Marc Le Blanc

Toward a Developmental Criminology

The study of criminality will benefit from a developmental perspective that employs analyses of within-subject changes. A review of the evidence shows continuity in offending between adolescence and adulthood and continuity between prepubertal conduct problems and later offending. Three developmental processes of offending include activation, aggravation, and desistance. A variety of documentation indicates that developmental sequences can be identified for conduct problems, substance use, and delinquency. Quantitative and qualitative changes occur in the course of offending. Understanding developmental processes provides valuable insights into formulating strategies for longitudinal studies that can help to discriminate better between correlates and causes of crime. Examining developmental processes as youngsters grow older, such as increases in physical strength and motor skills, the emergence of personality traits, sexual maturation, and greater opportunities for crime commission, provides important contextual information for studies of offending. Developmental theories have direct implications for the prevention of offending and treatment of offenders.

Predicting Different Types of School Dropouts: A Typological Approach with Two Longitudinal Samples.

Despite evidence of the psychosocial heterogeneity of school dropouts, empirical studies have rarely directly addressed this issue. The general goal of this research was to explore the heuristic value of a typological approach for preventing and studying school dropout. The specific objectives were to build empirically a typology of dropouts based on individual school experience, to test the typologys reliability by replicating the classification with two different longitudinal samples, and to examine the typologys predictive and discriminant validity. The results led to a 4-type solution: Quiet, Disengaged, Low-Achiever, and Maladjusted dropouts. The results support the internal and external validity of the typology and highlight important different profiles with regard to personal and social risk factors. The discussion underscores the theoretical and clinical utility of a typological approach by assisting the study of the different paths in the etiology of school dropout and the adoption of a differential prevention strategy.

Explaining Deviance by Adolescent Females

The gender gap in deviance is well known. Why womens offending levels are much lower than mens is less evident. Three theoretical perspectives are influential. The first perspective applies mainstream criminological theories, typically based on male offenders, to female samples. The second perspective focuses on gender differences to explain differences in deviant behaviors of adolescent females and males. The third perspective emphasizes male-dominated constructions of knowledge. Each offers theoretical insights and generates numerous empirical studies. For better understanding of deviant behavior of adolescent females, constructs from all three theoretical perspectives should be integrated into comprehensive models.

Continuity and Change in Personality Traits From Adolescence to Midlife: A 25-Year Longitudinal Study Comparing Representative and Adjudicated Men

In the first study, a hierarchical structure of personality traits was identified using data from a longitudinal study tracing two samples of men from adolescence to midlife (i.e., a representative sample of the general population and a sample of individuals adjudicated during their adolescence). The second study examined structural, rank-order, and mean-level continuity. Partial structural continuity was demonstrated through confirmatory factor analysis. Regarding rank-order continuity, the correlations were stronger as age increased, particularly for the adjudicated men. For mean-level continuity, the adjudicated men displayed higher scores from adolescence to midlife for nearly every personality trait related to Disinhibition and Negative Emotionality. Significant decreases were observed in these traits for both samples, supporting the hypothesis of a normative psychological maturation. Although both samples showed this maturation, the adjudicated men displayed a lower rate of change during adolescence and early adulthood. The two samples did not differ in Extraversion and this trait remained more stable, particularly for adjudicated men.

Family Dynamics, Adolescent Delinquency, and Adult Criminality

Family and offending is probably the theme most researched in criminology. A comprehensive array of characteristics of family life have been linked to offending since the beginning of this century. This theme has been approached from two directions: a bivariable point of view, in which one characteristic of the family is related to a measure of offending, and a multivariate point of view, in which some family characteristics are used to explain offending. The literature is dominated by bivariable studies and although there are a few multivariate studies no specific theoretical perspective is proposed. In this paper we choose a control theory perspective and a comprehensive set of family variables to answer the following question: Can the explanation of offending be improved by a dynamic system family control theory? Additionally, the literature is principally focused on adolescent delinquency; in consequence we will study the following question: Are the family characteristics that explain most efficiently juvenile delinquency the same ones for the explanation of adult criminality?

An Integrative Control Theory of Delinquent Behavior: A Validation 1976-1985

Criminology should be a field of inquiry where psychology and sociology meet in seeking to explain delinquency, but this has rarely been the case. Our paper is an attempt in that direction within the context of a control theory. Ever since Lewin (1933) proposed his famous formula: B = (P) x (E), where conduct (B) depends on the interaction between the characteristics of a person (P) and his environment (E), there have been numerous attempts to encourage theoreticians to develop integrative theories of conduct--in other words, to take account of the sociological and psychological factors simultaneously.

The offending cycle, escalation and de‐escalation in delinquent behavior: A challenge for criminology

Escalation in delinquent behavior has been the subject of numerous controversies in the criminological literature. Its counterpart, de‐escalation, has rarely been studied. Escalation and de‐escalation are two complementary aspects of the cycle that characterizes the individual course of offending. In this paper, we review the six strategies used by criminologists to study quantitative and qualitative changes during the course of offending. These strategies are: transition matrices, ad hoc classification, group detection, developmental sequence, growth curve, and cross‐lagged analysis. For each of these strategies, we review the methods and results concerning escalation and de‐escalation and their correlates. We conclude by proposing some challenges for criminological research in this domain for the next millennium.Escalation in delinquent behavior has been the subject of numerous controversies in the criminological literature. Its counterpart, de‐escalation, has rarely been studied. Escalation and de‐escalation are two complementary aspects of the cycle that characterizes the individual course of offending. In this paper, we review the six strategies used by criminologists to study quantitative and qualitative changes during the course of offending. These strategies are: transition matrices, ad hoc classification, group detection, developmental sequence, growth curve, and cross‐lagged analysis. For each of these strategies, we review the methods and results concerning escalation and de‐escalation and their correlates. We conclude by proposing some challenges for criminological research in this domain for the next millennium.

Differential Cost Avoidance and Successful Criminal Careers Random or Rational

Using a sample of adjudicated French Canadian males from the Montreal Two Samples Longitudinal Study, this article investigates individual and social characteristics associated with differential cost avoidance. The main objective of this study is to determine whether such traits are randomly distributed across differential degrees of cost avoidance or whether they reflect some degree of rationality. Differential cost avoidance is a composite measure that includes the ratio of self-reported career length to officially recorded career length, the ratio of self-reported offending gravity to officially recorded gravity, and the ratio of time “free” to periods of incarceration. Findings reveal that it is particularly difficult to predict differential cost avoidance at early ages. The main predictors of the residual degree of differential cost avoidance in the early 30s include substance use (especially drugs), the accumulation of debts, and the use of violence in the perpetration of crime. Implications for desistance research are discussed.

Adjudicated Females’ Participation in Violence from Adolescence to Adulthood

In their recent review of the literature, (1998) note that the criminological study of delinquent behavior has focused primarily on between-group differences. As a result, the etiological study of delinquency from an individual perspective has been neglected. This observation is particularly true when examining the evolution of delinquents and vio-lent activities among adolescent females (Pajer, 1998; Wangby, Bergman, & Magnusson, 1999). It is an accepted fact in the literature that females commit less serious offences when compared with male counterparts (Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 1998). This gender difference is observed in official statistics as well as in self-reported surveys. Females are also less likely to continue engaging in delinquent behaviors as they move into late adolescence/early adulthood (Pajer, 1998; Lanctot & Le Blanc, 2002). However, the gender gap in prevalence and persistence rates is smaller for deviant activities such as drug use (Pajer, 1998; Lanctot & Le Blanc, 2002).

Designing a Self-Report Instrument for the Study of the Development of Offending from Childhood to Adulthood: Issues and Problems

Self-report delinquency research has a few major landmarks. During the Second World War, two surveys of self-report delinquency were conducted, one with college students (Porterfield, 1946) and one with the subjects of the Cambridge-Sommerville experiment (Murphy, 1946). In 1955, the first standardized instrument was applied to a representative sample of adolescents and a cumulative scale of delinquency was constructed (Nye & Short, 1958). And, in the late 1970s, the most comprehensive study of the metric properties of self-report delinquency was realized with a complex research design which provided controls for different methods of administration (Hindelang, Hirschi & Weis, 1981). There is, however, another landmark which is often forgotten. At the Syracuse University Conference of 1965 (Hardt & Bodine, 1965), many of the methodological questions concerning self-report delinquency instruments and measures were thoroughly reviewed and recommendations were formulated to improve the measurement of delinquency. One of these recommendations has been forgotten by many authors in the published literature — to provide a detailed description of the data collection procedure.