title: Assessing the nature and mix of offences among serious adolescent offenders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Much of the research on specialisation in offending tends to show that offending careers are marked by more versatile than specific criminal activity. One key limitation of this research has been that very few studies have used both official records and self-reports to study the longitudinal mix of offences.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study uses longitudinal data to examine the mixture of offences during mid-adolescence and into early adulthood, a key transitionary period of the life course, using both self-reports and official records.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 1354 serious adolescent offenders are used to study the mixture of offences over a 7-year period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results point strongly to the conclusion that generality is typical and specialisation is exceptional.
authors.affiliation: University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brame
authors.forename: Edward P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Mulvey
authors.forename: Alex R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Piquero
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Schubert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000374:Aggression; D003416:Criminal Law; D057237:Criminals / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult