Differential prediction of young adult arrests for property and personal crimes: findings of a cohort follow-up study of violent boys from North Carolina's Willie M Program.

Which characteristics of violent youth predict adult arrest for property crimes (e.g. burglary), and for personal crimes (e.g. assault)? We addressed this question by focusing on a group of particularly violent and assaultive boys. Separate logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict property and personal crime arrests as a function of adolescent psychiatric diagnosis, behavior problem history, race and IQ. Property crime arrest was predicted by an adolescent history of property offenses, conduct disorder diagnosis, and race (more arrests among non-whites than whites). Personal crime arrest was predicted by adolescent history of property offenses and adolescent history of substance abuse.