Social Disadvantage and Crime: A Criminological Puzzle (2016)

Published:

Summary:

An article exploring social disadvantage and crime with data from PADS+ longitude study.

Description:

In this article, the authors analyse the relationship between social disadvantage and crime, starting from the position that the most persistent offenders come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but most people from disadvantaged backgrounds do not become persistent offenders.

The authors argue that despite the fact that social disadvantage has been a key topic in the area of crime, the way they are connected is not very well understood. They suggest that social disadvantage is linked to crime because more people from disadvantaged versus affluent backgrounds are exposed to criminality more often

The article explores this through analyses of the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), a long-term study which uses a range of data collection methods to study the relationship between personal characteristics and environments. The full report is available here.