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The Intergenerational Transmission of Violent Offending

  • CYCLE OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE
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Abstract

The current study examines the intergenerational transmission and concentration of violent offending using conviction data of 3,440 persons from three consecutive generations from the Dutch Transfive study. Violent offending is more concentrated within nuclear families than non-violent offending, and the intergenerational transmission of violent offending is stronger than the intergenerational transmission of non-violent offending. Due to the low prevalence of violent offending by women, only transmission from father to son is studied. Paternal violent offending before the birth of the son does not increase the son’s risk to become violent, while paternal violent offending during the son’s childhood and adolescence does. These results suggest that exposure to paternal violence plays an important role in the intergenerational transmission of violent offending.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Steve G. A. van de Weijer & Catrien C. J. H. Bijleveld

  2. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, PO Box 71304, 1008 BH Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Catrien C. J. H. Bijleveld & Arjan A. J. Blokland

  3. Institute for Criminal Law & Criminology, Leiden University, PO Box 9520, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands

    Arjan A. J. Blokland

Authors
  1. Steve G. A. van de Weijer
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  2. Catrien C. J. H. Bijleveld
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  3. Arjan A. J. Blokland
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Correspondence to Steve G. A. van de Weijer.

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van de Weijer, S.G.A., Bijleveld, C.C.J.H. & Blokland, A.A.J. The Intergenerational Transmission of Violent Offending. J Fam Viol 29, 109–118 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9565-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9565-2

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