Understanding Criminal Careers

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ISBN: 9781843925026 | 1843925028
Cover: Nonspecific Binding
Copyright: 9/14/2012

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The study of criminal careers is of increasing interest in criminology. It is now generally recognised that it is important to try to understand criminal behaviour across the life-course rather than focusing on fragmented incidents which provide only a partial picture. This is an accessible text which clarifies the crucial theoretical and methodological debates surrounding the study of criminal careers.It focuses on some major longitudinal studies discussing the onset, persistence, desistance and the duration of a criminal career. The important topics of prediction, risk and specialisation are addressed. The challenging question of 'When do ex-offenders become like non-offenders?' points a way forward. The book concludes by proposing an even more ambitious approach to the topic of criminal careers.

List of figures, boxes and tables	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
What is 'criminal careers' all about?	p. 2
Definitional issues	p. 3
Who are the criminals?	p. 5
Why bother studying criminal careers?	p. 8
Conclusions	p. 12
The Great Debate: competing theoretical approaches and methodological issues	p. 14
Competing theoretical explanations	p. 15
The criminal careers approach	p. 15
The criminal propensity approach	p. 18
The age-crime curve	p. 20
The Gottfredson and Hirschi critiques	p. 21
A General Theory of Crime	p. 24
Evaluating propensity theory	p. 25
Developmental criminology and the life-course approach	p. 27
Evaluating developmental criminology	p. 29
Moffitt's developmental taxonomy	p. 30
Policy implications	p. 33
Conclusions	p. 35
The Great Solution? Exploring the major longitudinal studies	p. 37
Longitudinal designs	p. 39
The pros and cons of longitudinal research	p. 40
The Gluecks' study	p. 42
The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development	p. 44
The Dunedin Health and Development Study	p. 47
Three landmark longitudinal studies	p. 53
Policy implications	p. 55
Conclusions	p. 56
When does it all start? Onset of a criminal career	p. 59
The Home Office Crime and Justice Survey 2003	p. 60
Age of onset by offence type	p. 61
Shoplifting as the initial offence of choice	p. 64
Relational factors influencing onset	p. 66
Personal factors influencing onset	p. 66
Monetary factors influencing onset	p. 67
Practical factors influencing onset	p. 68
Advantages and disadvantages of starting offending	p. 69
Young people in care	p. 70
Onset in residential care	p. 71
Prosecution of minor offences by looked-after children	p. 72
Three studies - three lessons?	p. 74
Onset of crime in adulthood	p. 76
Lessons from the three 'classic' longitudinal studies	p. 76
Policy implications	p. 79
Conclusions	p. 80
Continuity and change in a criminal career: persistence and desistance	p. 81
What is persistence?	p. 81
Gender differences among persistent offenders	p. 83
Defining desistance	p. 85
How do we measure desistance?	p. 85
Condemnation scripts and persistent offenders	p. 87
Redemption scripts and desisting offenders	p. 89
Why do some people desist?	p. 90
Why do some people persist?	p. 92
When 'going straight' is 'curved'	p. 93
Benefits and costs of desisting	p. 94
Policy implications	p. 96
Conclusions	p. 98
Specialisation	p. 100
The concept of specialisation	p. 100
Specialisation and typologies of crime	p. 101
Specialisation and theories of crime	p. 103
Measuring specialisation	p. 105
The evidence for and against specialisation	p. 109
Current debates in specialisation	p. 113
Developmental or lifestyle specialisation	p. 115
Concurrent specialists and generalists	p. 116
Specialisation and policy issues	p. 118
Conclusions	p. 119
Dangerousness, prediction and risk	p. 121
Risk and prediction	p. 122
Using criminal careers to assess risk of general reoffending	p. 123
Actuarial and clinical risk	p. 126
Serious repeat offending and risk	p. 127
False positives and false negatives	p. 129
The dangerous offender and dangerous behaviour	p. 131
Predicting recidivism for dangerous offenders	p. 132
Risk of first offending	p. 133
Risk factors for first dangerous offending	p. 135
Policy issues and ethics in relation to risk prevention	p. 137
Moving forward?	p. 140
Policy implications	p. 142
Conclusions	p. 143
Criminal careers for everyman - and woman?	p. 145
The duration of a criminal career	p. 148
Surveillance and human rights	p. 149
When do ex-offenders become like non-offenders?	p. 153
Thinking about non-offenders	p. 154
Comparing the trajectories of non-offenders and convicted offenders	p. 157
So what do we learn?	p. 159
Policy implications	p. 161
Conclusions	p. 163
What's wrong with criminal careers? Moving forward	p. 164
Heredity versus environment	p. 165
Age, period and cohort effects	p. 171
Moving forward - the importance of social change	p. 173
Heinous crimes and national image	p. 174
A dynamic view of the social environment	p. 177
Conclusions	p. 178
References	p. 181
Index	p. 197
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Understanding Criminal Careers

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