Purpose This study was designed to evaluate whether two features of antisocial cognition, short‐term goals, and physically hedonistic values mediate the past‐crime–future‐crime relationship. Methods Data from 395 members of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth–Child Data (NLSY‐C) were used to test this hypothesis. A path analysis was performed, with past crime serving as the independent (predictor) variable, future crime serving as the dependent (outcome) variable, and short‐term goals and physically hedonistic values serving as mediating variables. Results The results of a structured equation modelling path analysis revealed a significant mediating effect for hedonistic values but not for short‐term goals, when both variables were included in the same analysis. A causal mediation analysis was then conducted on the past crime → physically hedonistic values → future crime relationship, the results of which disclosed the presence of a partially mediated effect of physically hedonistic values on the past‐crime–future‐crime relationship after controlling for age, race, gender, and low self‐control. When short‐term goals were analysed separately, they also partially mediated the past‐crime–future‐crime relationship, although the effect was weaker than when physically hedonistic values served as the mediator. Conclusions Hedonistic values and, to a lesser extent, short‐term goals appear to mediate crime continuity, perhaps by establishing a state of psychological inertia, whereby certain psychological processes help maintain negative behavioural patterns like crime.