Adult onset offending in a Swedish female birth cohort

BackgroundIn criminal career research, the existence of an adult onset trajectory has been identified more or less regularly over recent decades, providing indications of the existence of a group of serious offenders that resembles the early onset chronic offenders.AimsThe aim of this study is to further explore the origins and development of the adult onset females with regard to familial and social predictors and life events.MethodsResults are based on the Project Metropolitan data for 7,398 girls up to age 30 using logistic regression.ResultsThe adult onset group showed a markedly higher prevalence of all covariates when compared with non-offenders and they are largely similar to the high level chronics. A logistic regression model including 11 covariates identified only two predictors on which the adult onsetters could be separated from the high level chronics.ConclusionsThe authors conclude that there is support for the actual existence of the adult onset group, and that the group is difficult to separate from the high level chronics on the basis of structural factors. Using additional variables, including individual factors, further research should focus on answering the question of how the delayed onset of this group might be explained.

► We report support for the actual existence of a female adult onset (AO) trajectory.
► Structural predictors of the AOs resemble those found for the early onset chronics.
► AO females appear to emerge from disadvantaged familial and economic environments.
► Compared with the chronics the AO group has significantly lower levels of drug use.