Crime and the Life Course: An Introduction / Edition 1

by Michael L. Benson

Overview

In recent years the life-course perspective has become a popular theoretical orientation toward crime. Yet despite its growing importance in the field of criminology, most textbooks give it only cursory treatment. Crime and the Life Course: An Introduction by Michael L. Benson provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary research and theory on the life-course approach to crime. The book emphasizes a conceptual understanding of this approach. A special feature is the integration of qualitative and quantitative research on criminal life histories.

The book:
* Provides an overview of the life course approach and describes the major concepts and issues in life-course theory as it applies to criminology.
* Reviews evidence on biological and genetic influences on crime.
* Reviews research on the role of the family in crime and juvenile delinquency.
* Provides a detailed discussion of the criminological life-course theories of Moffitt, Hagan, Sampson and Laub, and others.
* Discusses the connections between youthful crime and adult outcomes in education, occupation, and marriage.
* Presents an application of the life-course approach to white-collar crime.
* Discusses how macro sociological and historical developments have influenced the shape of the life course in American society as it relates to patterns in crime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195330083
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/25/2001
Series:	The ^ARoxbury Series in Crime, Justice, and Law
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.50(d)

Table of Contents

Chapter One: An Overview of Life Course Theory and ResearchOverviewFour Million BabiesThe Life Course PerspectiveCriminal Careers, Career Criminals and the Rise of the Life Course ApproachImportant Theoretical Concepts and IssuesMajor Developmental StudiesPlan of the BookChapter Two: Biology and the Family: Initial TrajectoriesOverviewStarting Behind the Starting Line: Biology and CrimeBehavioral Genetics and Antisocial BehaviorBiological Bases of Delinquent BehaviorFamilies: Structure, Support, and DisciplineHow Early Can Trouble Start? SummaryChapter Three: Adolescence and Crime: Continuity, Change, and Cumulating DisadvantagesOverviewSocietal Age-Crime PatternsAdolescent Trajectories in Crime: Discovery of the Chronic OffenderExplaining Offending TrajectoriesTerrie Moffitt: Complementary Pair of Developmental TheoriesRobert Sampson and John Laub: Age Graded Theory of Informal Social ControlJohn Hagan: Criminal Capital and Capital DisinvestmentTerence P. Thornberry: Interactional Theory of DelinquencyDelbert Elliott: Integrated TheorySummaryChapter Four: Adulthood and Aging CriminalsOverviewCumulative Disadvantage: Adult Consequences of Juvenile CrimeEmploymentMarriage, Children, and FamilySummaryChapter Five: White-Collar Crime and the Life CourseOverviewThe Concept of White-Collar CrimeApplying the Life Course Approach to White-Collar OffendersThe Social Locations of White-Collar and Common Onset of Offending and Trajectories in CrimeFamily Background and Educational TrajectoriesConviction as an Event in the Life Course of White-Collar OffendersWhite-Collar Crime and the Life CourseSummaryChapter Six: Historical and Structural ContextsOverview: Four Million Babies in HistoryThe Maturity GapThe Prison Experiment and the War on DrugsPublic Policy, Globalization, and the Inner CitySumming Up: Crime and the Life CourseA Final ConclusionOffenders