Moffitt, Terrie E.: A Developmental Model of Life-Course-Persistent Offending

Theoretical Summary

Moffitt (1993) originally offered her account of antisocial behavior in order to address a persistent reality of criminal behavior: continuity and change. Lee Robins observed in 1978 that while “adult antisocial behavior virtually requires childhood antisocial behavior,” it is also true that “most antisocial delinquents do not become antisocial adults” (p. 611). The fundamental implication of this paradox is that criminal behavior is characterized both by stability over time (as in the case of persistent offending) and by marked change. This observation has sparked heated—and as yet unresolved—debates, particularly with respect to the age-crime curve. The core of the debate is the extent of homogeneity that exists among offenders and their involvement in crime over time.

Moffitt offers a theoretical proposition to enlighten the debate. She proposes that the age-crime curve comprises two qualitatively distinct types of offenders, each with their own etiological path into, and out of, delinquent and criminal behavior. Life-course-persistent offenders (LCPs) are characterized by an early onset of problem behavior and marked continuity across much of the life course. Adolescence-limited offenders (ALs) experiment with delinquency during the teen years, but their delinquency is a behavioral anomaly and they will return to prosocial behavior as they age out of adolescence. In detailing the two types of offenders, each with distinct routes to delinquency, Moffitt is able to account for both the continuity and discontinuity of criminal behavior.