Synopses & Reviews
Offending from Childhood to Late Middle Age is a timely volume by leading researchers in Life Course Criminology, which reports new findings from The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 South London males first studied at age 8 in 1961. The main aim of the study is to advance knowledge about criminal careers up to age 56. At the time of these most recent findings, forty-two percent of the males were convicted, with an average ten-year conviction career. Only seven percent of the males accounted for half of all convictions. Almost all of the males (93 percent) reported committing an offense in four age ranges, compared with 29 percent who were convicted at these ages. There were on average of 39 self-reported offenses per conviction. Group-based trajectory analyses indicated that, while there were distinct groups of offenders who followed different age-crime trajectories between ages 10 and 56, five groups best characterized the criminal careers of the men, with two groups, high adolescence peak and high rate chronic, exhibiting the most offending. Also, the offending trajectories were predicted by individual and environmental childhood risk factors, with the most chronic offenders (to age 56) having the most extreme scores on childhood risk. Based on these results, risk assessment instruments
Synopsis
This timely volume by leading researchers in Life Course Criminology reports new findings from The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 South London males first studied at age 8 in 1961.
About the Author
David P. Farrington, O.B.E., is Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, of the Academy of Medical Sciences, of the British Psychological Society, of the American Society of Criminology, of the Association for Psychological Science, and of the International Society for Research on Aggression. Alex R. Piquero is Ashbel Smith Professor of Criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas, Adjunct Professor Adjunct Professor Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice, and Governance, Griffith University Australia, Co-Editor, Journal of Quantitative Criminology. He has received several research, teaching, and service awards and is Fellow of both the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Wesley G. Jennings is an Assistant Professor in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences in the Department of Criminology and has a Courtesy Assistant Professor Appointment in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida. He is also Editor of the American Journal of Criminal Justice and a recent recipient of the 2011 William S. Simon/Anderson Publishing Outstanding Paper Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
Table of Contents
Introduction.- The Cambridge Study: previous results.- The Social Interview at Age 48.- Official Criminal Careers.- Self-reported versus official offending.- Life Success at Age 48.- Persisters, desisters, and late onset offenders.- Psychopathy at age 48.- Death at age 48.- Costs and benefits of offending.- Conclusions and Policy Implications.