Chapter 9
Developmental Theory: Life Course and Latent Trait
Developmental Theories
•
Seek to identify, describe, and understand the development factors
the explain the onset and continuation of a criminal career
 Intertwining of personal factors, social factors, socialization
factors, cognitive factors, and situational factors
 Two distinct groups: life course theories and latent trait
The Life Course View
•
Some people are incapable of maturing in a reasonable and timely
fashion because of family, environmental and personal problems
 The propensity to commit crime is neither stable nor constant
 Life course theories at multidimensional, suggesting criminality
has multiple roots
Figure 9.1 Life Course and Latent Trait Theories
The Life Course View
•
The Glueck Research
 Popularized the research on the life cycle of delinquent careers
 “The deeper the roots of childhood maladjustment, the smaller
the change of adult adjustment”
 Family relations are paramount in terms of quality of discipline
and emotional ties with parents
 Children with low IQ’s, a background of mental disease, and a
powerful physique were most likely to be delinquent
The Life Course View
•
Life Course Concepts
 Rolf Loeber and Marc LeBlanc devoted time to the evolution of
the criminal career
 Attention should be given to how a criminal career unfolds
 People may show a propensity of offend early in their lives
The Life Course View
•
Problem Behavior Syndrome
 Criminal behavior is one of many antisocial behaviors that cluster
together and typically involve family dysfunction, sexual and
physical abuse, substance abuse, smoking, and precocious
sexuality.
 All varieties of criminal behavior may be part of a generalized
PBS
• Unemployment
• Educational underachievement
• School misconduct
• Residing in high crime and disorganized areas
• Exposure to racism and poverty
• Personal problems such as suicide attempts, sensation
seeking, early parenthood, accident-proneness, medical
problems, mental disease, anxiety, and eating disorders
The Life Course View
•
Pathways to Crime
 Loeber and associates identified three distinct pathways to a
criminal career
• Authority conflict: begins at an early age with stubborn
behavior
• Covert pathway: begins with minor underhanded behavior and
leads to property damage
• Overt pathway: escalates into aggressive acts and then to
violence
Figure 9.2 Loeber’s Pathways to Crime
The Life Course View
•
Age of Onset/Continuity of Crime
 Life course theory suggests criminal careers are planted early in
life
 May begin with truancy, cruelty to animals, lying, and theft
 Some offenders peak at an early age, whereas others persist into
adulthood
 Continuity and desistance: Poor parental discipline and
monitoring may be key to early criminality
 Rejection by peers and academic failure sustains antisocial
behavior
The Life Course View
•
Gender Similarities and Differences
 Like boys, early onset girls continue to experience difficulties
such as drug/alcohol use, poor school adjustment, mental health
problems, and a variety of relationship dysfunctions
 Early onset path for males results in problems at work and
substance abuse
 Early onset pathways for females are more likely to lead to
depression and a tendency to commit suicide
The Life Course View
•
Adolescent Limiteds and Life Course Persisters
 Terrie Moffet suggests most offenders are adolescent limited in
that antisocial behavior peaks and then diminishes
 A small group of offenders are persisters who begin offending at
an early age and continue into adulthood
 Early starters experience: 1) poor parenting, 2) deviant behaviors
and then 3) involvement with delinquent groups
The Life Course View
•
Supporting Research
 Recent research supports Moffit’s views
 Early onset delinquents are influenced by individual traits such as
low verbal ability, hyperactivity, and negative personality traits
 Community-level factors such as poverty and instability seem to
have little effect on their behavior
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
The Social Development Model
 Integration of social control, social learning, and structural
theories (Weis, Catalano, Hawkins)
 Community-level risk factors contribute to criminality (social
control, disorganization, and opportunities)
 Prosocial bonds may inhibit antisocial behaviors (attachment to
conventional activities and beliefs)
 SDM-based interventions can help reduce delinquency and drug
abuse
Figure 9.3 The Social Development Model of Antisocial Behavior
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
Farrington’s ICAP (Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential) Theory
 Farrington suggested traits present in persistent offenders can be
observed at age 8
 Future criminals receive poor parental supervision and
harsh/erratic punishments
 Deviant behavior tends to be versatile rather than specialized
 Chronic offenders experience personal troubles and family
dysfunction throughout their lives
 Marriage, employment, and relocation help to diminish criminal
activity
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
The IACP Theory
 David Farrington suggests antisocial potential (AP) falls along a
continuum ranging form high to low AP
 Long-term AP: increases are contingent on desire for material
goods, status, excitement, sexual satisfaction, and legitimate
means for their attainment
 Short-term AP: is affected by situational inducements such as
peers and criminal opportunities
 According to ICAP, the commission of offenses and antisocial
acts depends on the interaction between an individual and the
social environment
 People stop offending due to decreasing motivations,
impulsiveness, decreasing physical capacities, and changes in
socialization influences
Figure 9.4 Farrington’s IACP Theory
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
Interactional Theory
 Terence Thornberry proposed an age-graded view of crime
 The onset of crime can be traced to a deterioration of the social
bond during adolescence
 Delinquent youths form belief systems consistent with their
deviant lifestyles
 The causal process is dynamic and develops over a person’s life
Figure 9.5 The Interactional Theory of Delinquency
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
Testing Interactional Theory
 Research indicates that associating with delinquent peers does
increase delinquent involvement
 Weakened attachments to family and the educational process
appears to be related to delinquency
 Children who grow up in indigent households that experience
unemployment, high mobility, and parental criminality are at risk
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
General Theory of Crime and Delinquency
 Robert Agnew suggested environmental factors and social and
physical traits contribute to criminality
 Crime occurs when constraints are low
 Five elements of human development:
• Self: irritability and/or low self-control
• Family: poor parenting or marriage problems
• School: negative school experiences or limited education
• Peers: Delinquent friends
• Work: Unemployment or poor job
Figure 9.6 Agnew’s General Theory of Crime and Delinquency
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
Sampson and Laub: Age-Graded Theory
 Robert Sampson and John Laub identified “turning points” (critical
events) that may enable an offender to desist from crime
 Career and marriage are turning points
 Social Capital: refers to positive relations with individuals and
institutions, which support conventional behavior
 People who maintain a successful marriage and become parents
are more likely to mature out of crime
Figure 9.7 Sampson and Laub’s Age-Graded Thoery
Theories of the Criminal Life Course
•
Testing Age-Graded Theory
 Indicators tend to support age-graded theory (i.e. employment)
 Research suggests the greater the social capital, the more likely
one will be insulated from crime
 The Marriage Factor: People who marry and become parents are
most likely mature out of crime
 Laub and Sampson are following up on the original research
cohort of the Glueck’s
Latent Trait View
•
Assumes some people have a personal attribute that controls their
propensity to commit crime
 The trait is either present at birth or established early in life
 Propensity and opportunity to commit crime fluctuate over time
Latent Trait View
•
Crime and Human Nature
 Wilson and Herrnstein’s human nature theory suggests genetics,
intelligence, and body build contribute to criminality
 Biological and psychological traits influence crime choice and
noncrime choices
 Their work suggests the existence of an elusive trait that
predisposes people to commit crime
Latent Trait Theories
•
General Theory of Crime (GTC)
 Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi modified social control
theory and integrated concepts of biosocial, psychological,
routine activities, and rational choice theories
 GTC considers the offender and the criminal act as separate
concepts
 People commit crime when it promises rewards and they are
predisposed to commit crime
 Tendencies to commit crime is contingent on a person’s level of
self-control
 Root of poor self-control is traced to inadequate child-rearing
practices
 Gottfredson and Hirschi maintain the GTC explains all varieties of
criminal behavior
 Empirical evidence tends to support the GTC
Figure 9.8 Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory of Crime
Latent Trait Theories
•
Analyzing the General Theory of Crime
 Some critics charge GTC is:
 Tautological: Crime and impulsive behavior
 Different Classes of Criminals: Research indicates offenders occupy more
than one class and more than one factor may contribute to their criminality
 Ecological/Individual Differences: Fails to address individual and ecological
patterns in crime rates
 Racial and Gender Differences: Little evidence that males are more
impulsive than females and overlooks racism and poverty issues
 Moral Beliefs: GTC ignores the moral concept of right and wrong
 Peer Influence: Negative influences of peers increases the likelihood of
criminality rather than reducing it
 People Change: Propensity to commit crime does change and it is not static
as suggested by GTC
 Modest Relationship: Self control is modestly related to antisocial behavior
 Cross Cultural Differences: GTC may be weak in cross-national studies
 Misreads Human Nature: GTC assumes people are selfish, self-serving, and
hedonistic
 Personality Disorder: GTC ignores personality disorders
Latent Trait Theories
•
Differential Coercion Theory
 Mark Colvin suggests coercion as a master trait for criminality
 Interpersonal Coercion: involves the use or threat of force and
intimidation from parents, peers, and others
 Impersonal Coercion: involves pressures such as economic and
social pressures (poverty-competition)
 Maintaining self control is contingent on the function, type and
consistency of coercion
 To reduce crime society must enhance legitimate social support
and reduce the forces of coercion
Figure 9.9 Colvin’s Theory of Differential Coercion
Latent Trait Theories
•
Coercion and Criminal Careers
 Chronic offenders grow up in homes with erratic and inconsistent
control
 Coercive Ideation: the world is conceived as full of coercive
forces that need equal or greater coercive responses to
overcome
 Differential Social Support: Social support may negate or
counterbalance crime-producing coercion
• Expressive social support (affirmation of self-worth)
• Instrumental social support (financial assistance)
Latent Trait Theories
•
Control Balance Theory
 Charles Tittle suggest control has two elements that when out of
balance produce deviant and criminal behaviors
• The amount of control one is subject to by others
• The amount of control one can exercise over others
 Three types of behavior restores balance for those who sense a
deficit:
• Predation: direct forms of physical violence
• Defiance: challenges to control mechanisms
• Submission: passive obedience
 Those with an excess of control engage in:
• Exploitation: using others to commit crime
• Plunder: using power without regard for others
• Decadence: spur of the moment irrational acts
Figure 9.10 Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
Latent Trait Theories
•
Evaluating Developmental Theories
 Life course theorists emphasize the influence of changing
interpersonal and structural factors
 Latent trait theorists place more emphasis on behavior being
linked to personal change than to changes in the surrounding
world
CNN Clip - Drug Cartel Leader On Trial
Public Policy Implications of Developmental Theory



Multi-systematic treatment efforts
Programs targeting those at high risk to improve their
developmental skills
SMART (skills, mastery, and resistance training)