THE MOFFIT DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF CRIME University of Wisconsin psychology professor Terrie Moffitt's developmental theory (Moffitt 1993)

begins with empirical research indicating that signs of persistent antisocial behavior can be detected early in life as early as the preschool years and e!tends to the idea that adolescent deviant behavior is greatly infl"enced by the behavior of peer gro"ps even after parental variables are ta#en into acco"nt$ The theory states that two gro"ps of antisocial yo"th can be disting"ished based on their ages of onset and tra%ectories of cond"ct problems$ These two gro"ps differ eno"gh to re&"ire separate ca"sal e!planations$ 't might be helpf"l to ill"strate some of the distinctions between these two gro"ps in the following table( The Dual Trajectories in the Origins of Conduct Disorder (CD) )*arly +tarters) ),ate +tarters) ,ife-co"rse-persistent (,./) offenders 0dolescent limited (0,) offenders 1+M-'2 cond"ct disorder( childhood- 1+M-'2 cond"ct disorder( adolescentonset type onset type Minor aggression (b"llying fighting) +erio"s aggression (m"gging forced se! lying h"rting animals biting and hitting "se of weapon) stealing r"nning away by age 3 tr"ancy brea#ing 4 entering ,ittle to no problems with peer re%ection6 5e"rological problems( attention deficit have learned how to get along with or hyperactivity others 7-189 of the male %"venile offender Ma%ority of %"venile offender pop"lation6 pop"lation (:9 females) ceases or stops offending aro"nd age 1; 1"ring the teenage years the two types are indisting"ishable and no e!isting paper-andpencil test for antisocial tendencies or psychopathy will be able to discriminate the two types$ That's beca"se many of the )late starters) will )begin) with rather serio"s delin&"ency and many of the )early starters) will be %"st )escalating) into serio"s delin&"ent behavior at abo"t the same time$ <eca"se many of the )late starters) may only be engaging in symbolic adolescent rebellion (perhaps beca"se something is forbidden) have "s"ally maintained empathy and avoided peer re%ection and are smart eno"gh to see the rewards in more socially approved behavior they "s"ally )dropo"t) or desist from any pathway toward crime$ 5ot so with the )early starters) (the most frequently studied group) who may only be precocio"sly escalating into serio"s offenses as a way of e!panding the versatility of their antisocial ways across all #inds of conditions and sit"ations$ 'n fact a tra%ectory toward versatility might be apparent with early starters at a very yo"ng age$ The research indicates that increasingly higher levels of early cond"ct problems are associated with increasingly higher levels of late cond"ct problems and Tremblay's (:883) research also shows that the best predictors of early starters are( having a target (sibling)6 parental separation before birth6 and low income$ 0ltho"gh the n"mber of early starters in the pop"lation of interest may only amo"nt to 7-189 of the total s"ch children and adolescents "s"ally acco"nt for more than 789 of

referrals to a"thorities and mental health services$ Their behavior is disr"ptive not only to a"thorities b"t to their peers and for this reason they e!perience significant amo"nts of peer re%ection$ 5ot only does this limit their chances for )getting ahead) on the basis of normal lasting relationships b"t their poor interpersonal or social skills are combined with three other prominent feat"res as follows and disc"ssed in separate paragraphs below(

hyperactive-impulsive-attention problems conduct problems belo -average intelligence or lo -!"

The first feat"re -- attention deficit=hyperactivity disorder (01>1) -- refers to a comple! set of behaviors characteri?ed by three central feat"res( (1) e!cessive motor activity (cannot sit still fidgets r"ns abo"t is tal#ative and noisy)6 (:) imp"lsivity (acts before thin#ing shifts &"ic#ly from one activity to another interr"pts others does not consider conse&"ences of behavior)6 and (3) inattention (does not seem to listen is easily distracted loses things necessary for essential tas#s)$ 01>+ sho"ld not be conf"sed with @11 (oppositional defiant disorder) which has the following cl"ster of symptoms( (1) arg"ing with ad"lts6 (:) ref"sing ad"lts' re&"ests6 (3) deliberately trying to annoy others6 (3) blaming others for mista#es6 and (7) being spitef"l or vindictive (Aosson et$ al$ :88:)$ 01>+ afflicts as many as :89 of 0merican school-age children boys more than girls (by a ratio of 9(1) and blac#s more than other ethnic gro"ps for debatable reasons ranging from spec"lations abo"t genetic predisposition to the possibility of e!pos"re to ha?ardo"s to!ins in blac# comm"nities$ Many people afflicted with 01>1 never )o"tgrow) it and theories abo"t the contin"ity of learning disabilities into ad"lthood are also controversial$ The most common treatment is methylphenidate also #nown as Bitalin b"t it has mi!ed effects and a s"ccessf"l treatment regimen for 01>1 has yet to be fo"nd$ .ond"ct problems refer to the variety of symptoms fo"nd in the diagnostic category of .ond"ct 1isorder (.1) and among delin&"ent yo"th these are "s"ally )co-occ"rring psychopathologies) that e!ist between one or more of these symptoms and 01>1 symptoms$ 'n fact <artol 4 <artol (:883) report on research indicating that as many as 789 of disr"ptive children e!hibit having the symptoms of .1 half the time and the symptoms of 01>1 the other half of the time$ 0ccording to the 0/0 the central feat"re of .1 is a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior that violates the rights of others and early-onset .1 generally begins before age 18$ +ymptoms of .1 incl"de stealing fire setting r"nning away tr"ancy destroying property fighting telling lies on a fre&"ent basis and being cr"el to animals and people$ 't is the consens"s of scholars that cond"ct disorder (.1) is ro"ghly the %"venile e&"ivalent of ad"lt antisocial personality disorder$ .ond"ct disorder typically gets worse as the child gets older and it is often misdiagnosed as a learning disability (beca"se there are fre&"ent problems with school assignments) whereas someone with a )tr"e) learning disability may not be cond"ct-disordered$ .1 afflicts abo"t 1C9 of the male pop"lation and abo"t 99 of the female pop"lation$ <elow-average intelligence or low 'D refers to a lower cognitive ability and slow lang"age development that at times is called by other names s"ch as )ne"ropsychological dysf"nction) or impairment of )e!ec"tive f"nctioning$) ,ow 'D is strongly associated with

an early age of onset for .ond"ct 1isorder (.1) and has a relationship to delin&"ency which holds even when socioeconomic stat"s (+*+) is controlled for$ 0n ; to 18 point difference is "s"ally fo"nd on any standard intelligence test comparing delin&"ents with nondelin&"ents$ There are some interesting findings regarding ethnic differences in how low-'D is related to delin&"ency as low-'D whites tend to follow a )s"sceptibility) pathway to the typical personality disorders and low-'D minorities (blac#s ,atinos and 0sians) tend to follow a )school fail"re) (being held bac#) pathway to lower )emotional intelligence) which res"lts in decreased empathy and violent misreading of emotional c"es from others$