Citation

Antholz B. Forens. Psychiatr. Psychol. Kriminol. 2017; 11(2): 81-95.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11757-017-0424-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In Germany and worldwide there was a 30-year increase of deviant behavior in youth and in society from the middle of the 1960s. After the German and international (±1-2 years) crime climax in 1993, delinquency has fallen until the present day. Graphically, the course of the 30-year increase and the more than 20-year decrease of deviant behavior resembles the top sides of a triangle/roof and corresponds to the Greek capital letter Λ (lambda); therefore, the societal rise and fall of deviant behavior can be criminologically described as a Λ-deviance development (synonyms: Λ‑delinquency development, Λ‑crime curve). These sociological macrochanges and microchanges of a swelling of negatively connotated behavior from 1965 to 1993 and a decrease from 1993 to the present day are described. In this context 14 indicators are presented: data from the transparent field of police criminal statistics (PCS) are presented for murder, aggravated burglary, children, youth, adolescents and PCS frequency rates (total cases) and in addition the dark figures of victim research as well as the statistics for suicide, school dropout, convicted persons, prisoners and the history of criminal activity in the UK and the USA. From own surveys carried out in 2013 and 2016, the student Giessen delinquency survey series can be updated. Thus, data are available for the 50 years from 1966 to 2016 for offender dark figures of crime that confirm the Λ‑deviance development. © 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Language: de

Keywords

Dark figure survey; Λ‑crime curve; Λ‑delinquency history; Λ‑history of deviant behavior; Λ‑shape