Definition
The age-crime curve describes a remarkably stable empirical pattern: official and self-reported offending rises steeply during early adolescence, peaks in the mid-to-late teens (around 16-19 for most crime types), and then declines sharply through the twenties and more gradually through the rest of adult life. The curve appears in nearly every population for which data exist — across cultures, decades, and offence types.
It is one of the few generalisations in criminology that is genuinely lawful in form. Its existence is not in dispute; its explanation is. Competing theories invoke brain maturation, peer-group dynamics, situational opportunity, the transition to adult social roles, or some combination of these.
Why it matters
Where it shows up
The age-crime curve underwrites arguments for juvenile-justice diversion, raising the age of criminal responsibility, treating adolescents differently in sentencing (a constitutional principle in the US since Roper v. Simmons), and focusing intensive intervention resources on the small persistent minority rather than the large transient majority.