Understanding Criminal Behavior Patterns

Understanding Criminal Careers

A criminal career is defined as the sequence of crimes an offender has committed throughout their life. It encompasses a beginning, periods of specialization, and sometimes includes phases of decline or growth, potentially leading to a withdrawal from criminal activity.

Criminal Career vs. Career Criminal

It is important not to confuse the concept of a criminal career with that of a career criminal. A career criminal is an individual who is an expert in professional crime. In contrast, a criminal career merely describes the chronological sequence of crimes committed by a subject over a portion of their life. Criminal careers are characterized by:

• An onset of criminal activity.
• The eventual cessation of this activity.
• The duration between these two points.

Key Concepts in Criminal Career Analysis

Several terms are particularly important when analyzing criminal careers:

• Prevalence (or Participation): This refers to the proportion of members within a population who are active criminals at a given time. It distinguishes between individuals who are criminal and those who are non-delinquent.
• Incidence (or Frequency): This considers the annual rate at which active criminals commit crimes. It indicates the number of crimes an active offender commits within a unit of time.
• Persistence: This examines whether criminals are frequent, occasional, or chronic offenders. It also investigates why certain individuals continue in crime while others desist.

Criminology is therefore interested in understanding how criminal careers begin, continue, and ultimately end.

Common Characteristics of Offenders

Generally, offenders do not typically exhibit a high degree of criminal specialization. Their backgrounds often share several common characteristics:

Family Environment

Offenders are frequently born into problematic family environments characterized by:

• Conflicts and discord.
• Low income.
• Large family size.
• Presence of criminal records among family members.
• Poor parental supervision.
• Parent-child relationships lacking strength and affection.

School Experience

During their school years, offenders are often characterized by:

• Absenteeism.
• Disruptive behavior (e.g., rebellious, hyperactive, impulsive).
• Low academic achievement.

Adult Life and Employment

After leaving school, offenders typically:

• Obtain unskilled jobs with low wages.
• Experience numerous periods of unemployment.

By age 30, they are likely to be separated or divorced, unemployed, or in low-wage jobs. If they have children, those children are likely to be in a family environment with similar characteristics of deprivation, discord, disorder, and poor supervision to what the offender experienced as a child.