Young Offenders: A Review of Risk Factors for Criminal Behavior

Abstract

This paper presents a revision of risk factors associated with youth criminal behavior. The revision included scientific papers published between 1997 and 2003, the research being done with the following key words in English and Portuguese: young offender, delinquency, risk factors. Many studies described risk factors associated with criminal behavior in youth, such as family patterns with low level of affection, low cohesion and lack of supervision of their children’s activities, generalized indifference, poor interpersonal relations, low social-economic level, peer influence in terms of association with aggressive persons or drug users, isolation from people who do not behave criminally, personal attitudes, values and believes, high tolerance to deviance, behavioral history of exposure to risk situations, family distress, psychopathology, school problems, besides physiological and cognitive factors.

Keywords

• young offenders
• risk factors
• criminal behavior