Onset and persistence among young offenders during an exceptional event: Evidence from New South Wales, Australia

In developmental and life-course criminology, there has long been interest in the criminal career parameters of onset and persistence. No work has explored the extent to which these parameters were impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use data for 2004-born individuals in New South Wales from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) Reoffending Database (ROD) to examine how onset and persistence rates were affected. The cumulative rate of onset declined by 17 per cent compared with a cohort born 2 years earlier. We find few impacts on the persistence rate, but these offenders committed 10 per cent more property offences.