CRG 50/14-15: Exploring the causes and consequences of the Australian crime decline: a comparative analysis of the criminal trajectories of two NSW birth cohorts

In this study the arrest records of the 1984 and 1994 NSW birth cohorts were obtained using a data matching process facilitated by the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR). The aim of this research is to examine the possible causes and consequences of the Australian crime decline through a longitudinal and developmental criminological lens.  To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first such comparative analysis of longitudinal data aimed at exploring the crime decline, and builds on the recent, albeit aggregated and cross-sectional, analysis both in Australia and overseas