Revisiting the Inverted “J” Age-Crime Curve: Comparing the Age-Homicide Distribution in the US and China

• In Event: Cross-Cultural Studies on Crime and Criminal Justice

Abstract

The age-crime relationship, often observed to peak during adolescence and decline with age, has been a subject of debate regarding its universality and invariance across different historical periods, geographic locations, and types of crime. Hirschi and Gottfredson's (1983) view of a universal, invariant age-crime curve has been challenged by researchers who find variations across crime types and societies. This study seeks to contribute to the literature by analyzing the age-homicide relationship in China--a culturally distinct, developing society that has available online national court judgments. Employing data mining techniques on such extensive judgment data from 2016 to 2018, we plot the age-homicide curve (three-year average) in China to examine if the age-homicide relationship in China deviates from the inverted J-curve found in Western societies like the U.S. The crime data in the U.S. are derived from Uniform Crime Report 2016-2018. The US-China comparison results support the contention that the age-crime relationship is not universal but influenced by societal factors and development stages.

Authors

• Hua Zhong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Yuxuan Gloria Gu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Darrell Steffensmeier, Pennsylvania State University