Liao Pei-An, Chang Hung-Hao, Su Yi-Ju
Department of Economics, Shih Hsin University, Taipei, 11645, Taiwan.
Risk Anal. 2014 Dec;34(12):2080-8. doi: 10.1111/risa.12232. Epub 2014 Jun 12.
Juvenile crime affects not only the victims of the crime but also the delinquents' future. How to prevent adolescent criminal behavior has become an important public policy issue. This study contributes to this interesting issue by examining the relationship between tattooing and adolescents' criminal behavior. In particular, this study investigates whether or not having a tattoo/tattoos is connected to the incidence of various criminal activities, including: larceny, robbery, fraud, assault, drug use, and homicide. A unique sample of 973 juvenile detainees drawn from the administrative profiles in Taiwan and the coarsened exact matching method were utilized. Results show that compared to their nontattooed counterparts, tattooed juvenile detainees were significantly more likely to commit fraud, assault, drug abuse, and homicide by 3%, 13%, 9%, and 9%, respectively. In contrast, tattooing was not significantly associated with larceny or robbery. From a policy perspective, given the significant link between tattooing and criminal behavior, the presence of a tattoo in adolescents may serve as a valuable indicator regarding adolescents' high probability of committing crimes.
青少年犯罪不仅影响犯罪行为的受害者，还关乎违法青少年的未来。如何预防青少年犯罪行为已成为一个重要的公共政策问题。本研究通过考察纹身与青少年犯罪行为之间的关系，对这一有趣的问题做出了贡献。具体而言，本研究调查了有纹身是否与包括盗窃、抢劫、欺诈、攻击、吸毒和杀人在内的各种犯罪活动的发生率有关。本研究使用了从台湾行政档案中抽取的973名青少年被拘留者的独特样本，并采用了精确匹配法。结果显示，与没有纹身的青少年被拘留者相比，有纹身的青少年被拘留者实施欺诈、攻击、吸毒和杀人行为的可能性分别显著高出3%、13%、9%和9%。相比之下，纹身与盗窃或抢劫没有显著关联。从政策角度来看，鉴于纹身与犯罪行为之间的显著联系，青少年身上有纹身可能是其犯罪可能性较高的一个重要指标。
