Artikel

Leeftijd en criminaliteit

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Abstract

Age and criminality - This study deals with the relationship between age and criminality, especially in connection with the difference between male and female. All data refer to the period of 1900 to 1963 and are mainly taken from the Criminal Statistics of Belgium. First of all, we observed the age class with the heaviest charge. The general tendency of criminality figures is that the peak among females shows up later than among males : under 25 years for males and over 25 years for females. Afterwards we studied the dispersion of the several age classes and discovered that female criminality is widerly spread over the older classes than the male one. The deviations between age classes are thus smaller among female than among male. But, we must notice that after 1930 the larger dispersion cannot be so easily established as it was before. This is caused by a less heavy charge of the older age classes. However, the very last years a new trend toward the older situation has been noticed. Finally the start age of criminality has been checked. Exact data are hard to get. It seems that this age comes later with female than with male. In a later section the age structure of theft and voluntary wounding has been studied. For both delicts it seems that relatively among male the younger age classes are more heavily charged and among female the older classes, which corresponds entirely with the information about general criminality. Comparison between both delicts teaches that theft marks more the younger age classes than agressive criminality, which is very clear for the female.

How to Cite:

Versichelen, M. & Schepens, E., (1967) “Leeftijd en criminaliteit”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 12(4), 391–420. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95782