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Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- 1. Introduction to Integrated Developmental and Life-Course Theories of Offending -- 2. A Developmental Model of the Propensity to Offend during Childhood and Adolescence -- 3. Explaining the Facts of Crime: How the Developmental Taxonomy Replies to Farrington's Invitation -- 4. The Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) Theory -- 5. Mediating the Effects of Poverty, Gender, Individual Characteristics, and External Constraints on Antisocial Behavior: A Test of the Social Development Model and Implications for Developmental Life-Course Theory -- 6. An Integrative Personal Control Theory of Deviant Behavior: Answers to Contemporary Empirical and Theoretical Developmental Criminology Issues -- 7. A General Age-Graded Theory of Crime: Lessons Learned and the Future of Life-Course Criminology -- 8. Applying Interactional Theory to the Explanation of Continuity and Change in Antisocial Behavior -- 9. The Social Origins of Pathways in Crime: Towards a Developmental Ecological Action Theory of Crime Involvement and Its Changes -- 10. Conclusions about Developmental and Life-Course Theories -- About the Authors -- Index

The aim of this article is to investigate the extent to which childhood risk and protective factors predict later persistence or desistance in criminal careers, as it has been argued that childhood factors are not predictive. In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, 411 London males have been followed up from age 8 to age 56. This article investigates age 8-10 risk and protective factors for 37 life-course-persistent offenders (first offense up to age 20, last offense at age 40 or later), 38 late desisters (first offense up to age 20, last offense at age 21-39), 50 early desisters (first and last offenses up to age 20), 41 late onset offenders (first offense at age 21 or later), and 227 nonoffenders. 18 males were excluded from the analysis because they were not at risk of a recorded conviction from age 40 onwards (because of death or emigration). The results showed that several childhood factors predicted persistence compared with desistance. Individual and school risk factors (e.g. low popularity and low school attainment) were the most important predictors of whether an offender up to age 20 persisted after this age or desisted. Family protective factors (e.g. good child-rearing and high parental interest in education) were most important in protecting offenders from becoming life-course-persistent offenders and encouraging desistance before age 40.

A number of randomized experiments are summarized that were carried out in Great Britain in the 1960s and 1970s to investigate influences on offending and the effectiveness of interventions to reduce offending. Few such experiments have been carried out in the past twenty-five years, partly because of the influence of Ron Clarke and Derek Cornish on Home Office policy. This article reviews Clarke and Cornish's objections to randomized experiments and concludes that experimenters need to demonstrate in which circumstances they are optimal. The Home Office seems more receptive to randomized experiments nowadays.

Evaluation studies vary in methodological quality. It is essential to develop methodological quality standards for evaluation research that can be understood and easily used by scholars, practitioners, policy makers, the mass media, and systematic reviewers. This article proposes that such standards should be based on statistical conclusion validity, internal validity, construct validity, external validity, and descriptive validity. Methodological quality scales are reviewed, and it is argued that efforts should be made to improve them. Pawson and Tilley's challenge to the Campbell evaluation tradition is also assessed. It is concluded that this challenge does not have any implications for methodological quality standards, because the Campbell tradition already emphasizes the need to study moderators and mediators in evaluation research.

The main aim of this paper is to advance knowledge and (especially) theories about developmental and life‐course criminology (DLC). First, I review the widely accepted DLC findings that all DLC theories have been designed to explain. Second, I review more contentious and unresolved empirical DLC issues that might present challenges to DLC theories. Third, I describe my own DLC theory and specify how it addresses key empirical and theoretical questions. Fourth, I summarize five important DLC theories, by Catalano and Hawkins, Sampson and Laub, Moffitt, LeBlanc, and Thornberry and Krohn. Fifth, I identify differences in assumptions and predictions between my theory and the other five theories. Finally, I recommend a detailed comparison of the key features of all DLC theories, of their answers to key empirical and theoretical questions, and of their predictions regarding key unresolved empirical DLC issues.

Evaluation studies vary in methodological quality. It is essential to develop methodological quality standards for evaluation research that can be understood & easily used by scholars, practitioners, policy makers, the mass media, & systematic reviewers. This article proposes that such standards should be based on statistical conclusion validity, internal validity, construct validity, external validity, & descriptive validity. Methodological quality scales are reviewed, & it is argued that efforts should be made to improve them. Pawson & Tilley's challenge to the Campbell evaluation tradition is also assessed. It is concluded that this challenge does not have any implications for methodological quality standards, because the Campbell tradition already emphasizes the need to study moderators & mediators in evaluation research. 41 References. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]

A number of randomized experiments are summarized that were carried out in Great Britain in the 1960s & 1970s to investigate influences on offending & the effectiveness of interventions to reduce offending. Few such experiments have been carried out in the past twenty-five years, partly because of the influence of Ron Clarke & Derek Cornish on Home Office policy. This article reviews Clarke & Cornish's objections to randomized experiments & concludes that experimenters need to demonstrate in which circumstances they are optimal. The Home Office seems more receptive to randomized experiments nowadays. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications, Inc.]

This article discusses advantages of randomized experiments and key issues raised in the following articles. The main concern is the growth and decrease in the use of randomized experiments by the California Youth Authority, the U.S. National Institute of Justice, and the British Home Office, although other experiments are also discussed. It is concluded that feast and famine periods are influenced by key individuals. It is recommended that policy makers, practitioners, funders, the mass media, and the general public need better education in research quality so that they can tell the difference between good and poor evaluation studies. They might then demand better evaluations using randomized experiments.