Crime and the transition to adulthood

The transition to adulthood is characterized by a density of important transitional events that include leaving school, entering employment, establishing independent residence, marrying and becoming a parent. Life-course researchers have shown that the way one navigates these transitions has long-term implications across life domains. This dissertation focuses on boys whose urban living environments, socioeconomic backgrounds, and behavioral problems place them at heightened risk of "precarious" transitioning and prolonged criminal offending. I take a person-centered methodological approach in order to explore and illuminate the typical pathways in which these vulnerable youth traverse the entire set of five transitions. Bringing together three classic criminological datasets, I compare these patterns across three social contexts: 1940s Boston, 1970s London and 1990s Pittsburgh. I find that three pathways typify the transitional experiences of at-risk youth: a work and education minded pathway, an early family starter pathway and a stalled transitioner pathway. The work and education minded pathway is the most ideal in terms of fitting societal expectations emphasizing work and education at this early stage of the transition to adulthood. The early family starter and stalled pathways are more precarious. Both are characterized by early school leaving and parenthood, and are more often taken by juvenile delinquents. Importantly, the early family starters combine these events with early entry into marriage and stable employment and are less likely to offend in adulthood. Thus I argue that the early family starter pathway is transformative in the lives of criminal offenders. Unfortunately, this transformative pathway is less likely in the 1990s Pittsburgh context, particularly among Black transitioners. Early school leavers are less likely to move readily into stable employment, largely because stable employment opportunities are less available in today's inner-city environments. Early and unwed parents are less likely to marry young, largely because out-of-wedlock parenting does not precipitate marriage to the extent it once did. In short, at-risk youth today face more constrained transitions to adulthood. Those who begin their transitions to adulthood precariously are more likely to become stalled and more likely to offend in adulthood.