Describe and critique Moffitt - 1801 Words

Describe and critique Moffitt’s (1993) developmental taxonomy. Moffitt (1993) proposed the developmental taxonomy theory of offending behaviour as an attempt to explain the developmental processes that lead to the shape of the age crime curve. Moffitt proposed that there are two primary types of antisocial offenders in society. First the Adolescent Limited Offender who exhibits antisocial behaviour only during adolescence, and secondly, the Life-Course-Persistent offender, who behave in an antisocial manner from early childhood into adulthood. Moffitt s theory can be applied to both females and males. This essay describes Moffitt s theory on developmental taxonomy and thereafter criticise Moffitt s theory by†¦show more content†¦This is because in Moffitt developmental model adolescents confront a fundamental developmental problem and that they are biologically mature, and are desirous of adult activities. However, as modern society refrains youngsters from engaging in such activities youngsters suffer from the maturity gap which diss atisfies youngsters becoming the motivator for misconduct. Moffitt (1993) contends that anti-social behaviour is not only learned through social mimicry but that this especially true with regard to imitating the acts of older youths. Commenting further, he suggests a key linkage between adolescent and life-persistent offenders in this regard whereby the latter act as delinquent models for younger offenders. Thus, for instance, older youth offenders (or young adult life-persistent offenders) may emerge as role models because they appear more mature and engage in acts such as drinking, smoking and so on. Commenting further upon this aspect of behaviour Moffitt and Caspi (2001) show a comparability of childhood risk factors of males and females from Dunedin’s (2001) longitudinal study, In looking at the exhibiting of childhood and adolescent antisocial behaviour. Dunedin (2001) concluded that females had high-risk backgrounds in childhood but not during adolescence, which is consistentShow MoreRelated The World Bank and The IMF: Twins or Rivals? Essay examples1800 Words   |  8 Pagesguardian of the international monetary system and helped the member states to stick to the rules of the system. These processes were known as credit operations that helped both developing and developed countries to avoid unexpected monetary frustration (Moffitt 32). The funding of the two organizations also differed significantly. The World Bank’s funds were most raised from international capital markets, but have no connection with any particular countries’ shareholding. Nevertheless, the members ofRead MoreThe And Tenets Of Life Course Criminology1587 Words   |  7 PagesGottfredson and Hirschi (1986) refer to as the â€Å"career criminal†. In this vein, the concepts of adolescent-limited and life-course persistent emerged from the field of psychology to describe those youth who appear to offend only during their pubescence years, to those who persisted in criminality throughout their entire lives (Moffitt, 1993). However, to fully appreciate life-course criminology, the roots of the life-course perspective must be unearthed. Determining the genesis of the life-course perspectiveRead MoreJuvenile Delinquency3863 Words   |  16 Pagesmost now industrialized countries, this transition ranged from brief to almost non-existent, it is now a significant part of a persons development. It is known now as adolescence. In fact the popular term teenager, wasn’t coined until the 50’s to describe this new group of people living through adolescence. It is believed that this new, drawn out transition from childhood into adulthood that is common in the western world has left many adolescents in a sort-of limbo where they must seek to defineRead MoreJuvenile Delinquency3872 Words   |  16 Pagesmost now industrialized countries, this transition ranged from brief to almost non-existent, it is now a significant part of a persons development. It is known now as adolescence. In fact the popular term teenager, wasn’t coined until the 50’s to describe this new group of people living through adole scence. It is believed that this new, drawn out transition from childhood into adulthood that is common in the western world has left many adolescents in a sort-of limbo where they must seek to defineRead MoreFundamentals of Hrm263904 Words   |  1056 Pagesa member of the Society of Human Resource Management. xxi To: From: Subject: Our Readers Dave DeCenzo, Steve Robbins, and Susan Verhulst How to Get the Most Out of This Text All authors of a textbook generally include a preface that describes why they wrote the book and what’s unique about it, and then thank a lot of people for the role they played in getting the book completed. Well, we’re no different. We just did that, too. But it has become crystal clear to us that two things are