Sex and the age of onset

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Figure 27 shows the distribution of ages of onset, disaggregated by sex. The curves are similar to the overall curve (Figure 25), except that onset peaks for boys at 16 years of age, at 4.9% of the male population of the cohort, and for girls at 15, at 2.6%. Defining early onset as occurring before the 12th birthday, 2.6% of male cohort members, or 13% of recorded male offenders were early onset; the figures for girls are 0.7% of cohort members and 7% of recorded offenders.1

Figure 27 The age of onset of recorded delinquency from ages 5 to 17, by sex. Opens a new browser window.

Figure 27
The age of onset of recorded delinquency from ages 5 to 17, by sex

Note

  1. This is the sum of the numbers of persons experiencing early onset at the ages of 5 to 11 inclusive. Only 0.4% of male cohort members, or 1% of recorded male offenders up to 17 years old, had very early onset (before the 8th birthday); the number are much lower among girls: 0.05% of female cohort members, or 0.3% of recorded female offenders. If early onset is defined as occurring before the 14th birthday, then it includes 7.5% of male cohort members, or 41% of recorded male offenders; and 3.4% of female cohort members, or 38% of recorded female offenders.