Aging, peers, and the propensity for crime : a contextual analysis of criminal decision making

This thesis is a study of the influence of social context on criminal decision making. The specific focus is the effect of aging and peers upon the individual offender's assessment of the risks and benefits of crime. The study investigates the proposition that as male habitual property offenders age, the sociality or group nature of their criminal decision making decreases. Consequently, the legal and extralegal risks of crime are more clearly perceived by the aging offender, with the potential rewards of crime becoming correspondingly assessed as less valuable. Young offenders are highly influenced by peers and pay little attention to the legal and extralegal risks of crime. As offenders age into the mid-twenties and beyond, the influence of peers decreases and the deterrent effect of legal and extralegal sanctions increases. These changes reflect increasing desire by offenders to assess rationally the risks and benefits of crime.