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Assessing the Relationship Between Violent and Nonviolent Criminal Activity Among Serious Adolescent Offenders

NCJ Number
228565
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 46 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 553-580
Author(s)
John M. MacDonald; Amelia Haviland; Andrew R. Morral
Date Published
November 2009
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study applied the trajectory modeling approach to assess the longitudinal relationship between violent and nonviolent offending pathways among a sample of adolescent offenders.
Abstract
Results from the analysis indicate that patterns of violent and nonviolent offending were most closely approximated with a three-group trajectory classification and that predicted memberships in these groups, on average, were associated with the many of the same baseline covariates. Results also indicated that membership in violent and nonviolent offending groups was not statistically independent at the individual level and when modeled jointly there was substantial overlap in the trajectories of both offense types. These results suggest the need to further investigate the processes that explain the progression in violent as opposed to nonviolent offending and the potential for a unique behavioral development of violence. Understanding the progression of violent and nonviolent criminal activity remains a matter of theoretical debate. This study built on the well-established approach of group-based trajectory modeling in criminology to assess the extent to which the trajectories of offending were the same or different for violent versus nonviolent criminal offending among a sample of adolescent offenders who were interviewed at four points in time. Figures, tables, notes, and references