Exploration of the Correlates of Specialization and Escalation. Executive Summary

摘要

Research on specialization (repeating the same offense) and escalation (moving to more serious offenses) has typically focused on the type of crime an offender commits from one time to the next, independent of individual characteristics. The lack of attention given to the effect of offender characteristics on patterns of offending is surprising in light of research on the correlates of crime and delinquency. Research on the correlates of crime and delinquency has identified individual characteristics that are consistently related to the commission of criminal acts. If an individual's characteristics affect the chances of committing a criminal act, then it is reasonable to hypothesize that these characteristics also affect patterns of specialization and escalation. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of behavioral, social, and psychological characteristics on patterns of offending across the criminal career.