lecture5357

• Juvenile offending curve


  Offending begins young and sometimes continues well into adulthood, often desists naturally
• Types of juvenile offences

  • Property crimes (including graffiti and vandalism); theft; burglary; and sexual assault
• Career Delinquency


  Start offending younger
• Adolescent limited delinquency


  Start later, naturally desist
• 50% increase in female juvenile offences
• Male offenders dominate
• Doli incapax


  At common law, children < 7 years old are not criminally responsible for a criminal act
• Doli incapax in Australia

  10 -14years, Latin term of "incapable of wrong" applies, must prove child knew act was "seriously wrong as a matter of morality"
• Australia has been criticised for the low age (10) of criminal responsibility
• Factors to consider for doli incapax

  • Capacity for moral reasoning
  • Psychological Maturity
  • Intelligence & cognitive abilities
  • Vocabulary & comprehension
  • Attention & Concentration
  • Problem-solving ability
  • Guilt, Shame, & Empathy
  • Other Cognitive processes
• Article 40 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child (UNCRC) outlines the rights of the child in the criminal justice system
• Juvenile record not made public, UN recommends anything before judicial action
• UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended Australia raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to an internationally acceptable level
• Minimum age of criminal responsibility by country

  • 10: Australia (now variable), England and Wales, United States of America
  • 12: Canada, Greece, Netherlands, Scotland
  • 13: France
  • 14: Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand (except murder and manslaughter)
  • 15: Finland, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
  • 16: Portugal
  • 18: Luxembourg
• Article 6 of the European convention on human rights states it is essential a child charged with an offence is dealt with in a manner which takes full account of their age, maturity and capacities
• Key characteristics of children and young people in detention in NSW

  • The average number of detainees increases with age
  • Males make up 95% of the detainee/remand population
  • Indigenous young people are over-represented
• Major factors in juvenile offending

  • Born with
  • Born into
  • Learned
• Social Factors from 2009-2015 young people in custody health survey

  • 21 % had been placed in care before 16 years
  • 45% have a parent in prison
  • 55% were expelled from school
  • 82% had been in custody before - high recidivism
• Mental Health Factors from 2009-2015 young people in custody health survey

  • 60% reported history of child abuse or trauma
  • 87% were found to have a psychological disorder
  • 14% had a possible intellectual disability (IQ <70), 32% in the borderline range (70-79)
• Recent report – Banksia Prison (WA): 90% of youths assessed had a least one form of severe brain impairment
• Juvenile offending and families

  • Convicted family member: 53% offending
  • Non-convicted family member: 24% offending
  • Wife convicted: 83% male offending
• The criminal behaviour of the father is the most important predictor of subsequent offending behaviour by the boys (Farrington et al 2001)
• Other important predictors of juvenile offending

  • young age of mothers
  • ethnicity
  • neighbourhood
  • lack of remorse exhibited by the boys
  • over average age in school year
  • hyperactivity
  • depressed mood
  • use of physical punishment by the mother
• 63% of sons who registered a conviction had a father who had been convicted (Cambridge study in delinquent development)
• Factors that could explain intergenerational transmission of crime (Farrington, 2011)

  • Genetic mechanism
  • Parents teach children criminal behaviours
  • Environmental risk factors of parents shared
  • Criminal individuals get together with other criminal individuals to produce criminal offspring
  • Bias and labelling processes
• Consequences of an incarcerated parent

  • Single parenting
  • Financial struggles
  • Emotional outcomes
  • Stressors
  • Including prison visits
• Criminogenic factors in childhood


  • Problematic parenting: role modelling of criminal/dysfunctional behaviours, inconsistent parenting and punishments, abuse, cold, parental rejection, inadequate supervision, lack of affection, lack of parental involvement
• Effective parenting


  Composite measure of affective ties to the child, monitoring and supervision, and consistency of discipline
• Attachment styles


  • Secure attachment
  • Anxious-ambivalent (resistant)
  • Avoidant
  • Disorganised
• Harsh punishment has been related to insecure attachment
• Factors associated with insecure attachment and criminal behaviour

  • Poor parenting
  • Unplanned birth
  • Life stress
  • Low social support
  • Low SES
  • Lone parenthood
  • Parent criminality
• Problematic use of alcohol and other drugs directly influenced the child's subsequent criminality
• Maternal affection, maternal self-confidence and consistent application of non-punitive means of discipline is a protective factor (McCord, 1991)
• Only 27.5% of boys and 41.1% of girls whose mother and father had a criminal record had a likelihood of escaping a similar fate (Australian study)
• Possible risk factors for intergenerational crime

  • Intergenerational exposure to multiple risk factors
  • Assortative mating – cohabitation/marriage with other offenders
  • Modelling of criminal behaviour or active recruitment
  • Genetic influence
  • Environmental influences
  • Close monitoring of families by criminal justice and social services resulting in police and justice bias
• Intergenerational transmission of criminal behaviour, both genetic and environmental factors playing a role
• Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, was raised alone by his mother who taught him to shoot guns from a young age and abandoned him frequently
• Does violence beget violence?
• Will an abused child turn into an offending adolescent and/or adult? → can happen, but not deterministic
• Will children abused by their parents abuse their own children?