OFFENDING PATTERNS IN CRIMINAL CAREERS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF CONVICTED OFFENDERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63177/isc.2026.06Keywords:
criminal career, offending patterns, specialization, versatility, escalationAbstract
This paper examines selected patterns of offending within the criminal careers of convicted offenders, with a particular focus on specialization (in contrast to versatility) and escalation in offense seriousness. The study is grounded in the criminal career paradigm and life-course criminology, which emphasize the analysis of offending as a dynamic process unfolding over time. The analysis is based on official institutional data derived from correctional practice, using a standardized assessment instrument applied in the classification and evaluation of convicted offenders. Rather than reconstructing complete criminal careers, the study focuses on how selected patterns of offending are identified through institutional assessments of the relationship between current and prior offending. Adopting an exploratory approach, the paper aims to provide an initial empirical insight into the applicability of institutional data for examining key patterns of offending within criminal careers. In doing so, it contributes to the existing literature by addressing a relatively underexplored empirical context and by highlighting both the analytical potential and methodological limitations of such data in the study of criminal careers.
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