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British Journal of Criminology Advance Access originally published online on July 29, 2009
British Journal of Criminology 2009 49(6):863-878; doi:10.1093/bjc/azp048
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The British Journal of Criminology 49:863-878 (2009)
© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Reconsidering the Theory on Adolescent-Limited and Life-Course Persistent Anti-Social Behaviour

Torbjørn Skardhamar*

* Statistics Norway, Division for Social and Demographic Research, PO Box 8131, Dept 0033, Oslo, Norway; ska{at}ssb.no.


  Abstract

This article presents a critical review of the taxonomic theory of adolescent-limited and life-course persistent anti-social behaviour (Moffitt 1993) and its empirical evidence. This influential theory suggests that there are two qualitatively distinct types of offenders that require distinct theoretical explanations. Moreover, the empirical evidence for the typology is considered to be strong, at least by some. I discuss along three lines: first, to what extent the taxonomy should be interpreted literally; second, whether the suggested mechanisms are likely to produce the hypothesized groups; third, whether some of the most important empirical evidence really does support the theory. I conclude that the theoretical arguments are surprisingly unclear on key issues and that the empirical evidence is highly problematic.

Key Words: criminal careers • life-course persistent offenders • general theories • taxonomic theory


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