Age and Crime

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In regards to crime commission, there is one question that is often asked; Is the commission crime an adult phenomenon? The answer may not be so simple. For example, for those people whom are very technical argue that children (juveniles; people under age 18) do not commit crimes, they commit status offenses and delinquencies. However, there are occasions, when serious offenses are committed, when a juvenile is charged with a crime and tried as an adult. For the sake of argument, commission of delinquencies will be equated to the commission of crimes. Steffensmeier and Streifel, quoting Parmelee, Quetelet Sutherland and Cressey, state that “involvement in crime diminishes with age,” therefore, the older someone gets, the less likely there are to commit a crime (1991, pg. 869).
As argued many times, age is a factor in the commission of crime; however, does age and gender affect each other? According to Steffensmeier and Streifel (1991) there have been several arguments in regards to age, gender and crime. For example, some writers believe there is no difference between genders in different age groups, while others argue that there is a difference (Steffensmeier and Streifel, 1991, p. 869). “Bullying is a component of an antisocial, rule-breaking pattern of behavior” and is very “popular” amongst children, however, is it an indicator of adult crime (Sourander, Brunstein Klomek, Kumpulainen, Puustjärvi, Elonheimo, Ristkari, Tamminen, Moilanen, Piha, and Ronning, 2011, p. 1212)? Sourander, et al., also state that “studies have found a strong and consistent relationship between bullying and involvement in violent behaviors” (2011, p. 1212). The results of a study of 5,351 children included frequent bullies (9% of the sample were mal...

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... & Dhami, M. K. (2010). Effects of Offenders' Age and Health on Sentencing Decisions. Journal Of Social Psychology, 150(1), 77-97.

Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1992). CRIME AND DEVIANCE IN THE LIFE COURSE. Annual Review Of Sociology, 18(1), 63-84.

Semple, J. K., & Woody, W. (2011). Juveniles Tried as Adults: The Age of The Juvenile Matters. Psychological Reports, 109(1), 301-308.

Sourander, A., Brunstein Klomek, A., Kumpulainen, K., Puustjärvi, A., Elonheimo, H., Ristkari, T., Tamminen, T., Moilanen, I., Piha, J., & Ronning, J. (2011). Bullying at age eight and criminality in adulthood: findings from the Finnish Nationwide 1981 Birth Cohort Study. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 46(12), 1211-1219.

Steffensmeier, D., & Streifel, C. (1991). Age, Gender, and Crime Across Three Historical Periods: 1935, 1960, and 1985. Social Forces, 69(3), 209-234.

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