Family Lead to Criminal Behaviour

a) How can an upbringing in a disrupted family explain criminal behaviour?

Upbringing is the environment in which a child is raised; it is comprised of many factors, such as parenting, financial and social status, peers, education siblings etc. Upbringing has been demonstrated to have a life-long effect on the behaviour of an individual.

Farrington et al. is a longitudinal survey of 411 South London males from age 8/9 to age 48/49. Criminality was higher among 75 boys who were living in permanently disrupted families on their 15th birthday, compared to boys living in un-disrupted families. Results were based on either convictions or self-confession during interviews. Criminality was similar in disrupted families and in un-disrupted, but high conflict families. Boys who lost their mothers were more likely to be delinquent than boys who lost their fathers, and disruptions caused by parental disharmony were more damaging than disruptions caused by the death of a parent. Boys from disrupted families who continued living with their mothers had similar criminality to boys from un-disrupted, low conflict families. The vast majority of crimes committed by the group as a whole were committed by a group of around 25 males, who were "serial offenders" having committed 70% of all the crimes perpetrated. These 25 all shared similar factors, such as high juvenile delinquency, brought up in care, one or more convicted parent and delinquent peers as juveniles.

This study clearly shows a correlation between upbringing in a disrupted family, and turning to crime.