Julien Morizot – The Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior (2015)

Автор: Julien Morizot
Название книги: The Development of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior (2015)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Политология и Социология
Страницы: 558
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

This edited book summarizes the current state of knowledge on the development of criminal and antisocial behavior over the life course. It focuses mainly on the developmental perspective, which has had a paradigmatic influence on current theoretical and empirical works in criminology. With a multidisciplinary perspective, the book reviews: (a) the fundamental concepts of developmental criminology; (b) the risk factors and developmental processes related to the most salient personal (e.g., genetics, personality) and environmental (e.g., family, peers, school) domains explaining the development of criminal and antisocial behavior; (c) the developmental issues related to a number a special themes (e.g., women criminality, street gangs) and (d) the applied and policy implications of research in developmental criminology. In each chapter, prominent researchers from different disciplines such as criminology and psychology summarize the state of knowledge on a specific topic, identify the shortcomings of past research, offer recommendations for future research needs.

In November of 2012, the Division of Developmental
and Life-Course Criminology (DLC) was
officially established by the American Society of
Criminology (ASC). This event marked a progression
in the changing perspective of criminologists
over several decades a period during
which, research on the development of criminal
behavior has significantly proliferated. The number
of researchers adopting a developmental perspective
has increased not only in criminology
but also in psychology, behavioral genetics, public
health, and sociology. The developmental
perspective has become highly influential in
criminology and the field has grown increasingly
multidisciplinary.
In this chapter, we first briefly discuss some
definitional issues related to criminal and antisocial
behavior, highlight the importance of the
developmental perspective, and discuss the
multidisciplinary character of developmental
criminology. The practical applications of developmental
research are also outlined. Finally, this
book also represents a Festschrift underlining the
scholarly contributions of Professor Marc Le
Blanc, who is recognized for his innovative
work in developmental criminology. The last
section of this chapter briefly summarizes his
contributions to the field.
Defining Criminal and Antisocial
Behavior
Criminal behavior, or offending, can be an ambiguous
concept. It is generally defined as any
overt or covert law-breaking conduct in a given
country or state, punishable upon conviction.
Arguably the main two broad categories are
property crimes (e.g., fraud, theft) and violent
crimes (e.g., domestic violence, robbery, homicide,
and sex crimes). Other categories of crime
include public order crime (e.g., public disturbance,
illegal drug use, prostitution), or white
collar crime (i.e., offenses committed by public
officials, or offenses against a corporate entity by
individuals who are employed by the corporation).
The term delinquent behavior (or delinquency)
generally refers to offenses committed
by adolescents, while the term criminal behavior
refers to adult offending. The definition of criminal
behavior laid out above is limited in that it
only makes reference to offenses that are
detected by the criminal justice system. Delinquent
and criminal behaviors can be measured
using different sources. In addition to prison,
court, and police data, these behaviors can also
be documented with victimization surveys or
self-reported interviews or questionnaires. Developmental criminologists are not only
concerned with delinquent and criminal behavior
but also various other analogous behaviors. Several
studies of adolescent and adult samples
repeatedly confirmed that numerous behaviors
tend to co-occur with delinquent and criminal
behaviors (Jessor & Jessor, 1977; Loeber,
Farrington, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Van
Kammen, 1998). The term antisocial behavior,
typically used in psychology and psychiatry,
refers to these analogous behaviors. It is a
generic concept that encompasses criminal
offending but also several related behaviors that
are socially disruptive or go against established
social and societal norms or rules. Sociologists
refer to this concept as deviant behavior.
As emphasized by Le Blanc and Bouthillier
(2003), researchers have traditionally used unidimensional
measures or general scales labeled
“delinquency,” even if they included various
antisocial behaviors beyond delinquency. Factor
analysis results generally show that the covariation
among numerous specific delinquent and
antisocial behaviors can be explained by four
dimensions: reckless behavior (e.g., substance
use, risky sexual behavior, risky motor vehicle
use, gambling, etc.), authority conflict (e.g., at
home, at school, etc.), covert delinquency (e.g.,
theft, fraud, etc.), and overt delinquency (e.g.,
violence, vandalism, etc.). In turn, the covariation
between these four dimensions can be
explained by a general factor or dimension,
which is referred to as general deviance or antisocial
syndrome (Le Blanc, 2009; Le Blanc &
Bouthillier, 2003). Similar results are observed
with adults (e.g., McGee & Newcomb, 1992).
The distinction between different forms of antisocial
behavior is important for developmental
criminology due to the potentially distinct
etiologies underlying these different behaviors
(Tackett, Krueger, Iacono, & McGue, 2005)
and the fact that their development may be
intertwined across the life course (Le Blanc,
2012).