ABSTRACT
For decades, research has produced findings that a small percentage of offenders commit a majority of all crime (Cernkovich and Giordano, 2001; Croisdale, 2007; Farrington, 1992, 2003; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1986; Home Office, 2004, 2005; Johnson et al., 2004; Roberts, 2002; Wolfgang et al., 1972). In an initial analysis of the Philadelphia birth cohort data, Wolfgang et al., (1972) reported that only six per cent of the juveniles committed the bulk of all crime. Since that time, researchers in the United States have reported similar findings. Mednick (1977) found that one per cent of the male population accounted for more than 50 per cent of all crime, Wilson and Herrstein (1985) reported that chronic offenders account for 75 per cent of all crime, and Cohen (1984) provides 13 further estimates that some small percent of offenders commit a large percent, or the majority, of the crime committed (all in Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1986).
