Situational criminogenic exposure during adolescence : a study of the relationship between situational criminogenic features and offending and victimization

• This study aims to examine offending and victimization in relation to situational criminogenic exposure. Self-reported data was collected at three occasions from a sample of 525 adolescents in Malmö, of which 320 fulfilled the study’s inclusion criteria. The results show that spending a lot of time unsupervised, pursuing unstructured activities, spending a lot of time with peers, and alcohol use, are associated with offending and victimization to various extent. However, the associations vary according to outcome and in relation to the participants’ age. Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory may explain the findings, but needs to consider age as an important factor in the future. The two conclusions from this study are that (1) offending and victimization should be treated as two different, yet related concepts in relation to situational criminogenic exposure, and that (2) it is important to add an age dimension to the study of situational criminogenic exposure because the associations between the exposure variables and the outcome variables vary from early to late adolescence.

Nyckelord

Adolescents

Criminogenic exposure

Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory

Offending

Situations

Space-time budget

Victimization

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)