Life course vs criminal career trajectories

• In Event: EDLC: theoretical perspectives

Abstract

Individuals’ offending over time is often described using trajectory modeling, with offending considered as a function of age. This approach follows naturally from a developmental and life course perspective. Alternatively, offending trajectories can be described as a function of time since the onset of offending, thereby avoiding the modeling of criminal careers before any observed offending behavior has begun. In this paper, I demonstrate how these different approaches can lead to diverging results, and argue that chronological age is not always the most relevant time scale. This empirical analysis utilizes total population registry data from Norway.

Author

• Torbjørn Skardhamar, University of Oslo