The Adolescence-Adulthood Transition and the Continuity of Sex Offending: Evidence from a Prospective Longitudinal Study of Juvenile Sex Offenders and Non-sex Offenders

• In Event: A Longitudinal Study of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders and the Transition to Adulthood: Are Juvenile Sex Offenders a Distinct Group?

Abstract

In 1993, Moffitt proposed a dual taxonomy of antisocial behavior that has since received much empirical support. The proposed taxonomy, however, has several limitations when it comes to explaining sex offending. The current study using prospective longitudinal data looks at the adult criminal careers of a large sample of juvenile offenders (N=347), including a sample of juvenile sex offenders (JSO) (n=54). All youth included in the study were followed up to age 23. The period of young adulthood (18-23 age period) is particularly relevant for the study of continuity given that it is one of the age-periods where the prevalence of sex offending tends to peak. The study examines the criminal careers of these youth during adolescence and their offending in young adulthood. The proportion of JSO and juvenile nonsex offenders committing a sex crime in young adulthood is estimated and the relative risks are compared. The study also provides an examination of youth offending history indicators and predicts the adolescence-adulthood transition outcome with respect to sex offending. The continuity of sex offending in adulthood is examined for different subtypes of JSO. The importance of juvenile nonsex offending is also examined with respect to the adult-onset of adult sex offending.

Authors

• Patrick Lussier, Laval University

• Evan McCuish, Simon Fraser University

• Raymond R. Corrado, Simon Fraser University