The findings, from the first five years of a detailed study of 700 young people aged between 12 and 16, indicate that most adolescent crime results from a combination of “personal vulnerabilities and environmental inducements”.
The study began in 2002, with around one in three year 7 children from Peterborough schools taking part - including some not in the mainstream school system.
The findings show that certain urban environments, where there is less “social cohesion”, provide triggers for crime to which some teenagers are more vulnerable.
However other teenagers remain highly resistant to the potential to commit crime, regardless of the circumstances.
The study suggests that a key reason why some young people do not commit crime is that their morality prevents them from seeing crime as a possible course of action.
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