Sibling Similarity in the Specialization and Generality of Criminal Offending: A Swedish National Study

• In Event: Biosocial Criminology: Juvenile Delinquency and Families

Abstract

We contribute to the literature on sibling similarity in criminal offending by examining resemblance in type of criminal offending behaviors among male and female same-sex and opposite-sex siblings. Stated differently, we examine the extent to which there is familial similarity in criminal specialization and versatility. We identified male and female sibling pairs from the Swedish Multi Generation Register, which provides information on family relationships for individuals born in Sweden after 1932 and linked this information to data taken from the Swedish Crime Register, which contains individual criminal conviction records for the years 1973 to 2007. Using latent class analysis (LCA), we create a typology of criminal classifications reflecting involvement in particular offense types (specialization) as well as criminal versatility and address the following issues. First, we identify different subtypes or classes of criminal offenders based on the conviction data and examine the extent to which these classes can be validated with several known demographic, social and behavioral indicators of criminal offending. We conduct these analyses for both males and females. Second, we examine the extent to which there is evidence for sibling similarity in the assignment to criminal classes. We examine this for both same and opposite-sex siblings.

Authors

• Nancy Ann Morris, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Kenneth Kendler, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, VCU