Although several established theories of crime often suggest an association between socioeconomic background and youth criminal involvement, the empirical evidence for such claims diverges considerably. The aim of this paper is to re-investigate the relationship between family income and criminal charges using Norwegian register data. The longitudinal data sources used in the study encompass the entire resident population from five birth cohorts, and allow us to identify youths charged with crime from 1992 to 2005. We link information on these youths with information on family earnings for several years. We find that family academic resources are more important than family income for onset of offending. This applies to all kinds of offences, except for serious theft.
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