Eight factors of criminal conduct: Applicability in Mexican youth Ocho factores de la conducta criminal: Aplicabilidad en jóvenes mexicanos

Abstract

Objective: Identify which of the eight risk factors from Andrews and Bonta’s Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model (2010) are better predictors of criminal behavior in Mexican youth. Method: Variables from the Social Cohesion Survey for the Prevention of Violence and Crime (ECOPRED, 2014) were selected, which related with the eight risk factors from Andrews and Bonta’s RNR. These variables were synthesized by a factorial analysis. A binary logistic regression was carried out, the response variable was “having or not having a police arrest in the current year”, which allowed to generate a model with a better capacity to predict if young people
would undergo arrests. Results: In the generated model five of the eight risk factors interact: history of antisocial behavior, criminal association, substance abuse, poor family relationships, and problems at work and at school. Discussion: The obtained results show similarities with studies carried out in countries, in which the eight factors of the RNR model not always show up in the juvenile population, since there are factors (like age, culture, sex, or geography) that interact with the variables causing the increase or decrease of their influence on criminal behavior.