Traveling Alone or Together? Neighborhood Context on Individual and Group Juvenile and Adult Burglary Decisions

Neighborhood characteristics are important considerations when offenders make targeting decisions. Movement patterns among adults and juveniles vary widely, which impacts both the number of crime opportunities and the range of neighborhoods to which an offender is exposed. We test whether offending patterns among adult and juvenile burglars vary based on distances traveled, the types of neighborhoods targeted, and whether suspects acted alone or in a group. Using discrete choice modeling, we draw upon a unique sample of cleared burglaries in a representative city in the south over a 13-year period. Results show that adult burglars consistently travel further and are more sensitive to neighborhood conditions than their juvenile counterparts, but that group participation makes little difference in target decisions.

518Trajectories of offending in people with psychotic illness and other mental disorders: a population study

Background Trajectory analysis has been used to study long-term patterns of offending and identify offending groups. Only few studies have explored patterns in people with psychotic illness and these were restricted to adult offenders. This study examines offending trajectories, and identifies risk factors, for people aged 10-26 with psychotic illness (PI) and other mental disorders (OMD) compared to those with no mental disorders (NMD). Methods This is a whole-population record-linkage study of 184,147 people born in Western Australia (WA) 1983-1991 using data from WA psychiatric case register, WA corrective services and other state-wide registers. Group-based trajectory modelling was used to identify offending trajectories. Results Four offender groups were identified for each mental health status (MHS) group: MHS groups had similar offending patterns, however PI had a lower proportion of individuals in the G1 group and later offending onset in the G3 group. Gender, indigenous status, substance use, childhood victimisation and parental offending were risk factors associated with group membership; for PI, childhood victimisation and parental offending were only significant in the G4 group. Conclusions Overall offending patterns and risk factors were similar for all MHS groups, however, some differences were observed for PI. Key messages To reduce offending in this population, interventions need to occur at an early age.

Behavioural Consistency and Offender Characteristics: Investigating Modus Operandi Patterns in Serial Stranger Sex Offences

Case linkage is a statistical technique which connects multiple sexual assault cases to a single perpetrator and holds promise for informing criminal investigations. Further, examining the behaviours executed most consistently across serial offences committed by a given offender is crucial to linking offences. The current study investigated behavioural consistency in a sample of 49 male serial stranger sexual offenders responsible for 147 offences. For each offence, four crime aspects were identified: 1) pre-crime facilitators, 2) victim selection and characteristics, 3) approach and attack methods, and 4) crime scene characteristics. Consistency between and within each crime series and across offender types based on background characteristics was examined. Results indicated a high degree of behavioural consistency across all crime aspects. Behaviours occurring prior to the offence were particularly useful in establishing consistent offending patterns. The implications of these findings in the context of police investigations and their utility for clinical practice are discussed.

Behavioural Consistency and Offender Characteristics: Investigating Modus Operandi Patterns in Serial Stranger Sex Offences

Case linkage is a statistical technique which connects multiple sexual assault cases to a single perpetrator and holds promise for informing criminal investigations. Further, examining the behaviours executed most consistently across serial offences committed by a given offender is crucial to linking offences. The current study investigated behavioural consistency in a sample of 49 male serial stranger sexual offenders responsible for 147 offences. For each offence, four crime aspects were identified: 1) pre-crime facilitators, 2) victim selection and characteristics, 3) approach and attack methods, and 4) crime scene characteristics. Consistency between and within each crime series and across offender types based on background characteristics was examined. Results indicated a high degree of behavioural consistency across all crime aspects. Behaviours occurring prior to the offence were particularly useful in establishing consistent offending patterns. The implications of these findings in the context of police investigations and their utility for clinical practice are discussed.

Gender Equality and Female Offending: Evidence From International Data Sources

This paper examines the nature of female offending patterns in relationship to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 27 European countries for the year 2006. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative indicator (the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) to determine relative levels of gender equality. Results show that countries with a narrower gender gap in the Global Gender Gap indexes of political empowerment were likely to have a higher female prosecution rate, and that political empowerment was also significantly associated with female conviction rates as well as rates of property offending. The pattern of results generally supports the liberation thesis. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future study are addressed.

Offending patterns – alone or in a group – and severe conduct problems: secondary analysis of cross-sectional questionnaire data

Purpose This study aims to builds upon the hypothesis that “gang” offenders have greater mental health vulnerabilities than both the offender and the general population. This study aims to determine whether there is a difference between the mental health difficulties experienced by young people who may be committing offenses or who may be non-offenders while exploring the interplay of conduct disorder (CD). Design/methodology/approach Secondary data analysis was conducted of a cross-sectional survey of 449 young people in two secondary schools and the data was compared to the scores on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ). A diagnosis of CD was given to the respondents scoring “abnormal” for conduct on the SDQ and the findings were compared to the total difficulties score of those without a diagnosis of CD. Findings Those committing offenses both alone and within a group setting had significantly higher scores across all domains of the SDQ, indicating the prevalence of inattention and hyperactivity, emotional problems, lower prosocial behaviors and peer problems over other offending groups. The total difficulties scores on the SDQ were significantly higher for the offending groups that had a diagnosis of CD. Originality/value The results suggest that offending patterns are included within the screening for CD subtypes and support the need for further research into tailored interventions that involve multi-agency collaboration. This research offers a new approach to the identification of severe CD with callous and unemotional traits by examining offensive behavior.

Developmental Offending Patterns: Female Offending Beyond the Reference Category

Compared with young men, justice-involved young women are often characterized by a greater array of risk factors, yet show a more limited pattern of offending. This paradox may be related to risk factors functioning differently not only for male versus female adolescents but also among female adolescents involved in offending. Data were used on 284 girls from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study to address whether risk factors varied across different offending trajectories modeled between ages 12 and 23. Risk factors measured from self-report interviews were compared across the three trajectories identified. Individual, family, and school risk factors varied across trajectory groups, but not always in ways anticipated. Female offending does not appear to fit neatly within existing developmental criminology theory. Theoretical models should be adapted, or new models developed, to account for the complexities of female offending patterns.

Urban Mobility and Activity Space

Recent theoretical and methodological advances in urban sociology, including spatially located data, provide new opportunities to consider the joint influence of mobility and place in urban social life. This review defines the concept of activity space, describes its origins in urban sociology, and examines the extent to which activity space approaches advance sociological research in four substantive domains—spatial inequality and segregation, social connectedness and engagement, crime and offending patterns, and health and health-related behavior. It next describes the evolution of methods for location tracking and new approaches that hold promise for maximizing urban mobility and activity space contributions. It then discusses how location data may be augmented to enhance our sociological understanding of the structure, meaning, and implications of the places people visit or traverse in daily life. We close with new directions for activity space research, emphasizing how such work could enable comparative contextual research.