TY - JOUR
T1 - Life domains and crime
T2 - A test of Agnew's general theory of crime and delinquency
AU - Ngo, Fawn T.
AU - Paternoster, Raymond
AU - Cullen, Francis T.
AU - Mackenzie, Doris Layton
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper was supported in part by 2003-DB-BX-0004, awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, coordinates the activities of the program offices and bureaus. Points of view or opinions contained within this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Funding was provided by the State of Maryland, Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention , BYRN-2002-1286 , to the University of Maryland.
PY - 2011/7
Y1 - 2011/7
N2 - Purpose: This study presents a preliminary test of Agnew's general theory of crime and delinquency. This study examines whether each of the five life domain variables at the core of Agnew's theory is related to recidivism, whether there is a non-linear relationship between the life domains and recidivism, and whether the five life domains interact in causing recidivism. Methods: Data were derived from the baseline survey of the Maryland Boot Camp Experiment and through a criminal records check conducted by the Maryland Department of Public Safety. Results: Overall, the results lend weak support for Agnew's general theory. In particular, only two of the five life domains, having a bad job and being a high school dropout, are significantly correlated with recidivism. Further, with the exception of the peers domain, there is neither a linear nor a non-linear relationship between the life domains and recidivism. The results also reveal that none of the two-way bivariate interactions are significant in a multivariate linear probability model. Conclusions: Although our findings are not supportive of Agnew's (2005) general theory of crime, the theory contains many other implications that we simply did not have the data to address.
AB - Purpose: This study presents a preliminary test of Agnew's general theory of crime and delinquency. This study examines whether each of the five life domain variables at the core of Agnew's theory is related to recidivism, whether there is a non-linear relationship between the life domains and recidivism, and whether the five life domains interact in causing recidivism. Methods: Data were derived from the baseline survey of the Maryland Boot Camp Experiment and through a criminal records check conducted by the Maryland Department of Public Safety. Results: Overall, the results lend weak support for Agnew's general theory. In particular, only two of the five life domains, having a bad job and being a high school dropout, are significantly correlated with recidivism. Further, with the exception of the peers domain, there is neither a linear nor a non-linear relationship between the life domains and recidivism. The results also reveal that none of the two-way bivariate interactions are significant in a multivariate linear probability model. Conclusions: Although our findings are not supportive of Agnew's (2005) general theory of crime, the theory contains many other implications that we simply did not have the data to address.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960836892&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79960836892&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2011.03.006
DO - 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2011.03.006
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:79960836892
SN - 0047-2352
VL - 39
SP - 302
EP - 311
JO - Journal of Criminal Justice
JF - Journal of Criminal Justice
IS - 4
ER -