Exploring Patterns of Offending by Juvenile Offenders in Australia: What Is the Evidence for a Specialist Violent Offender?

The question of whether there are offenders who specialise in violent offences is one that has been of considerable interest to life course developmental criminology as well as policy makers and the public. The current study investigated this using an administrative dataset of juvenile offenders fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of developmental and life-course criminology 2015-09, Vol.1 (3), p.304-324
Main Author: McGrath, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Correctional treatment programs
Criminology
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Cultural identity
Developmental Psychology
Gender identity
Juvenile offenders
Law and Criminology
Life course
Medicine/Public Health
Offending
Offenses
Policy making
Profiles
Recidivism
Social Policy
Violent offenders
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Summary:The question of whether there are offenders who specialise in violent offences is one that has been of considerable interest to life course developmental criminology as well as policy makers and the public. The current study investigated this using an administrative dataset of juvenile offenders from New South Wales, Australia. Specifically, it asked whether offenders convicted of a serious violent offence differed in their demographic, criminal history and reoffending profiles and whether there were further differences in these factors across gender and cultural identity. Overall, the findings indicated that violence is more likely to occur in the context of an extensive criminal career. Indigenous male individuals were the most frequent and chronic offenders in the sample. The policy and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
ISSN:2199-4641
2199-465X
DOI:10.1007/s40865-015-0014-1