Age of onset and continued offending

• In Event: EDLC: onset and development of criminal careers

Abstract

This study aims to provide new evidence of age of onset and the amount of continued offending after onset at different ages. Early onset has been identified as a clear risk-factor for continued offending. Individuals with a later onset is associated with lesser risk for continued offending, but to what degree is uncertain. This uncertainty may be the result of a long standing discussion of whether late or adult onset exists at all.

Defining late or adult onset has been proven difficult, where one reason may be the variety data used in the efforts to investigate the phenomenon. This study utilize total population data from Norway to investigate the existence of onset across all ages. We do so in an attempt to overcome some of the challenges in previous studies. The data include official offence data from 1992 to 2020. In this study we explore criminal onset among all full time Norwegian residents above the age of 10 with their first registered charge in 2010. The dataset also allows for descriptive information on continued offending after onset at different ages.

The result confirm criminal onset is most common during late teens/early adolescence. Criminal onset, however, occurs in all ages, although less common with the increase in age. Similarly for continued offending, continued offending is most common among earlier onset, but there are instances of quite serious careers at later age of onset.

Authors

• Anette Marie Andresen, University of Oslo

• Torbjørn Skardhamar, University of Oslo