Insights Into Delinquent Trajectories of Young Adults - Development and Desistance of Crime Between Late-Bloomers and High-Intensive Delinquents

• In Event: Trajectories of Offending and Conformity in the Transition to Adulthood

Abstract

Current criminological research shows little interest in delinquent behavior during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Total delinquency decreases until about the age of 19 years and then stabilizes. Crimes commonly committed by adolescents (e.g. stealing at a supermarket, violence, breaking into cars, etc.) are less frequent among young adults while acts, like fraud, which require a specific opportunity-structure (i.e. a job or property) become more abundant. While fewer trajectories can be distinguished among young adults, the new opportunities invite high-intensity offenders as well as late-bloomers.
The paper focuses on criminal trajectories of young adults aged between 18 and 26, the most common causes of crime and how well these predict belonging to a delinquent trajectory. Trajectories will be explored and estimated via growth mixture modeling (GMM). The population under study are participants of the German panel study "Crime in the Modern City" with annual and biannual surveys from 13 to 26 years of age. Questions addressed in the paper are: Is there a shifting rather than a general decrease of crime in late adolescence because the opportunity structure changes in young adulthood? How well do common explanatory factors of delinquency trajectories for adolescents perform among young adults?

Authors

• Georg Kessler, University of Bielefeld

• Jost Reinecke, University of Bielefeld