Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Homicide Studies
This Article
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dobash, R. P.
Right arrow Articles by Medina-Ariza, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Onset of Offending and Life Course Among Men Convicted of Murder

Russell P. Dobash

University of Manchester, Russell.Dobash{at}manchester.ac.uk

R. Emerson Dobash

University of Manchester

Kate Cavanagh

University of Stirling

Duncan Smith

Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, University of Manchester

Juanjo Medina-Ariza

University of Manchester

Although the developmental perspective has become a leading paradigm in criminology, little attention has been paid to the onset of offending and life course of murderers within this tradition. We use bivariate and Multiple Correspondence Analysis to investigate the life course and criminal careers of three onset groups among a UK sample of 786 men convicted of murder. The early-onset group (20% of the sample) is more likely to have experienced significant problems in childhood and adulthood. The no-offending group (10% of the sample) is the least likely to have had problematic backgrounds. The childhoods of the late-onset group (67% of the sample) resemble the no-offending group (with few problems) but in adulthood they more closely resemble the early-onset group (with many problems). The implications of these findings for developmental criminology and homicide research are discussed.

Key Words: murder • onset of offending • life course • criminal careers • multiple correspondence analysis

Homicide Studies, Vol. 11, No. 4, 243-271 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1088767907306850
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?