This volume examines longitudinal research in relation to crime and delinquency, and brings together prominent scholars in criminology to discuss theory, methodology, and impact of longitudinal studies in criminology. It answers a key question in Criminology: What have we learned from recent longitudinal studies of crime and delinquency? The volume includes a synthesis of longitudinal studies in criminology over the last 25 years and an appendix.

This volume examines longitudinal research in relation to crime and delinquency, and brings together prominent scholars in criminology to discuss theory, methodology, and impact of longitudinal studies in criminology. It answers a key question in Criminology: What have we learned from recent longitudinal studies of crime and delinquency? The volume includes a synthesis of longitudinal studies in criminology over the last 25 years and an appendix.

Background In July of 1992, approximately sixty scholars and researchers met for a week at the "Fritz Erler Akademie" in Freudenstadt, Germany, to participate in a workshop entitled "Cross-National Lon gitudinal Research on Human Development and Criminal Behavior". The participants represented 15 nations and 45 universities and research centers. Although longitudinal research in criminology has a long history, this workshop represented the first one in the field of criminology in which it was attempted to get together the main scholars in this field from around the world. The largest group of the workshop represented American scholars (19), a reflection of the fact that longitudi nal research in criminology is predominantly conducted in North America. This volume is the result of the workshop process and in particular of the invitations to participants to prepare pre or conference papers. The chapters in this volume were selected from a larger set of pre- or conference papers. As workshop conveners and volume editors, it falls to us to set some of the context for this enter prise. Longitudinal research in criminology became a major approach after the publication of the land mark study by Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin "Delinquency in a Birth Cohort" in 1972. Around the same time, when Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin started their Philadelphia cohort study, were longi tudinal studies, although different in scope and aim, launched by Shannon in the USA, West in England, Janson in Sweden, and Goppinger in Germany.

This handbook presents a series of essays that captures not the past of criminology, but where theoretical explanation is headed. The volume is replete with ideas, discussions of substantive topics with salient theoretical implications, and reviews of literatures that illuminate avenues along which theory and research evolve.

The wide-ranging scope of the Handbook of Life-Course Criminology covers genetics and environment, child offenders and late bloomers, the impact of school and peers, lifelong and time-limited criminal careers, and qualitative and quantitative methodologies. This unique Handbook is further set apart by its dual coverage of the leading edge of current research and innovative directions for future work in the field. Pathways to crime have been a central concept of criminology from its inception. Accordingly, a lifespan approach to the field has replaced earlier biological and sociological perspectives with a more nuanced understanding of offender behavior and a wider lens of study. The contributions to this Handbook break down issues of criminal and antisocial behavior from early childhood to late adulthood, examining developmentally targeted prevention and intervention strategies and reviewing emerging trends in research. Among the topics: · Childhood: including physical aggression in childhood, pre- and peri-natal development, and environment. · Adolescence: the impact of schooling, unstructured time with peers, gang membership and peer networks. · Adulthood: Adult onset crime, unemployment in emerging adulthood, crime and adult outcomes. · Prevention and Intervention: community programs, lifetime intervention strategies, re-entry. This volume will be a valuable piece for researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice as well as related disciplines such as Sociology, Developmental Psychology, and Social Policy. It will serve as an important reference for the current state of research, as well as a roadmap for future scholars. "This impressive Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of key developmental and life course issues in criminology from birth to adulthood, including biology, genetics, gangs, schools, neighborhoods, adult onset, desistance, and interventions. The research recommendations in each chapter are especially important, and they should stimulate advances in knowledge for many years to come. This Handbook should be required reading for all criminologists." David P. Farrington, Professor of Psychological Criminology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK “In just a few decades developmental criminology has become the dominant intellectual force in criminology. This volume demonstrates why. It provides incisive reviews of important themes in developmental criminology. More importantly, it lays out rich agendas for future research that should inspire the next generation of developmental criminologists.” Daniel S. Nagin, Teresa and H. John Heinz III University Professor of Public Policy and Statistics, Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

What makes a juvenile delinquent develop into an adult criminal? Edited by two leading authorities in the fields of psychology and criminology, Transitions from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime examines why the period of transition to adulthood is important and how it can be better understood and addressed both inside and outside of the justice system. With serious scholarly analysis and practical policy proposals, this book addresses what can be done to ensure that today's juvenile delinquents do not become tomorrow's adult criminals.

The second handbook in the Shoham trilogy, which includes the esteemed International Handbook of Penology and Criminal Justice and the upcoming International Handbook of Victimology, this volume is a comprehensive treatment of criminology theory. This text contains contributions from 25 of the top international scholars in the field across a wide range of disciplines. Topics include social deviance, research methods, biological and physiological explanations, personality types, and family socialization processes. The book also explores ecological and economic factors, differential association and situational crime prevention, cultural conflicts and immigration, as well as stigmas, group delinquency and juvenile delinquency.