Crime families : gender and the intergenerational transfer of criminal tendencies / Vanessa Goodwin and Brent Davis.

Canberra : Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011.

78584

Juvenile delinquents -- Family relationships -- Tasmania.

Juvenile delinquents -- Sex differences -- Tasmania.

Juvenile delinquency -- Tasmania -- Prevention.

Children of criminals -- Tasmania.

Criminal behaviour, Prediction of -- Tasmania.

While it has been established that there is an intergenerational transmission of criminal behaviour (ie crime can run through generations in families), the role of gender in the intergenerational transfer of criminality has not been fully explored. The impact of a father's criminality on the subsequent offending of his sons and grandsons has been established, but the impact of a father's criminality on the offending of his daughter and the impact of a mother's criminal history on the offending of her sons and/or daughters is less clear. This Tasmanian study of six known criminal families identifies clear differences in the intergenerational transfer of criminality from mothers to their sons and daughters. The influence of paternal (a father's) criminality on children of both genders is strong, but is particularly strong for male children. The more severe the criminal offending history, the greater likelihood of intergenerational transmission. To prevent the cycle of crime, policymakers should focus their attention on reducing environmental risk through intervention programs targeting children known to be at increased risk of involvement in crime due to the criminality of their parents. Such interventions should incorporate attempts to address the children's perceptions of themselves as 'criminals' in order to reduce the risk of 'self fulfilling prophecy'.

Title from title caption of PDF document (viewed on May 16, 2011).

"May 2011".

Includes bibliographical references (p. 6).

Text and graphics.

1836-2206

1 online resource.