“Jockeys and Joyriders” Revisited: Young Offenders' Involvement in Motor Vehicle Thefts in the Province of Quebec

Abstract

In this article we assess the spillover effect of occupationally embedded criminal markets on patterns of juvenile delinquency. We interviewed a respondent-driven sample of 34 juvenile car theft offenders in Montreal as well as a convenience sample of 13 incarcerated adolescents who also had been involved in car thefts. Subjects were asked to provide a portrait of their careers in car theft. Patterns of co-offending, criminal achievements, apprehension avoidance tactics, and occupational background of fathers are analysed. Joyriders (involved in temporary retention thefts) and jockeys (involved in theft-for-sale thefts) are compared across criminal career characteristics.