Sex and the cumulative prevalence of delinquency

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Figure 14 shows the age-related cumulative prevalence of male and female offenders in the cohorts. Of course, male prevalence is higher at all ages, and it has not levelled off by the age of 17,¹ where it reaches a level of 25%, or one in 4 male cohort members. The annual increases in female prevalence appear to be diminishing after 15 years of age: by 17 years of age, 12% of the girls in the 1987 cohort had been identified as offenders. As Figure 15 shows, it is actually female prevalence which increases faster, relative to its level, at all ages up to 15. Even at 17, male and female cumulative prevalence are increasing at rates of 19% and 14%, respectively, of the previous year's rate: nothing like the increases of more than 100% per annum which characterize the early childhood years, but still very substantial.

Figure 14
The cumulative prevalence of recorded delinquency from ages 5 to 17, by sex

Figure 15
Relative changes in the cumulative prevalence of recorded delinquency from ages 6 to 17, by sex

Note

Although the rate of increase is slowing (Figure 14).