Trends in English Juvenile Delinquency and Their Explanation

Bibliographic Data

ID6192804
AuthorsDavid P Farrington (0000-0003-1312-2325, Institute of Criminology, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume16
Issue1-2
Pages151-163
Publication date1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0192-4036 • E-ISSN: 2157-6475
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01924036.1992.9688991
OpenAlexW1986984094
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited14

This paper summarizes trends in recorded juvenile delinquency in England and Wales between 1961 and 1989. Delinquency is defined as convictions or cautions of persons aged 10–16 for indictable (more serious) offenses. The recorded delinquency rate per 1000 population generally increased to a peak in 1985 before declining sharply. It was argued that the recent decline was artificial, caused by the increasing replacement of recorded cautions by unrecorded warnings, and that the true delinquency rate had probably increased steadily over the whole time period. Plausible reasons for this increase included increasingly poor parental child-rearing techniques, increasing numbers of criminal and alcoholic parents, increasing numbers of children in families dependent on welfare benefits (experiencing relative economic deprivation), increasing substance abuse, increasing truancy, increasing opportunities for crime, and decreasing deterrence. In order to advance knowledge about trends in juvenile delinquency and their explanation, repeated surveys of nationally representative samples of juveniles are needed that collect data about different types of self-reported offending and about possible causal factors

Biology · Criminology · Juvenile · Juvenile delinquency · Political science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Psychology

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