Using Life History Plots to Visualize Criminal Careers

Abstract

Developmental criminology suggests that the elements of one’s criminal career (such as specialization or frequency) are best captured through an understanding of their dynamic properties. To that end, this article introduces the Life History Plot: a graphic approach to understanding the important events that take place in an individual’s criminal and personal history. Each plot provides a visualization of the individual’s criminal history as well as marriage, children, employment, military service, time in custody, foster care, psychiatric history, and serious accidents. Life History Plots were created for a selection of chronic sexual offenders drawn from the Massachusetts Treatment Center Database. This article details the methods used to create the plots and encourages further exploration of data visualization techniques in criminology. Life History Plots make an important contribution to the field by allowing multiple aspects of an individual’s life to be instantly observed in a single graphic. This is a valuable tool that provides a visual summary of an individual’s life. Its utility for both research and clinical work is discussed.