Co-Offending And Juvenile Crimes

The bulk of past research on co-offending has focused on juveniles and nonviolent offenses. For these studies three major themes are found; co-offenders are younger than their solo-offending counterparts, co-offenders commit more serious/violent offenses, and individuals offend with peers of similar demographics. The current study expands this knowledge base to include violent offenses, specifically homicide. A statistical analysis, including chi square tests for independence and independent samples t-tests, was conducted on homicide data in the United States in 2010. The analysis found that patterns in age and homogeneity of groups help true in homicide but seriousness of the offense was not affected by co-offending. Adolescence is a period …show more content…
That being said, co-offending is too important to ignore. First, it is impossible to say how many crimes are stopped by punishment or get a true picture of offenders if co-offending is not taken into account, and second, co-offending sets the stage for continued crime and delinquency for offenders (Zimring, 1981; Felson, 2003). Those involved in co-offending continue to commit more offenses and are more likely to commit more serious offenses then their solo-offending counterparts (Carrington, 2002; Sarnecki, 2001; Zimring 1981). The bulk of current co-offending research focuses on property crimes and juveniles. There is very little that focuses on violent offenses although current research finds that co-offenders commit more violent crimes, but these studies do not differentiate between different types of violent offenses (McCord & Conway, 1996). It is important to focus on violent offenses, such as homicide, because even though homicide rates have been decreasing over the past decade, it is still 4.7 per 100,000 in the United States (Cooper & Smith, …show more content…
Violent offenses have historically had the lowest levels of co-offending (Reiss & Farrington, 1991). This could be because violent offenses are more likely to be committed by older individuals and co-offending is more common for juveniles (Reiss & Farrington, 1991). Carrington (2002) found that violent crime co-offending rates were only 17%, but of that 17% the more serious offenses were the most likely to be committed in groups. This includes robbery, arson, and homicide; and that guns are more likely to be used in group offenses than in solo offenses. There is other evidence that suggests that co-offending should be more prevalent for homicide and other violent offenses. Multiple studies have shown that those involved in co-offending offend more frequently and at more serious levels (Carrington, 2002; Sarnecki, 2001; Warr, 2002; Zimring, 1981). Furthermore, when seriousness of the offense is taken into account—based on weapon type, or injury to the victim—the more serious the offense, the more likely that a group committed it (Carrington, 2002). The current research will focus on whether these trends hold true for homicides; homogenous co-offending groups, co-offenders being younger than solo-offenders, and co-offenders being more violent than