Age–Crime Relation in India: Similarity or Divergence Vs. Hirschi/gottfredson Inverted J-shaped Projection?. (14th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Steffensmeier, Darrell; Lu, Yunmei; Kumar, Sumit
• Is Part Of: British journal of criminology. Volume 59:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 144
• Page End: 165
• Publication Date: 2018-05-14
• Subjects: age–crime -- cross-national -- life course/developmental -- culture -- youth crime; Criminology -- Periodicals; Crime -- Periodicals; Criminal justice, Administration of -- Periodicals; 364.05
• DOI: 10.1093/bjc/azy011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-0955

Abstract

Abstract: In this study, we used age–crime statistics from India to investigate the two core tenets of Hirschi and Gottfredson's (HG) invariance thesis that the age distribution of crime is always and everywhere adolescent spiked and thereafter declines continuously into elder ages. Besides comparisons to the inverted J-shaped distribution projected by HG, we further compared Indian age–crime patterns with those in United States (Western nation; main evidential source for HG invariance projection) and Taiwan (like India, a non-Western collectivist society). Findings suggest considerable divergence in India's age–crime patterns compared with HG invariance norm and US age–crime distributions, but overall similarity with Taiwan's age–crime schedules. Implications for research and theory on the age–crime relation more broadly are discussed.