The Career Criminal

The career criminal

The career criminal, or, more pointedly, those individuals who participate in criminal acts on a

regular basis for both a central and constant source of income has, generally, a specific set of

identifying factors which, while conclusive in laymen's terms, fail to meet the criteria necessary

for scientific inquiry. While definitions exist as to what a career criminal is, the research

methods employed in determining these definitions are a large point of contention for criminal

justice theorists, especially due to their potential and virtually imminent inclusion to modern

hypothesis on the subject. These research methods include longitudinal data collection and

compilation, cross-sectional data collection and compilation, and, as at least one group of

theorists argue, the most efficient method, informative interviewing.

The longitudinal research method employs a data collection technique which focuses on the

duration of a particular act--in this case, the so-called criminal career--based not upon

specific incidents, but the length of time measured between such acts (Blumstein, Cohen, and

Farrington, 1988). That is, an individual's propensity for criminal conduct in a so-called

career mode would be measured first by the original act as an origin, then with the succeeding

acts, until a final point became evident. Therefore, such a research method would logically

c...

The Career Criminal

Login

Join