Price of crime for middle-aged

A life of crime starts to damage offenders' health once they reach their 40s, new research has shown. A collaboration led by the Violence and Society Research Group has analysed the lifestyles of a group of inner city males from boyhood to middle age. In their 20s and 30s, repeat offenders in the group were often fitter than their more law-abiding contemporaries. Now that the group has reached 48, the situation is reversed. High rate chronic offenders have the highest risk of being registered disabled and hospitalisation. The findings, published in the journal Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, demonstrate a clear link between offending and bad health. The research team argues that repeat offending should be a public health issue as much as a criminal justice matter.