ABSTRACT
Many investigators have addressed the question of specialization (Bursik, 1980; Klein, 1980; Phillpotts & Lancucki, 1979; Wolfgang, Figlio, & Sellin, 1972), and their conclusions have varied considerably. One major reason for this variation appears to be the differing definitions that are applied to the term specialization. For example, Wolfgang et al. (1972) have defined specialization as two contiguous offenses of the same type; they find no evidence for its occurrence at greater than chance levels. Phillpotts and Lancucki utilized a broader definition of specialization-a higher percentage of a single type of offending during a criminal career than would be expected to occur by chance alone-and found that it does exist.
