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Chronic adolescents and young offenders: An overview of research findings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2011

Stavros P. Kiriakidis
Stavros P. Kiriakidis*
Affiliation:
University of Patras, Patras (Greece)
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. S. Kiriakidis, 29 Kapetanaki Str, 173 42, Ag. Dimitrios, Athens (Greece). E-mail: skyriak@syros.aegean.gr, kiriaks@yahoo.gr
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Summary

Aims – The present paper is an overview of studies examining chronic, persistent offending and recidivism in adolescents and young offenders. Methods – The review focused on published papers dealing with chronic offending of adolescents and young offenders. Results – The paper provides the picture on definition on juvenile delinquency, definition of recidivism, measurement and operationalisation of recidivism, definition of chronic offenders, correlates and predictors of chronic offending, differences and similarities between chronic and non-chronic offenders, possible genetic influences in chronic offending, proportion of criminal activity attributed to chronic young offenders, factors differentially associated with initiation, escalation, persistence and desistance in juvenile offending. Conclusions – Overall the boundaries of the sociological approach to the study of chronic offending are stressed and the possible advantages of employing a social psychological approach to the study of chronic offending are noted.

Declaration of Interest: The research of this article was financially supported by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. There is no potential conflict of interest related to the present paper.

Keywords

adolescencechronic offendingrecidivism

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 238 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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