Criminal Careers Prior to Recruitment into Italian Organized Crime

Despite growing evidence about heterogeneous pathways leading individuals into organized crime, there is limited knowledge about the differences in the criminal career between individuals who entered criminal organizations in their youth and those who joined at an older age. This study assesses the differences between early and late recruits in the Italian mafias through logistic regressions considering several criminal career parameters computed on the period prior to recruitment. Results show that recruitment in the mafias is far from a homogenous process. Early recruits report an early criminal onset, lower educational attainment, more serious offenses within a shorter time-span, and more frequent violent co-offending; late recruits show a later onset, more prolific and versatile-but less serious-offending.

Automated summary

This study explores the differences between early and late recruits in Italian mafias and finds that their criminal careers differ in various aspects. Early recruits start their criminal activities at a young age, have lower educational attainment, engage in more serious offenses within a shorter time frame, and frequently participate in violent co-offending. Late recruits, on the other hand, start their criminal activities at a later age and engage in more varied but less serious offending behavior.