Selective Attrition and the Age—Crime Relationship

One of the most widely accepted findings in criminology is the strong curvilinear association between age and crime. Studies have indicated that involvement in criminal behavior rises throughout the teenage years until it levels off during the late teenage and early adult years and then declines thr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of quantitative criminology 2003-06, Vol.19 (2), p.107-127
Main Authors: Brame, Robert, Piquero, Alex R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Age
Age Differences
Age groups
Analytical estimating
Attrition
Crime
Criminal behavior
Criminal justice
Criminality
Criminals
Criminology
Data Quality
Drug use
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile Offenders
Longitudinal studies
Missing data
School dropouts
Self reports
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Summary:One of the most widely accepted findings in criminology is the strong curvilinear association between age and crime. Studies have indicated that involvement in criminal behavior rises throughout the teenage years until it levels off during the late teenage and early adult years and then declines throughout the remainder of the life span. Many of these studies, however, have relied on cross-sectional or repeated cross-sectional officially recorded data. In recent years, researchers investigating changes in self-reported criminal behavior among the same individuals as they age have discovered that involvement in criminal behavior actually declines during the adolescent years. Although there are a number of possible explanations for this phenomenon, we explore the extent to which this decline can be attributed to selective or non-random panel attrition.
ISSN:0748-4518
1573-7799
DOI:10.1023/A:1023009919637