Lancaster-Warwick-Stirling node

This work develops from an interest in two kinds of patterns in criminal careers, namely, the patterns of individual criminal careers and the changing patterns of offending over time (Soothill, 2007; Soothill et al.,2008a,b).  It develops from earlier work (Francis et al., 2004) whuich first suggested the use of latent class methods to investigate crime patterns.  

 

Our main study (Soothill et al., 2008a) focused on court conviction rates – that is, the numbers and proportion of the population in England and Wales who are convicted of a crime between the ages of 10-25. Data on over 47,000 males and 10,000 female offenders for six specific birth cohorts (those born in 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973 and 1978) were extracted from the Offenders Index. We related convictions in three age groups (10-15, 16-20, 21-25) to population estimates for these age groups. Striking differences in the conviction rates over time were observed for both males and females. There is a remarkable decline among the 10-15 age group for more recent cohorts which echoes the use increasing use of court diversionary periods in this age group. There is no corresponding increase in conviction rates for the later age groups. These figures suggest that efforts in the 1980s and early 1990s to divert offenders away from court convictions have been successful, and that such diversionary schemes need to be encouraged.

 

 

 

 

Christoffersen, M., Soothill, K. and Francis, B. (2007) Violent life events and social disadvantage: a systematic study of the social background of various kinds of lethal violence, other violent crime, suicide and suicide attempts. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 8 (2), pp 157-184.

 

Christoffersen, M., Soothill, K. and Francis, B. (2008) Risk factors for a first-time drink-driving conviction among young men: A birth cohort study of all men born in Denmark in 1966. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 34 (4), pp 415-425.

 

Francis, B., Soothill, K. and Fligelstone, R. (2004) Identifying Patterns and Pathways of Offending Behaviour: A New Approach to Typologies of Crime. European Society of Criminology, 1 (1), pp 48-57.

 

Soothill, K. (2007). Changing patterns of offending over 30 years. Psychiatry, 6 (11), pp 455-458

 

Soothill, K., Ackerley, E. and Francis, B. (2008a). Criminal convictions among children and young adults: changes over time.  Criminology and Criminal Justice, 8 (3), pp 297-315.

 

Soothill, K., Fitzpatrick, C. and Francis, B. (2009) Understanding Criminal Careers. Cullompton: Willan, pp.xv + 204.

 

Soothill, K., Francis, B., Ackerley, E. and Humphreys, L. (2008b). Changing patterns of offending behaviour among young adults. British Journal of Criminology, 48 (1), pp 75-95.