Objectives:
The purpose of this publication is to characterize the early onset of criminal careers of the members of organized criminal groups and the future criminal career of offenders in the context of the Polish experience. The main questions the present study strives to answer are: Which crimes are typical for the early onset of the Polish members of organized criminal groups?

Material and methods:
The basic method of the research was statistical analysis and legal methods. The study was based on the own research. The research sample was to allow both: qualitative and quantitative research.

Results:
Only the selected group of respondents with the early-onset of criminal careers is presented in the article below. The research sample was divided into 2 parts: the examined offenders with the childhood-onset of criminal careers and the examined offenders with the adolescence-onset of criminal careers. According to the conducted research, a characteristic feature of the respondents was a criminal path that started with some minor acts against property. In contrast to the group of persons with the childhood-onset of criminal careers, the pace of the career of the respondents with the adolescence-onset of criminal activities was faster than of the younger offenders. The perpetrators represented the older group paid more attention to the material values of criminal activities. They did not commit crimes driven by the desire to experience an adventure.

Conclusions:
The offenders with the childhood-onset of criminal careers, often under the influence of criminal subcultures, from a relatively young age, were provided with some criminal models, and being influenced by such patterns, they were involved in organized criminal groups. The early onset of criminal activities up to the age of 12 often forecasts a long criminal career.