Een gezin houdt delinquent op het rechte pad

Veel criminele jongeren gaan door met het plegen van delicten nadat ze een straf hebben uitgezeten. Drie jaar na het verblijf in een justitiële instelling komt ongeveer 60 procent van deze jongeren opnieuw met justitie in aanraking vanwege het plegen van een delict. Maar gebeurtenissen op latere leeftijd kunnen helpen om deze jongeren op het rechte pad te houden. Vooral ouderschap lijkt hierbij een belangrijke rol te spelen

Social background and the demographic life course: Cross-national comparisons

This open access book examines how childhood social disadvantage influences young-adult demographic decision-making and later-life economic and well-being outcomes. This book in particular focuses on testing whether the consequences of childhood social disadvantage for adult outcomes differ across societies, and whether these differences are shaped by the “context of opportunities” that societies offer to diminish the adverse impact of economic and social deprivation. The book integrates a longitudinal approach and provides new insights in how the experience of childhood disadvantage (e.g. low parental socio-economic status, family disruption) influences demographic decisions in adulthood (e.g. the timing of family-events such as cohabitation, marriage or parenthood; the risk of divorce or having a child outside a partner relationship; the exposure to later-life loneliness, poor health, and economic adversity). Moreover, using a cross-national comparative perspective it investigates whether the relationships of interest differ across nations, and tests the “context of opportunities” hypothesis arguing that the links between childhood disadvantage and adult outcomes are weakened in societal contexts offering good opportunities for people to escape situations of deprivation. To do so, the book analyzes national contexts based on economic prosperity, family values and norms, and welfare-state arrangements

Timing of Change in Criminal Offending Around Entrance into Parenthood: Gender and Cross-Country Comparisons for At-Risk Individuals

Zoutewelle-Terovan, M., & Skardhamar, T. (2016). Timing of Change in Criminal Offending Around Entrance into Parenthood: Gender and Cross-Country Comparisons for At-Risk Individuals. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1-28.ObjectivesThis article examines the timing of change in criminal offending relative to entrance into parenthood, in light of four competing theoretical frameworks (social control, routine activities, strain and cognitive transformation). Moreover, it analyzes whether criminal developments over time are gender- or country-specific.MethodsUsing samples of men and women at risk of offending in the Netherlands and Norway, this study investigates monthly changes in offending probabilities around the time of first birth (5 years before, 5 years after). The implemented smoothing splines technique allowed for a flexible exploration of changes in offending probabilities for both pre-childbirth and post-childbirth periods.ResultsThe results show that the probabilities to offend decline ahead of childbirth for all individuals analyzed. The post-childbirth period is characterized by increases in offending probabilities. However, in these overall trends, the exact timing and magnitude of change differs by gender and country of residence.ConclusionsThe results offer partial support for the cognitive transformation hypothesis because offending rates decline before childbirth. The post-childbirth period converges with assumptions of the strain theory (for males in particular) because offending probabilities increase in this period. Additional analysis investigating changes in property offending shows that economic strain does not explain the upward trend of the overall offending after childbirth