Introduction
The researchers closely relate age factors to criminal habits. The main challenge of their research study is that they do not accord appropriate attention to the issue of change. The aspect of social bonds is crucial because it helps criminal adherents to desist from abominable acts. Social bonds can be likened to investments. The authors observe that just like businessmen secure their investments, parents must also enhance social bonds in their children in order to boost their growth and accrue benefits. Laub, Nagim and Sampson agree on “the fact that desistance from crime may be gradual and must accompany the accumulation of the social bonds” (229). A selection process must define the relationship between social bonds and desistance.
Data and methods
Three researchers collected the data. They conducted their research between 1950 and 1975. They monitored the lives of 500 boys until they reached the age of 25 years. They also interviewed the people who were close to these individuals like their teachers, social workers, neighbors, employers and criminal justice workers. The researchers also collected information from public and private agencies. They interpreted the data together with the findings of the interviews.
They used several key measures like assessing the verbal intelligence of the boys using the Wechsler – Bellevue IQ Test. They subjected the scores to a coding system. They also used personality traits and analyzed the habits of the men when they were young.
Another key indicator exploited by the intellectuals was the family backgrounds of the individuals. The researchers observed the stability of the individuals’ families, the number of children in their families and the behavioral characteristics of their parents. The researchers also analyzed the parenting styles of the boys’ parents and guardians. The observers measured teenage behavior based on how regularly the authorities arrested a boy below 17 years. They also examined reports from the boys’ teachers and parents and evaluated their behaviors and estimated them on measurement of one to twenty-six. The behavior variables on the measurement scale comprised of issues like disobedience and theft. The researchers observed the individuals’ official criminal records from the relevant authorities until they reached the age of 32. They assessed the manner in which the individuals interact with each other until they attained the adult age. The observers accorded attention to the individuals’ capacity to maintain their jobs for reasonable periods of time. The researchers focused on the married lives of young men. They took an interest in finding out whether the men engaged in marriage before attainment of age thirty-two. The observers calculated the time the individuals took to get babies after marriage (Laub, Nagim and Sampson, 227).
The researchers noted that the individuals who engaged in marriage at an early age developed strong relationships with their spouses. Criminal action takes a lot of time to stop. Criminals reform gradually. The criminal behavior of a person develops as he grows and reaches its peak at the age of 18. It may then start to decline after the age of 18. This decline depends on the individuality of a person. In certain people, it may take longer and others a short time.
Results
The observers presented the results in two stages. According to the first stage analysis, persons in this unit remained active in crime during the whole observation period. The researchers observed that at the age of 25, the numbers of arrests of the young men were three per year, and they were reduced to two arrests at the age of 32.
In the second group, individuals also remained active in crime. The observers noted that the number of arrests per year is eight at the age of 32. In groups three and four, the individuals were active in crime during their adolescence years but reduced their criminal activities significantly upon the attainment of age 32. This aspect means that, on average, the individuals in the four groups may prevent their criminal acts because the number of arrests may drastically reduce.
Individuals from small families have a higher possibility of desisting from criminal acts than those from big families. On a social dimension, adults are likely to experience unstable families that include divorce and separation. Individuals who engage in marriage at the age of 32 and have stable jobs are also likely to develop strong social bonds. According to the second stage analysis, individuals who marry and prosper in their marriage life may likely stop their criminal indulgences immediately. Happy marriages may help in the maintenance and restoration of good moral behavior. Inclusion of children’s arrests frequency rates may prevent continuous heterogeneity. Marriage is an aspect whose quality is dependent on time. The second analysis focuses on time as a model that defines positive progress in behavior change. Time determines the offending rates of criminals. Strong marriage influences improvement with time. Failed marriages increase the possibility of indulgence in criminal activities for individuals. The second study shows reductions in the rate of crimes when individuals engage in marriage. Marriage is a factor that can help to fight crime according to the research. Individuals must, however, enter into real marriage commitments.
The analysis portrays violent and property crimes. Marriage plays a critical role in the prevention of crimes though it is not the sole determinant. The willingness to change for an individual also plays a critical part in the prevention of a crime.
Difficult concepts
In the second stage analysis, I did not understand the coefficients from Poisson’s regression of arrest rates on the timing and quality of marriage. I did not also understand the second diagram that depicts the mathematical calculations about marriage index values on youth delinquency and group affiliation.
I failed to comprehend the manner in which parenting style as a unit was used to determine variables that depict the discipline and ways of holding parents accountable for their sons’ indiscipline.
Conclusion
This study observes a clear trajectory of criminality that is determined by the age factor as indicated by the crime curve. The timing and quality of marriage are essential components in the fight against crime, in society. Early marriages characterized by strong social bonds may bring about crime prevention. This research may not identify the signs of a good marriage based on the prevention of crime. The findings of this research may, however, be improved by additional studies in order to create improvements in this field of knowledge.
Works Cited
Laub John, Daniel Nagin and Robert Sampson. “Trajectories of change in criminal offending: Good marriages and the Desistance Process.” American Sociological Review 1.3 (1998):225-238. Print.