As children grow up, they might safely assume that their aspirations do not include becoming a criminal. Nonetheless, the years of innocence will fade for some as they approach the treacherous teenage years. Activities such as birthday parties and sleepovers or trips to the movies and the mall constitute most adolescents’ days; however, for some, a life filled with criminal activity is just beginning. According to Siegel (2017), “As a general rule, the peak age for property crime is believed to be 16, and for violence, 18” (p. 51). While the correlation between age and crime is one that criminologists have studied for years, additional factors also contribute to the overall discovery that criminal involvement rises from the ages of 15-19 and then begins to decrease in the early 20-year olds.
