@article{ref1,
title="Investigating the stability of co‐offending and co‐offenders among a sample of youthful offenders",
journal="Criminology",
year="2008",
author="McGloin, Jean Marie and Sullivan, Christopher J. and Piquero, Alex R. and Bacon, Sarah",
volume="46",
number="1",
pages="155-188",
abstract="Scholars have long argued that delinquency is a group phenomenon. Even so, minimal research exists on the nature, structure, and process of co-offending. This investigation focuses on a particular void, namely the stability of 1) co-offending and 2) co-offender selection over time, for which divergent theoretical expectations currently exist that bear on issues central to general and developmental/life-course theories of crime. By relying on individual-level, longitudinal data for a sample of juvenile offenders from Philadelphia, we find that distinct trajectories of co-offending exist over the course of the juvenile criminal career. This inquiry also develops an individualized measure of co-offender stability, which reveals that delinquents generally tend not to “reuse” co-offenders, although frequent offenders show a greater propensity to do so. The discussion considers the theoretical and policy implications of these findings as well as provides some avenues for future research.<p />",
language="en",
issn="0011-1384",
doi="10.1111/j.1745-9125.2008.00105.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2008.00105.x"
}