Research proposal. Analyzes findings, techniques & methodology of research on relationship among the size of age-group populations, criminal deviance, mental problems & drug/alcohol abuse.
Steffensmeier, Streifel and Shihadeh (1992) have noted that:
Involvement in crime generally diminishes after adolescence, implying that fluctuations in the age composition of a population may have a significant impact on overall crime rate. (p. 306)
Involvement in crime generally diminishes after adolescence, implying that fluctuations in the age composition of a population may have a significant impact on overall crime rate. (p. 306)
The authors provide an example in the dramatic increases in the rates of serious crime in American observed during the 1960s being linked to the rise in babies associated with the post-World-War II baby boom. Similarly, they note that the fact that these rates leveled off in the 1980s was associated with the post-1960s baby bust.
Given that there appears to be a systematic association…