Abstract
This paper—based on data from a national survey of 14 and 15 year olds and their parents in England and Wales—examines the relationship between teenager lifestyles and activity patterns and self-report offending. The legal ways in which teenagers spend their time show consistent relationships with involvement in crime. Offenders and nonofienders differ markedly on both general and specific measures where they go, whom they are with, and what they do. Consistent with models of criminal behavior based on group processes, these differences in activity patterns also extend to a number of the major correlates of delinquency whose effects on crime are typically conceived in lifestyle terms. These results further indicate that the link between activity patterns and delinquency is different between males and females in the age group surveyed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akers, R. L. (1977).Deviant Behavior: A Social Learning Approach, Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif.
Akers, R. L., Krohn, M., Lanza-Kaduce, L., and Radosevich, M. (1979). Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general theory.Am. Sociol. Rev. 44: 636–655.
Becker, H. S. (1963).Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, Free Press, New York.
Canter, R. (1982). Sex differences in self-report delinquency.Criminology 20: 373–393.
Chernkovich, S. A., and Giordano, P. C. (1979). A comparative analysis of male and female delinquency.Soc. Quart. 20: 131–145.
Cohen, L. E., Cantor, D., and Kluegel, J. R. (1981). Robbery victimization in the U.S.: An analysis of a nonrandom event.Am. Sociol. Rev. 44: 505–524.
Cusson, M. (1984).Why Delinquency? University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
Elliott, D. S., Huizinga, D., and Ageton, S. S. (1985).Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use, Sage, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Farrington, D. P. (1984). Personal communication.
Felson, M., and Gottfredson, M. (1984). Social indicators of adolescent activities near peers and parents. J. Marriage Family 709–714.
Feyerherm, W. H., and Hindelang, M. J. (1974). On the victimization of juveniles: Some preliminary results.J. Res. Crime Delinq. 11: 40–50.
Garofalo, J. (1987). Reassessing the lifestyle model of criminal victimization. In Gottfredson, M., and Hirschi, T. (eds.),Positive Criminology: Essays in Honour of Michael J. Hindelang, Sage, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Gottfredson, M. (1984).Victims of Crime: The Dimensions of Risk, Home Office Research Study No. 81, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.
Hindelang, M. L. (1976). With a little help from their friends: Group participation in reported delinquent behavior.Br. J. Criminol. 16: 109–125.
Hirschi, T. (1969).Causes of Delinquency, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Hough, M., and Mayhew, P. (1983).The British Crime Survey: First Report, Home Office Research Study No. 76, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.
Mawby, R. (1980). Sex and crime: The results of a self-report study.Br. J. Sociol. 31: 525–543.
Richards, P. (1981). Quantitative and qualitative sex differences in middle-class delinquency.Criminology 18: 453–470.
Richards, P., Berk, R. A., and Forster, B. (1979).Crime as Play: Delinquency in a Middle-Class Suburb, Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass.
Riley, D. (1986).Sex Differences in Teenage Crime: The Role of Lifestyle, RPU Bulletin No. 20, Home Office, London.
Riley, D., and Shaw, M. (1985).Parental Supervision and Juvenile Delinquency, Home Office Research Study No. 83, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.
Sarnecki, J. (1983).Fritid Och Bottslighet, National Council for Crime Prevention, Stockholm, Sweden.
Shaw, C., and McKay, D. (1931).Social Factors in Juvenile Delinquency, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Smith, S. (1982). Victimization in the inner city.Br. J. Criminol 22: 386–402.
Solicitor-General of Canada (1983).Victims of Crime: Preliminary Findings of the Canadian Urban Victimization Survey. Bulletin No. 1, Programs Branch, Research and Statistics Group, Ministry of the Solicitor-General, Ottawa.
Sparks, R. F. (1982).Research on Victims of Crime: Accomplishments, Issues and New Directions, National Institute of Mental Health, Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency, Rockville, Md.
Tuck, M., and Riley, D. (1986). The theory of reasoned action: A decision theory of crime. In Cornish, D. B., and Clarke, R. V. (eds.)The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending, Springer-Verlag, The Hague.
van Dijk, J., and Steinmetz, C. (1980).The RDC Victim Surveys, 1974–79, Report No. XXXV, Research and Documentation Centre, Ministry of Justice, The Hague.
Wolfgang, M. E., Figlio, R. M., and Sellin, T. (1972).Delinquency in a Birth Cohort, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Zimring, F. E. (1981). Kids, groups and crime: Some implications of a well-known secret.J. Crim. Law Criminol. 72: 867–885.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Riley, D. Time and crime: The link between teenager lifestyle and delinquency. J Quant Criminol 3, 339–354 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066835
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066835