" offenders. The Pittsburgh Youth Study (n = 1517) is a seminal longitudinal study based on a community sample of high-risk boys from the city of Pittsburgh. Data was used from the oldest sample of boys in the PYS (N = 506). The participants were first assessed on average at age 12, and data was used up until age 36 for self-reported offending, and age 40 for police charges. The analyses were conducted on moderate and serious violence and moderate and serious theft. Career duration was based on self-reports and official charges in combination. The results show the extent to which commonly accepted and well validated risk factors predict criminal career duration with a special focus on individuals showing high rate/persistent offending in adolescence. Results show more pathways of delinquent development than have previously been described by Moffitt, (Psychological Review, 1993, 100(4), 674-701). Results also show that there is limited predictability of delinquency and offending over time. In addition, results show that only a small number of risk factors distinguish high and low rate adolescent offenders who become continuous offenders. Examples are peer factors. Implications for policy making and intervention science are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited attention has been paid to studying intermittency (i.e., gaps in offending) in the criminal career. Data obtained through in-depth interviews with a sample of 16 formerly incarcerated men, were used to explore the impact of personal relationships on intermittency. Life history narratives were analyzed within a social control framework to further our understanding of how personal relationships influence offenders' decisions to take breaks from offending. The research also examined how personal relationships impact decisions to return to offending. The findings suggest that relationships with significant others, children and parents impacted the cessation of and the return to criminal behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Forensic psychiatric patients present a challenge as they manifest severe mental disorders together with criminal behaviour. There are well-known risk factors for criminal behaviour in the general population, yet knowledge of what predicts reconviction in the Swedish forensic population in the long-term perspective is still insufficient. Aims:The study aims to (1) describe background and clinical characteristics of forensic psychiatric patients in a 10-year follow-up, (2) analyse risk factors associated with recidivism, and (3) test the predictive validity of risk factors for general and violent criminality. Methods:Detailed information on all offenders from the Malmö University Hospital catchment area sentenced to forensic psychiatric in-patient treatment from 1999–2005 (n = 125) was collected. Court decisions were collected up until the end of 2008 (median follow-up time = 6.2 years, range = 0.6–9.7 years). Results:Relapse in general crime (n = 30) was predicted by low educational attainment, mental disorder in a first degree relative, and low age at first sentenced crime. Relapse in violent crime (n = 16) was predicted by low educational attainment and low GAF scores. Patients with a restriction order were less likely to relapse in both crime categories. Conclusions:Signs of childhood adversities together with early debut in criminality appeared as important risk factors for general and violent recidivism. Forensic psychiatric treatment combined with a restriction order was demonstrated as a protective factor against recidivism, suggesting that the risk of recidivism is strongly related to the level of supervision. Although the low number of recidivism cases is highly desirable, it unfortunately reduces the power of the analyses in this paper. [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]

Previous research indicated a significant role of family variables (parental supervision and attachment) in the study of criminality. Social learning of criminal behaviour suggested that the intensity of criminal acts during adolescence is predicted by exposure to criminal peer groups. Based on a sample of recidivists (n = 312) incarcerated in a high-security prison, this article investigates the direct and indirect effects of parental attachment, parental supervision, and peer relations on associations with criminal friends and subsequent criminal behaviour. Two alternative models of criminal behaviour were specified and estimated in Mplus 6 with restricted maximum likelihood estimation, using structural equation modelling. Results suggest that parental attachment has a significant, positive direct effect on parental supervision and relationships with peers, and an indirect effect on associations with criminal friends via parental supervision. Results also indicate a direct negative effect of parental supervision on criminal associations and a strong, positive effect of criminal associations with criminal friends on criminal behaviour. The only indirect predictor of criminal behaviour was parental supervision via associations with criminal friends. Further implications in relation to theory and previous studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To comprehensively review the literature on the number and shape of latent group-based trajectories of violence, aggression, and delinquency. Materials and Methods: A systematic and exhaustive search of several academic databases (e.g., Criminal Justice Abstracts, Web of Knowledge, EBSCO Host, PsychInfo, PubMed) was conducted. Google Scholar searches were conducted to locate articles that are currently “in press.” Results: This narrative meta-review identified 105 studies that used latent trajectory modeling to describe the number and shape of violence, aggression, and delinquency trajectories. The number of trajectory groups ranges from 2-7 groups. However, most studies report between 3 and 4 groups, loosely including life-course persistent or chronic offenders, a group of escalators or desistors, and one group that does not exhibit violent, aggressive, or delinquent behavior. Conclusions: There is substantial variability in the number and shape of trajectory groups across samples, measurement, developmental phase of the life-course captured, length of observation, and geographical context. However, the studies are largely consistent with Moffitt''s taxonomy. Future research should extend trajectory modeling beyond description to examine theoretically relevant risk and protective factors for violence, aggression, and delinquency, investigate empirically relevant outcomes associated with violence, aggression, and delinquency, and focus on policy-relevant research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Violence as a traditional appearance of a criminal nature in modem conditions is expressed in certain specific circumstances, especially the type and application of funds. However, behind the phenomena are violent - offender and victim. Criminology, even in its infancy of science, as well as in the classical theories have always dealt with the issues of violent offender, classifying it in the first criminals of passion. The question is whether modern conditions with changes in the type and nature of violence in recent times this type of crime and became a rational motive, and therefore habitually delinquent or professional criminal. The work in this regard primarily engaged in matters of general (psychological, pathological and social) characteristics and dispositions of perpetrators of violence in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies suggested a significant interaction between criminal attitudes, associations with criminal friends, and criminal behaviour. The purpose of the current investigation was to provide the possible mediating role of associations with criminal friends between criminal attitudes, and criminal behaviour. Based on a sample of 133 violent offenders, the proposed mediation model tested was found to be a good fit of the observed data, with each of the respective fit indices exceeding the criteria for a good fitting model. Thus results suggest that the presence and influence of criminal friends has a significant mediating effect on the interaction between criminal attitudes and recidivistic behaviour. Further implications in relation to research and theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative Case Analysis (CCA), typically conducted by crime analysts, uses crime scene behaviours to try to identify series of crimes committed by the same offender. Accurate identification of series of offences allows the police to pool resources and evidence, thereby boosting the potential to identify and apprehend the offender. This paper discusses the results of a survey of a sample of crime analysts working in two UK police forces about their views and experiences of CCA. The results focus on how CCA is conducted, what evidence and information is considered, and how useful CCA is to criminal investigation. Suggestions for how CCA might be developed further are also included. [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]

This study examines the extent to which the positive association between past and future offending can be explained by either (un)observed population heterogeneity, or by state dependence. We use criminal career data derived from (1) a self-report survey administered to 2,900 Dutch individuals aged 15 years or older, and (2) the Criminal Career and Life-course Study (CCLS) that has official data on a 4% ( N = 4,684) sample of Dutch offenders convicted in 1977. Using hierarchical linear modelling we find both heterogeneity and state dependence partially explaining continuity in crime in both samples. In addition, we find that the impact of prior offending decreases over time and that that impact depends on the total number of previously committed offences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moffitt's developmental taxonomy of adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders has received much empirical attention, with researchers focusing on the etiology and trajectory of offending between the two groups. Recently, Moffitt articulated a new hypothesis that has yet to be empirically assessed--that life-course-persistent offenders will be at high risk in midlife for poor physical and mental health, cardiovascular disease, and early disease morbidity. Using data from the Baltimore portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project, a longitudinal study of several thousand individuals followed from birth to ages 27 to 33, the authors test this hypothesis. We find that, compared to adolescence-limited offenders, life-course-persistent offenders are more likely to experience adverse physical and mental health outcomes. We also find that life-course-persistent offenders are more likely than their counterparts to be involved in antisocial lifestyles, which in turn increase the chances of adverse health outcomes. Future theoretical and empirical research directions are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that repeating a crime against the same victim is can be seen as a rational choices on the part of the offender. Contribution of repeat victimization to crime count; Theories of routine activity and rational choice; Types of repeated crimes.

Drawing on a diverse literature, we explain how criminal behavior is maintained through a process of nonsocial reinforcement, and show that some persons find criminal behavior particularly rewarding. We test our assumptions using surveys of 295 incarcerated adult felons and 150 male college students and intensive focus groups with 40 habitual offenders currently serving time. Results suggest that the experience of committing nonviolent and, particularly, violent crime is intrinsically rewarding and tends to reinforce such behavior among habitual criminals. The endogenous rewards identified center on (1) the neurophysiological high such acts produce and (2) the symbolic meaning of the behavior as it relates to self-concept and identity formation. Findings from the surveys and the focus groups suggest that habitual criminality is sustained partly through the positive sensations (physiological and psychological) those crimes activate within the offender and that those sensations are instrumental in the maintenance and reinforcement of criminal careers. Based on what is known in the literature and what has been learned from our research, it seems that an effective way of integrating this knowledge lies in the direction of a nonsocial reinforcement arm of learning theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the factors associated with recidivism among twelve-year-old delinquent boys. It is important to recognize that although in the cases of boys declared delinquent by courts there is almost always a history of early misbehavior, this does not imply that all boys who get in trouble at a tender age go on to become seriously delinquent. The findings revealed that school adjustment and gang activities retained the statistically significant relationship to repeating in twelve-year-old boys.

Background To experimentally test the hypothesis according to which recidivist subjects in non-violent criminal behaviours display an executive deficit, having alterations on prefrontal functioning as neurophysiological substrate. Materials and methods We applied the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) - a battery of assessment of the executive dysfunctions - to an experimental group of 30 male inmates who were recidivist in crimes against property (age= 39,3; s.d..= 9,98), and to a group of 30 male controls (age=32,7; s.d.=11,8), all Caucasian. Results Compared to controls, recidivist inmates performed worse in most of the subscales and showed a lower global score, suggesting defective executive functioning. Conclusions Avoiding the idea of a frontal "criminogenesis", and despite the fact that both samples are not very large, the authors seek to present a possible interpretation for certain forms of persistent criminal behaviour, particularly when criminals are resistant to penal measures, in the frame of a defective control over conduct and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]