The Development of Persistent Criminality

The Development of Persistent Criminality addresses one of the most pressing problems of modern criminology: Why do some individuals become chronic, persistent offenders? Because chronic offenders are responsible for the majority of serious crimes committed, understanding which individuals will become chronic offenders is an important step in helping us develop interventions. This volume bridges the gap between the criminological literature, which has recently focused on the existence of various criminal trajectories, and the developmental psychology literature, which has focused on risk factors for conduct problems and delinquency. In it, chapters by some of the most widely published authors in this area unite to contribute to a knowledge base which will be the next major milestone in the field of criminology. The authors of this volume represent a unique gathering of international, interdisciplinary social problem so that we can prevent the enormous human and economic costs associated with serious crimes, these authors share their insights and findings on topics such as families and parenting, poverty, stressful life events, social support, biology and genetics, early onset, foster care, educational programs for juvenile offenders, deterrence, and chronic offending among females. Significant attention is paid throughout to longitudinal studies of offending. Several authors also share new theoretical approaches to understanding persistence and chronicity in offending, including an expansion of the conceptualization of the etiology of self-control, a discussion of offender resistance to social control, a dynamic developmental systems approach to understanding offending in young adulthood, and the application of Wikström's situational action theory to persistent offending.

- 1: Understanding Persistent Offending: Linking Developmental Psychology with Research on the Criminal Career, Joanne Savage
- SECTION 1: THE FAMILY, POVERTY, AND STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS
- 2: The Influence of Family Context on the Development and Persistence of Antisocial Behavior, Linda S. Pagani
- 3: The Implications of Family Poverty for a Pattern of Persistent Offending, Carter Hay and Walter Forrest
- 4: Strain, Social Support, and Persistent Criminality, Stephanie Ellis and Joanne Savage
- 5: Developmental Trajectories, Stressful Life Events, and Delinquency, Timothy O. Ireland, Craig J. Rivera and John P. Hoffmann
- 6: The Effects of the Family on Children's Behavioural Difficulties, Paul Millar
- SECTION 2: BIOSOCIAL INFLUENCES ON PERSISTENT CRIMINALITY
- 7: Biological Factors and the Development of Persistent Criminality, Patrick Sylvers, Stacy R. Ryan, S. Amanda Alden, and Patricia A. Brennan
- 8: A Systematic Approach to Understanding Human Variability in Serious, Persistent Offending, John Paul Wright and Kevin M. Beaver
- 9: Perinatal and Developmental Determinants of Early Onset of Offending: A Biosocial Approach for Explaining the Two Peaks of Early Antisocial Behavior, Steve G. Tibbetts
- SECTION 3: SPECIAL TOPICS AND POPULATIONS
- 10: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Persistent Female Offending: A Review of Theory and Research, Asha Goldweber, Lisa M. Broidy, and Elizabeth Cauffman
- 11: Foster Care Youth: Aging Out of Care to Criminal Activities, Mary Ann Davis
- 12: Educational Achievement Among Incarcerated Youth: Post-Release Schooling, Employment and Crime Desistance, Thomas G. Blomberg, William D. Bales, and Courtney A. Waid
- SECTION 4: METHODOLOGY FOR UNDERSTANDING THE CRIMINAL CAREER
- 13: Methodological Issues in the Study of Persistence in Offending, Alex R. Piquero
- 14: Group-Based Trajectory Modeling of Externalizing Behavior Problems from Childhood through Adulthood: Exploring Discrepancies in the Empirical Findings, Manfred H.M. van Dulmen, Elizabeth A. Goncy, Andrea Vest and Daniel J. Flannery
- 15: Sanction Threats and Desistance from Criminality, KiDeuk Kim
- SECTION 5: CONCEPTUALIZING THE PERSISTENT OFFENDER
- 16: Serious Juvenile Offenders and Persistent Criminality, Rudy Haapanen, Lee Britton, Tim Croisdale, and Branko Coebergh
- 17: Reconsidering Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime: Linking the Micro- and Macro-Level Sources of Self-Control and Criminal Behavior Over the Life Course, Travis C. Pratt
- 18: A Dynamic Developmental Systems Approach to Understanding Offending in Early Adulthood, Deborah M. Capaldi and Margit Wiesner
- 19: What Drives Persistent Offending? The Neglected and Unexplored Role of the Social Environment, Per-Olof H. Wikström and Kyle Treiber
- SECTION 6: CONCLUSIONS
- 20: What Have We Learned? Directions for Future Research and Policy, Joanne Savage