TY - JOUR PY - 2003// TI - An analysis of the self-control and criminal versatility of gang and dating violence offenders JO - Violence and victims A1 - Chapple, Constance L. A1 - Hope, Trina L. SP - 671 EP - 690 VL - 18 IS - 6 N2 - 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.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0886-6708 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -