What is it about?
Self-reported offences are compared for those who have been convicted and those who have not. There are important similarities and differences. The main qualitative difference is the way convicted criminals use their crimes to achieve distinct ends, whereas those without convictions are more opportunist.
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Why is it important?
As far as we can tell this is the first time such comparisons have been made. The results question the common criminological assumption that criminals are distinctly different from the rest of the population.
Perspectives
This is part of a series of studies we have conducted that show there is a continuum of criminality across the population. Crime, in this perspective, is an extreme aspect of legal activities.
Professor David Canter
University of Liverpool
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: When is an offender not a criminal? Instrumentality distinguishes self-reported offending of criminals, Journal of Criminal Psychology, September 2014, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/jcp-09-2013-0025.
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