Northeastern University Risk Factors for Delinquency & Violence Exposure Discussion

Risk factors for delinquency and later criminal offending are extensive and cover many domains, including the individual, family, school, and community. The research literature on risk factors for delinquency and criminal offending consistently reports that the family domain is the most important; that is, family problems are usually the best predictors of a child committing delinquent acts or becoming a chronic offender.

In the book chapter by Farrington et al. (2014), the authors discuss the importance of family- level risk factors for delinquency and later criminal offending. Begin by describing a risk factor in general. Along with a scientific explanation, indicate how you might describe the concept of a risk factor to a friend who does not have a background in criminology. Also, identify and briefly describe three of the most important family-level risk factors.