Unpacking the relationship between age and prison misconduct

• Examined the potential nonlinear effect of age.
• The youngest inmates engage in more misconduct across various time periods.
• Inmates 24 or younger were more likely to engage in various types of misconduct.
• Several nonlinear specifications provide improved estimation.
• The use of a cubic specification is recommended.

PurposeAge constitutes one of the most robust correlates of prison misconduct—younger inmates are more likely to commit infractions. Minimal theoretical or empirical attention, however, has been given to the potential nonlinear effect of age on misconduct. The current study examines the age-misconduct relationship and how it may vary by timing of misconduct after admission and by type of infraction. The paper also assesses the utility of different nonlinear transformations to estimate the age-misconduct relationship.MethodsThe study examines 137,552 offenders admitted to state prison in Florida from 1995 to 2000 and uses negative binomial regression to assess the relationship between age and misconduct.ResultsAnalyses indicate that the youngest inmates, especially those age 24 and under, are substantially more likely to engage in misconduct, that this relationship is more pronounced during the initial months of incarceration, and that it holds regardless of type of offense.ConclusionsThe youngest inmates appear to be especially likely to engage in misconduct. Nonlinear specifications of the age-misconduct relationship should be employed in future research. Studies are needed to explain why misconduct is disproportionately higher among young inmates. Policies are needed that effectively reduce misconduct among this population.