Official and Self-Reported Childhood Abuse and Adult Crime of Young Offenders

Abstract

This study sought to predict adult criminal behavior in a sample of 89 young male prison inmates using self-reported and official data on childhood maltreatment (gathered from interviews and files) and criminality (collected using a 33-item Self-Reported Criminality Scale and official criminal records). Overall, the offenders convicted of violent versus nonviolent crimes did not differ in self-reported criminality. File-based neglect was predictive of self-reported property offenses, and self-reported psychological abuse predicted self-reported vandalism. Official criminal record data was not predicted by self-reported or file-based childhood maltreatment. The findings provided evidence of consistency between self-report and official criminal record data on violent criminality among young prison inmates. In all, the findings showed that children who are physically abused tend to report having committed violent crime to a great extent in young adulthood.