Maturity of Judgment and Perceptual Deterrence

• In Event: Perspectives on the Relationship between Age, Maturation and Crime

Abstract

Recent deterrence literature has found that the degree to which sanction threats are perceived to influence subsequent offending differs between individuals and within-individuals over time. Expanding this line of research, this study examines whether within-individual differences in the perceived costs and benefits of crime are affected by changes in one’s level of maturity of judgment. Maturity of judgment was measured by three psychosocial aspects: temperance, perspective, and responsibility. Within-person fixed effects regression models were used to estimate the impact of maturity of judgment on perceptions of costs/benefits of crime among a sample of serious juvenile offenders from the Pathways to Desistance study. The results suggested that increases in all three domains of maturity of judgment led to decreases in the perceived rewards of crime. Increases in the perspective domain increased perceived costs of crime. Implications of the findings will be discussed.

Authors

• Heejin Lee, University of Cincinnati

• J.C. Barnes, University of Cincinnati

• Christopher Sullivan, University of Cincinnati