Volume 30, Issue 4 p. 210-220
INVITED SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Identifying and predicting criminal career profiles from adolescence to age 39

Bo-Kyung Elizabeth Kim

Corresponding Author

Bo-Kyung Elizabeth Kim

USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Correspondence

Bo-Kyung Elizabeth Kim, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Email: bkelizak@usc.edu

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Amanda B. Gilman

Amanda B. Gilman

Washington State Center for Court Research Administrative Office of the Courts, Olympia, Washington, USA

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Kevin P. Tan

Kevin P. Tan

School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

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Rick Kosterman

Rick Kosterman

Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

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Jennifer A. Bailey

Jennifer A. Bailey

Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

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Richard F. Catalano

Richard F. Catalano

Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

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J. David Hawkins

J. David Hawkins

Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

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First published: 02 June 2020
Citations: 2

Funding information: National Institute on Drug Abuse, Grant/Award Numbers: R01DA024411, R01DA033956, R01DA09679, R25DA035692

Abstract

Few longitudinal studies are capable of identifying criminal career profiles using both self-report and official court data beyond the 30s. The current study aims to identify criminal career profiles across three developmental periods using self-report data, validate these profiles with official court records and determine early childhood predictors. Data came from the Seattle Social Development Project (n = 808). Latent Class Analysis was used to examine criminal careers from self-reported data during adolescence (aged 14–18), early adulthood (aged 21–27) and middle adulthood (aged 30–39). Official court records were used to validate the classes. Childhood risk and promotive factors measured at ages 11–12 were used to predict classes. Findings revealed four career classes: non-offending (35.6%), adolescence-limited (33.2%), adult desister (18.3%) and life-course/persistent (12.9%). Official court records are consistent with the description of the classes. Early life school and family environments as well as having antisocial beliefs and friends differentiate membership across the classes. The results of this study, with a gender-balanced and racially diverse sample, bolster the current criminal career knowledge by examining multiple developmental periods into the 30s using both self-report and official court data.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data are not publicly available due to the nature of this research as it contains information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.