This study contributed to the criminal trajectory literature using a Canadian-based sample of offenders and examined childhood and adolescent predictors of trajectory group membership. The sample comprised 378 males who had been sentenced as youth, between 1986 and 1996, to one of two open custody facilities in Toronto, Canada. Official criminal records were obtained from late childhood and early adolescence into adulthood for an average follow-up of 12.1 years. Childhood and adolescent predictors reflecting individual, family, peer, and school domains were extracted from client files. Trajectory analysis yielded four groups, labeled moderate rate (MR); low rate (LR); high-rate, adult peaked (HRADL); and high-rate, adolescence peaked (HRADOL). Multinomial regression analyses indicated that risk factors representing the family and peer domains differentiated the MR, HRADL, and HRADOL groups from the LR group. Moreover, whereas both child and adolescent risk factors were associated with the MR, HRADL, and HRADOL groups, only adolescent risk factors were associated with the LR group.

Understanding the developmental precursors of juvenile violent sex offending can contribute to the promotion of effective early intervention and prevention programs for high-risk children and youth. However, there is currently a lack of research on the early characteristics of adolescents who commit violent sex offenses. Drawing on the literature regarding the generalist and specialist positions of criminal behavior, the aim of the present study was to compare childhood risk factors for three groups of juvenile offenders: (a) pure sex offenders (PSO; n = 28); (b) violent non-sex offenders (VNSO; n = 172); and (c) versatile violent sex offenders (VVSO; n = 24). Nineteen risk factors comprising four life domains (individual, family, peer, and school) were identified from a file review. Three hierarchical logistic regression analyses examined associations between risk factors and offender groups. The results reflected the underlying heterogeneity of the sample, offering support for both the specialist and generalist positions of criminal behavior. PSOs differed from VNSOs on the basis of higher odds for precocious sexual behavior. Second, VVSOs differed from VNSOs on the basis of higher odds for precocious sexual behavior, criminal family members, and an adolescent mother, as well as lower odds for poor school behavior. Third, PSOs were marginally more likely to have engaged in early overt antisocial behavior compared with VVSOs. Fourth, many of the childhood risk factors examined were not associated with any offender group. In conclusion, VVSOs appeared to differ on the greatest number of risk factors from VNSOs, suggesting that VVSOs share a more similar developmental pathway with PSOs. The prevention and future research implications of these findings are discussed.

Firesetting by juveniles results in billions of dollars of property loss, thousands of burn injuries, and hundreds of deaths each year. A review that specifically focuses on adolescents’ role in this devastating and costly behavior is not available. To address this gap, the current article reviews the past 30+ years of literature on adolescent firesetters, examining topics such as models of firesetting behavior, risk factors and correlates of adolescent firesetting, diagnostic issues, assessment tools and approaches, and current interventions. The article concludes with a discussion of goals for the field, including the development of relevant criteria for pathological firesetting.

This article examines the criminal trajectories together with the childhood predictors and adolescent correlates of trajectory-group membership in a sample of 386 adjudicated youth in Ontario. Study participants had served a sentence at one of two open custody facilities in Toronto between 1986 and 1997. Criminal offending, based on official records, was tracked for 16.4 years, on average (SD=4.1, range=9.8–28.7 years), from late childhood/early adolescence into the early 30s, on average. Childhood and adolescent factors reflecting individual, family, peer, and school domains were extracted from client files. A seven-group model best fit the sample. Results of the multinomial regression analyses indicated that antisocial behaviour and poor academic achievement in childhood and poor family relations, involvement in alternative care, and poor academic achievement in adolescence differentiated the low-rate desister trajectory from the high- and moderate-rate offence trajectories. Implications for identifying children and youth at risk for high-rate persistent offending so as to target them in prevention and early intervention programs are discussed.