Early starters: Which type of criminal onset matters most for delinquent careers?

Ingredients for Criminality Require Genes, Temperament, and Psychopathic Personality

“…Moreover, psychopathy scores were significantly associated with career or habitual criminality among the same sample . Among institutionalized delinquents sampled from Pennsylvania, early-onset delinquents had more acutely psychopathic personalities compared to less severe offenders (DeLisi, Neppl, Lohman, Vaughn, & Shook, 2013). Among Canadian male and female incarcerated offenders, McCuish, Corrado, Lussier, and Hart (2014) identified a slow-rate desister offender trajectory and a high frequency chronic offender trajectory-the most severe subgroups-and both were characterized by more psychopathic personalities.…”

Bringing psychopathy into developmental and life-course criminology theories and research

“…Despite the general accuracy of this statement, there has been a proliferation of DLC theorizing in the last couple of decades. Relatedly, the construct of psychopathy has existed in disciplines outside of criminology for quite some time, but recent pioneering efforts have brought it to the forefront in criminological theorizing (Barnes, 2014;Beaver, Rowland, Schwartz, & Nedelec, 2011;Beaver et al, 2014;DeLisi, 2011DeLisi, , 2014DeLisi & Berg, 2006;DeLisi, Neppl, Lohman, Vaughn, & Shook, 2013;DeLisi & Piquero, 2011;McCuish et al, 2014;Wu & Barnes, 2013). Still, these two literatures have been slow to converge.…”

Addressing Nonhuman Animal Abuse in Context

“…In their study of 252 adjudicated boys and girls, DeLisi et al (2013) found that police contact/arrest was m ost consistently related to antisocial out comes. Those interested in the particular behavior of animal cruelty and its relationship to onset and persistence should take note that the self-reported delinquency measure used by the authors included "hitting an animal" and also provided a scale to assess frequency ranging from never to 2 or 3 times a day.…”

“…Now researchers are seeking to refine the definition of how to operationalize "onset," a necessary first step before examining w hether offenders "graduate" or "persist." In the m ost recent research on the type of criminal onset behavior that was most significant for those "early starters" of a delinquent career, DeLisi et al (2013) proposed defining "onset" in three ways: onset of antisocial behavior (assessed by the Self Delinquency Report [srd]), police contact/arrest onset, and onset of juvenile court referral.…”