title: An analysis of the self-control and criminal versatility of gang and dating violence offenders.
abstract: How versatile are gang and dating violence offenders? Current gang research highlights the versatility of gang members, yet the versatility of intimate violence offenders is often unexamined. Gottfredson and Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime (1990), support the idea of versatile rather than specialized offenders and suggests that low self-control is associated with a host of criminal and noncriminal risk-taking activities. Using data from a self-report sample of 1139 youths in grades 9 through 11, we investigated both the versatility of gang and dating violence offenders and theoretical variables associated with each. We find disproportionate offending by dating and gang violence offenders in a variety of crimes, as well as considerable overlap in the independent variables associated with both types of violence. Low levels of self-control and exposure to general and crime-specific criminal opportunities are significantly associated with engaging in dating and gang violence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 68588-0324, USA. cchapple2@unl.edu
authors.forename: Constance L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chapple
authors.forename: Trina L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Hope
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013694:Temperament; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence