Can Violent Offenders be Distinguished from Frequent Offenders: Prediction from Childhood to Adolescence

Abstract

It was predicted that violent offending at adolescence is part of a general pattern of high-rate antisocial behavior that emerges in childhood. Family characteristics, including family management practices and childhood behavior, were compared for violent adolescent arrestees and nonviolent adolescent arrestees who were matched for arrest frequency. Further, regression analyses were conducted using self-report of violent offending. Also predicted was that multiple arrestees with no arrests for violence would self-report as much violence as multiple arrestees with arrests for violence. Hypotheses were tested on an at-risk sample of males in the Oregon Youth Study (OYS), a multimethod, multiagent longitudinal study. The findings generally supported the contention that violent offenders show the same background as frequent but nonviolent offenders.