| The notion that peers and co-offenders contribute to crime and violence is inherent to the criminological and psychological literatures. Yet, few studies rely on crimes committed by offenders and their accomplices, and even fewer track the criminal behavior patterns, both violent and non-violent, of offenders and their accomplices. In an attempt to inform and advance the literature on co-offending and violence, the present study tests whether, after accounting for the effects of the age at first crime, the tendency to commit violent crimes is greater among individuals who commit their first co-offense with violent accomplices than among individuals who commit their first co-offense only with non-violent accomplices.;Data for all crimes known to the Philadelphia police were gathered for two samples of offenders: (1) the eligible random sample (235 non-violent offenders drawn from a random sample of individuals arrested under age 18 in Philadelphia during 1987) and (2) the accomplice sample (381 co-offenders involved in the first co-offense committed the eligible random sample).;The dependent variables (number of violent crimes, proportion of violent crimes, and percent of offenders who ever commit a violent crime) were operationalized in terms of all crimes (juvenile and adult) committed by the eligible random sample after their first co-offense. The independent variables were (1) committing the first co-offense with a violent accomplice and (2) committing the first co-offense with a violent accomplice or committing a violent crime as the first co-offense.;Results indicate that an offender's violent criminal behavior can be predicted from the prior violence of his or her accomplices. More precisely, whether they committed their first crime under age 15 or beyond age 14, non-violent offenders who first co-offend with at least one violent accomplice are more likely to commit a subsequent violent crime than are offenders who first co-offend only with non-violent accomplices. Results are interpreted in terms of differential association theory, social learning theory, and Construct theory (McCord, 1997). |
