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Thesis (MPsy(Forensic))--University of South Australia, 2001

Inaug.-Diss.--Heidelberg. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 326-348.

This study was designed to investigate mid-life desistance from crime as a function of general mid-life change. Adult developmental theory postulates that major occupational or lifestyle changes occur during mid-life, more so than during other developmental periods in adulthood. Such changes are said to occur in conjunction with specific transitional processes experienced by the middle-aged male. The abandonment of a criminal career at mid-life is viewed as a significant occupational and lifestyle change. It is examined in relation to the postulated transitional processes affecting aspects of the life areas of work and social relationships, as well as health and psychological well-being. Structured interviews were conducted with a small group of former career criminals and a small group of currently imprisoned middle-aged career offenders. Career offenders were compared with middle-age general population men, and former career offenders were compared with imprisoned career offenders. Limitations of the research design and the sampling methods are also discussed. The findings suggest that middle-aged career offenders, regardless of whether they have terminated their criminal careers or are still imprisoned, in large part resemble general population men in terms of mid-life concerns. A comparative analysis of ex-offender and inmate responses suggests that while the men resemble each other closely in the area of mid-life concerns, successful change away from a criminal career at mid-life means that mid-life developmental tasks must be accompanied by relatively well-developed social relationships and the ability to gain control of drug and alcohol problems.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Rates of recorded crime have been falling in many countries in Western Europe, including Scotland, since the early 1990s. This marks the reversal of a trend of increasing levels of crime seen since the 1950s. Despite this important recent change, most analyses of the ‘crime drop’ have focused on recorded crime or victimisation rates aggregated to national or regional level. It is little known how patterns of offending or conviction have changed at the individual level. As a result it is not known how the crime drop is manifest in changing offending or conviction rates, or how patterns of criminal careers have changed over this period. The aim of this thesis is to explore trends in convictions across a number of criminal careers parameters – the age-crime curve, prevalence and frequency, polarisation and conviction pathways – over the course of the crime drop in Scotland. The results presented here are based on a secondary analysis of the Scottish Offenders Index, a census of convictions in Scottish courts, between 1989 and 2011. Analysis is conducted using a range of descriptive statistical techniques to examine change across age, sex and time. Change in the age-crime curve is analysed using data visualisation techniques and descriptive statistics. Standardisation and decomposition analysis is used to analyse the effects of prevalence, frequency and population change. Trends in conviction are also examined between groups identified statistically using Latent Class Analysis to assess the polarisation of convictions, and trends in the movement between these groups over time provides an indication of changing pathways of conviction. This thesis finds a sharp contrast between falling rates of conviction for young people, particularly young men, and increases in conviction rates for those between their mid-twenties and mid-forties, with distinct periods of change between 1989- 2000, 2000-2007 and 2007-2011. These trends are driven primarily by changes in the prevalence of conviction, and result in an increasingly even distribution of convictions over age. Analysis across latent classes shows some evidence of convictions becoming less polarised for younger men and women but increasingly polarised for older men and women. Similarities in trends analysed across latent classes between men and women of the same age suggest that the process driving these trends is broadly similar within age groups. Increases in conviction rates for those over 21 are explained by both greater onset of conviction and higher persistence in conviction, particularly between 1998 and 2004. The results of this thesis suggest that explanations of the crime drop must have a greater engagement with contrasting trends across age and sex to be able to properly explain falling conviction rates. These results also reinforce the need for criminal careers research to better understand the impact of recent changes social context on patterns of convictions over people’s lives. The distinct periods identified in these results suggest a potential effect of changes in operation of the justice system in Scotland leading to high rates of convictions in the early 2000s. However, the descriptive focus of this analysis and its reliance upon administrative data from a single country mean this thesis cannot claim to definitively explain these trends. As a result, replication of this research in another jurisdiction is encouraged to assess whether trends identified are particular to Scotland.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2006 Jul 29.