Synopses & Reviews
This new theory of crime over the life course provides an important foundation for rethinking criminal justice policy. It is based on the reanalysis of a classic set of data: Sheldon and Eleanor Gluecks' mid-century study of 500 delinquents and 500 nondelinquents from childhood to adulthood. Several years ago, Robert Sampson and John Laub dusted off sixty cartons of the Gleucks' data that had been stored in the basement of the Harvard Law School and undertook a lengthy process of recoding, computerizing, and reanalyzing it. On the basis of their findings, they developed a theory of informal social control that acknowledges the importance of childhood behavior but rejects the implication that adult social factors have little relevance. This theory accounts for both stability and change in crime and deviance throughout the life course.
Review
Crime in the Makingdeserves widespread attention.
Review
Hard-headed quantitative variable-oriented statistics are skillfully blended with qualitative person-oriented studies of individual life histories. A 'must' for anyone interested in either criminology or life-span development, and of great interest to a much wider group of readers. Crime in the Making is destined to become a classic. Criminologist
Review
The book's logical organization, the authors' parsimonious explanation of key concepts and theoretical propositions, and the comprehensive presentation of their findings interact to produce a volume that possesses a high degree of clarity and readability...Crime in the Making should be read by all developmental criminologists and those interested in the study of criminal careers. Douglas Yearwood
Review
Imaginative and forthright, a well-argued book with broad theoretical and methodological implications. Michael Rutter, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
Review
This book will be widely read and cited, and it deserves to be. [The authors] have carefully crafed a model which addresses both stability and change in delinquency and crime over the life course, and they have done an impeccable job of testing it. John Modell - American Journal of Sociology
Synopsis
This new explanation of crime over the life course provides an important foundation for rethinking contemporary theory and criminal justice policy. It is based on the reanalysis of a classic set of data: Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency, Sheldon and Eleanor Gluecks' mid-twentieth-century study of 500 delinquents and 500 nondelinquents from childhood to adulthood. Several years ago, Robert Sampson and John Laub dusted off sixty cartons of the Gleucks' data that had been stored in the basement of the Harvard Law School. After a lengthy process of recoding and reanalyzing these data, they developed and tested a theory of informal social control that acknowledges the importance of childhood behavior but rejects the implication that adult social factors have little relevance.
Synopsis
1994 Michael J. Hindelang Award, American Society of Criminology
About the Author
Robert J. Sampson is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Harvard University.John H. Laub is Professor of Criminology, University of Maryland.
University of Maryland
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Toward an Age-graded Theory of Informal Social Control
2.
Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency and Follow-up Studies
3. Restoring, Supplementing, and Validating the Data
4. The Family Context of Juvenile Delinquency
5. The Role of School, Peers, and Siblings
6. Continuity in Behavior over Time
7. Adult Social Bonds and Change in Criminal Behavior
8. Comparative Models of Crime and Deviance
9. Exploring Life Histories
10. Summing Up and Looking Ahead
Appendix: Interview with the Gluecks' Original Research Staff
Notes
References
Index