The Relationship Between Co-Offending, Age, and Experience Using a Sample of Adult Burglary Offenders

Purpose: This study uses a sample of adult offenders to examine the relationships among age, co-offending, and within-person changes in criminal experience. Methods: Burglary co-offending network data in one Pennsylvania county are analyzed to assess (1) the relationship between age and co-offending in a two-level framework, (2) the relationship between age and co-offender selection in a network regression model (MRQAP), and (3) within-person changes in experience and co-offending. Results: Age predicts co-offending: younger offenders co-offend most often, while older offenders co-offend least often. Moreover, as offenders gain experience, the number of co-offenders per offense significantly decreases. Within-person analyses indicate that the best model of the transition from co-offending to solo offending includes age, experience, and the interaction of age and experience. Importantly, the effects of experience in reducing co-offending are significantly greater for older than younger offenders. Conclusions: The results of the current study indicate that both age and experience must be included in future research on the transition from co-offending to solo-offending. The current study is limited to sentenced burglary offenders in one county. Future research should examine the effect of experience across offense types and across locations.