Deck 14: Developmental and Life-Course Theories

Question 1

Research has shown consistently that criminal activity in general peaks in early childhood and then declines gradually in late adolescence.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Gottfredson and Hirschi argued that the effect of age on crime does not change across time, place, social and cultural conditions, and crime type.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

As referred to in the criminal careers paradigm, the frequency of offending refers to participation or how many individuals are involved in offending at a particular period of time.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to Spelman (1994), offenders with prior incarcerations report committing between 30-50 crimes per year.

Question 5

Research has demonstrated that a later age of onset is related to a higher offending frequency and a longer criminal career

Question 6

Farrington (1992) indicated that the average criminal career length from first to last conviction was 20.4 years when one-time offenders were excluded.

Question 7

Moffitt asserted that at least some of the differences between life-course persistent and adolescence-limited delinquents are biologically or genetically based.

Question 8

Youth in the overt pathway ultimately become involved in serious and violent behavior.

Question 9

Youth in the covert developmental pathway always initiate their offending behavior after age 15.

Question 10

In the Developmental Pathways Model, an individual will be on one distinct pathway for his entire life.

Question 11

According to Gottfredson and Hirschi, levels of self-control are largely set by the age of eight and are unlikely to increase in subsequent years as individuals age.

Question 12

Individual homogeneity refers to the phenomenon of stability in criminality relative to others over the life-course.

Question 13

Those individuals who do not experience "turning points' are less likely to persist in offending.

Question 14

One of the limitations of Sampson and Laub's study on the Gluecks' data is that it may not apply to female offenders.

Question 15

Giordano and colleagues' (2015) recent life-course perspective focuses on strain theory.

Question 16

Research has shown consistently that criminal activity in general peaks in ___________.

A) early childhood
B) pre-adolescence
C) adolescence
D) late adolescence/early adulthood
E) adulthood

Question 17

According to Braithwaite, what association is one of the facts that any criminological theory must fit?

A) The relationship between age and crime.
B) The relationship between gender and crime.
C) The relationship between socioeconomic status and crime.
D) The relationship between self-control and crime.
E) The relationship between genetics and crime.

Question 18

Which of the following is not a focus of modern day criminal careers research as it relates to criminological theory?

A) The initiation of criminal activity
B) The continuation and escalation of criminal activity
C) The desistance or termination of criminal activity
D) How laws are enforced by the criminal justice system
E) All of the above are focuses of modern day criminal careers research

Question 19

Which of the following is not a delinquent/criminal behavior that peaks in adolescence?

A) Shoplifting
B) White-collar crime
C) Drug addiction
D) Burglary
E) Both b & c

Question 20

Which type of offenders exhibit changes in criminal activity over time, with an onset of delinquency occurring in early adolescence and desistance from delinquency occurring as the adolescent matures into young adulthood?

A) Life-course persistent offenders
B) Adolescent-limited offenders
C) Offenders with low self-control
D) Offenders with high levels of strain
E) Overt pathway offender

Question 21

The __________ is best characterized by an early onset of stubborn, defiant, and disobedient behavior primarily often targeted toward both parents and teachers.

A) Life-course persistent offender
B) Adolescent-limited offenders
C) Covert developmental pathway
D) Authority conflict developmental pathway
E) Overt developmental pathway

Question 22

Which theory proposes that individuals whose parents neglected to engage in effective supervision, recognition, and correction of childhood misconduct suffer consequences with far-reaching effects on future criminal behavior?

A) Developmental Pathways Model
B) Self-control theory
C) Age Graded Theory of Informal Social Control
D) Developmental Taxonomy
E) Criminal Career Theory

Question 23

Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) focus on the _______ criminal behavior over time.

A) Stability of
B) Changes in
C) Prediction of
D) Increase in
E) Decrease in

Question 24

It could be argued that the age-graded informal social control theory may NOT apply to all of the following except:

A) Female offenders
B) Hispanic offenders
C) Black offenders
D) Offenders who reached adulthood in the 1950s
E) Offenders who reached adulthood in the early 2000s

Question 25

Giordano's et al.'s (2015) theory relies heavily on what concept?

A) Definitions favorable and unfavorable to crime
B) The age-crime curve
C) Self-control
D) Social bonding
E) Turning points

Question 26

Antisocial potential affected primarily by immediate situational factors and criminal opportunities is categorized as which of the following

A) Environmental AP
B) Developmental AP
C) Intermediate AP
D) Long-term AP
E) Short-term AP

Question 27

Which of the following theories is NOT integrated into Farrington's ICAP theory?

A) Strain
B) Social control
C) Marxist
D) Social learning
E) Labeling

Question 28

Developmental and life-course criminology (DLC) has often been criticized as being largely

A) Atheoretical
B) Untestable
C) Unfalsifiable
D) Erroneous
E) all of the above

Question 29

DLC theories and the resultant empirical research point toward the importance of

A) Early prevention and intervention strategies
B) Rehabilitation
C) Restorative justice
D) Severe punishments for first-time offenders
E) None of the above

Question 30

Which group is responsible for the largest share of costs of crime?

A) Low-rate offenders
B) First-time offenders
C) Younger offenders
D) Older offenders
E) High-rate offenders

Question 31

What are the general characteristics of life-course/developmental theories? Address the following: What are the major questions about crime that these theories attempt to answer? How do these questions differ from other types of criminological theories? What theories do life-course/developmental theories draw on?

Question 32

Compare and contrast Moffitt's two types of offenders.

Question 33

Describe each of Loeber's developmental pathways. How do policy implications differ between each pathway? Which pathway is most important to address? Why? How would you suggest assessing youth to determine which pathway they are on?

Question 34

Do you see criminal behavior as invariant across the life course? Using your knowledge of life-course and developmental theory, explain the age-crime curve.

Question 35

Explain how turning points affect desistance from crime. In your opinion, which of the turning points discussed by Sampson and Laub is most effective for steering individuals away from crime? How could a program be developed to expose more criminals to this turning point?

Question 36

What does to Farrington's ICAP theory say about criminal behavior? What is the main concept of this theory? What are the policy implications of ICAP?

Question 37

Discuss the limitations of Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory of informal social control. If you were to design a study testing theory, how would you do so to address these limitations?

Question 38

What is the age-crime curve? What do you think causes the variation in offending by age? Which life-course theory do you think best explains the age-crime curve?

Question 39

Compare and contrast adolescence-limited and life-course persistent offenders. What policy implications can be offered for each type of offender?

Question 40

Discuss ways a child on the "authority conflict developmental pathway" could be rehabilitated. What about a child on the "overt developmental pathway"? Would treatment look markedly different?

Question 41

Explain Sampson and Laub's turning points. How do turning points affect the life course? What turning points have the most impact on individuals' desistance from crime?