This article reviews key issues in criminology concerning the development of criminal careers, risk factors or causes of offending, and effective prevention methods. In order to advance knowledge about criminal careers and risk factors, prospective longitudinal surveys are needed. In order to advance knowledge about prevention methods, randomized experiments are needed. A new research agenda for the next millennium is recommended, including (a) multiple-cohort longitudinal surveys with experimental interventions, and (b) a coordinated program of cross-national comparative research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Blumstein, A., Farrington, D. P., & Moitra, S. (1985). Delinquency careers: Innocents, desisters and persisters. In M. Tonry& N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice (Vol. 6, pp. 187-219). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
2.
Farrington, D. P. (1986). Age and crime. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice (Vol. 7, pp. 189-250). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3.
Cohen, M. A. (1998). The monetary value of saving a high-risk youth. Journal of Qualitative Criminology, 14, 5-33.
4.
Farrington, D. P. (1988). Studying changes within individuals: The causes of offending. In M. Rutter (Ed.), Studies of psychosocial risk (pp. 158-183). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.
Farrington, D. P. (1989). Self-reported and official offending from adolescence to adulthood. In M. W. Klein (Ed.), Cross-national research in self-reported crime and delinquency (pp. 399-423). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.
6.
Farrington, D. P. (1990). Age, period, cohort, and offending. In D. M. Gottfredson & R. V. Clarke (Eds.), Policy and theory in criminal justice: Contributions in honor of Leslie T. Wilkins (pp. 51-75). Aldershot, England: Avebury.
7.
Farrington, D. P. (1991a). Childhood aggression and adult violence: Early precursors and later life outcomes. In D. J. Pepler& K. H. Rubin (Eds.), The development and treatment of childhood aggression (pp. 5-29). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Farrington, D. P. (1991b). Antisocial personality from childhood to adulthood. The Psychologist, 4, 389-394.
9.
Farrington, D. P. (1992). Criminal career research in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Criminology, 32, 521-536.
10.
Farrington, D. P. (1993a). Have any individual, family or neighborhood influences on offending been demonstrated conclusively? In D. P. Farrington, R. J. Sampson, & P.-O. H. Wikström (Eds.), Integrating individual and ecological aspects of crime (pp. 7-37). Stockholm: National Council for Crime Prevention.
11.
Farrington, D. P. (1993b). Motivations for conduct disorder and delinquency. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 225-241.
12.
Farrington, D. P. (1995a). The development of offending and antisocial behavior from childhood: Key findings from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 929-964.
13.
Farrington, D. P. (1995b). Key issues in the integration of motivational and opportunity-reducing crime prevention strategies. In P.-O. H. Wikström, R. V. Clarke, & J. McCord (Eds.), Integrating crime prevention strategies: Propensity and opportunity (pp. 333-357). Stockholm: National Council for Crime Prevention.
14.
Farrington, D. P. (1996a). The explanation and prevention of youthful offending. In J. D. Hawkins (Ed.), Delinquency and crime: Current theories (pp. 68-148). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15.
Farrington, D. P. (1996b). Understanding and preventing youth crime. York, England: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
16.
Farrington, D. P. (1997a). Human development and criminal careers. In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of criminology (2nd ed., pp. 361-408). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
17.
Farrington, D. P. (1997b). Key issues in studying the biosocial bases of violence. In A. Raine, P. A. Brennan, D. P. Farrington, & S. A. Mednick (Eds.), Biosocial bases of violence (pp. 293-300). New York: Plenum.
18.
Farrington, D. P. (1997c). Early prediction of violent and non-violent youthful offending. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 5, 51-66.
19.
Farrington, D. P. (1997d). Evaluating a community crime prevention program. Evaluation, 3, 157-173.
20.
Farrington, D. P. (1998). Predictors, causes and correlates of male youth violence. In M. Tonry& M. Moore (Eds.), Youth violence (pp. 317-371). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
21.
Farrington, D. P. (1999). Predicting persistent young offenders. In G. McDowell & J. S. Smith (Eds.), Juvenile delinquency in the United States and the United Kingdom. London: Macmillan.
22.
Farrington, D. P., Barnes, G.,& Lambert, S. (1996). The concentration of offending in families. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 1, 47-63.
23.
Farrington, D. P., Gallagher, B., Morley, L., St. Ledger, R. J., & West, D. J. (1986). Unemployment, school leaving and crime. British Journal of Criminology, 26, 335-356.
24.
Farrington, D. P., & Hawkins, J. D. (1991). Predicting participation, early onset, and later persistence in officially recorded offending. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 1, 1-33.
25.
Farrington, D. P., Lambert, S., & West, D. J. (1998). Criminal careers of two generations of family members in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 7, 85-106.
26.
Farrington, D. P.,& Loeber, R. (1999). Transatlantic replicability of risk factors in the development of delinquency. In P. Cohen, C. Slomkowski, & L. N. Robins (Eds.), Historical and geographical influences on psychopathology (pp. 299-329). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
27.
Farrington, D. P., Ohlin, L. E., & Wilson, J. Q. (1986). Understanding and controlling crime. New York: Springer-Verlag.
28.
Farrington, D. P., & West, D. J. (1995). Effects of marriage, separation and children on offending by adult males. In J. Hagan (Ed.), Current perspectives on aging and the life cycle. Vol. 4: Delinquency and disrepute in the life course (pp. 249-281). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
29.
Farrington, D. P., & Wikström, P.-O. H. (1994). Criminal careers in London and Stockholm: A crossnational comparative study. In E. G. M. Weitekamp& H.-J. Kerner (Eds.), Cross-national longitudinal research on human development and criminal behavior (pp. 65-89). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.
30.
Forrester, D., Frenz, S., O’Connell, M.,& Pease, K. (1990). The Kirkholt burglary prevention project: Phase 2. London: Home Office.
31.
Hawkins, J. D., & Catalano, R. F. (1992). Communities that care. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
32.
Hawkins, J. D., von Cleve, E.,& Catalano, R. F. (1991). Reducing early childhood aggression: Results of a primary prevention program. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 208-217.
33.
Hogh, E., & Wolf, P. (1983). Violent crime in a birth cohort: Copenhagen 1953-1977. In K. T. van Dusen & S. A. Mednick (Eds.), Prospective studies of crime and delinquency (pp. 249-267). Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.
34.
Janson, C.-G. (1981). Project Metropolitan: A longitudinal study of a Stockholm cohort (Sweden). In S. A. Mednick& A. E. Baert (Eds.), Prospective longitudinal research: An empirical basis for the primary prevention of psychosocial disorders (pp. 93-99). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35.
Junger-Tas, J., Terlouw, G.-J.,& Klein, M. W. (Eds.). (1994). Delinquent behavior among young people in the Western world. Amsterdam: Kugler.
36.
Loeber, R., & Farrington, D. P. (1997). Strategies and yields of longitudinal studies on antisocial behavior. In D. M. Stoff, J. Breiling, & J. D. Maser (Eds.), Handbook of antisocial behavior (pp. 125-139). New York: John Wiley.
37.
Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Moffitt, T. E.,& Caspi, A. (1998). The development of male offending: Key findings from the first decade of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 7, 141-171.
38.
Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & van Kammen, W. B. (1998). Antisocial behavior and mental health problems: Explanatory factors in childhood and adolescence. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
39.
Mayhew, P.,& van Dijk, J.J.M. (1997). Criminal victimization in eleven industrialized countries. The Hague, the Netherlands: Ministry of Justice.
40.
Miller, T. R., Cohen, M. A., & Wiersema, B. (1996). Victim costs and consequences: A new look. Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice.
41.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
42.
Olds, D. L., Eckenrode, J., Henderson, C. R., Kitzman, H., Powers, J., Cole, R., Sidora, K., Morris, P., Pettitt, L. M., & Luckey, D. (1997). Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect: Fifteen-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 637-643.
43.
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. J. (1992). Antisocial boys. Eugene, OR: Castalia.
44.
Pulkkinen, L. (1988). Delinquent development: Theoretical and empirical considerations. In M. Rutter (Ed.), Studies of psychosocial risk (pp. 184-199). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
45.
Reiss, A. J.,& Farrington, D. P. (1991). Advancing knowledge about co-offending: Results from a prospective longitudinal survey of London males. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 82, 360-395.
46.
Ross, R. R. (1995). The reasoning and rehabilitation program for high-risk probationers and prisoners. In R. R. Ross, D. H. Antonowicz, & G. K. Dhaliwal (Eds.), Going straight: Effective delinquency prevention and offender rehabilitation (pp. 195-222). Ottawa: Air Training and Publications.
47.
Schweinhart, L. J., Barnes, H. V., & Weikart, D. P. (1993). Significant benefits. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope.
48.
Thornberry, T. P., Huizinga, D., & Loeber, R. (1995). The prevention of serious delinquency and violence: Implications from the Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency. In J. C. Howell, B. Krisberg, J. D. Hawkins,& J. J. Wilson (Eds.), Sourcebook on serious, violent and chronic juvenile offenders (pp. 213-237). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
49.
Tobler, N. S. (1986). Meta-analysis of 143 drug treatment programs: Quantitative outcome results of program participants compared to a control or comparison group. Journal of Drug Issues, 16, 537-567.
50.
Tonry, M., & Farrington, D. P. (1995). Strategic approaches to crime prevention. In M. Tonry & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Building a safer society: Strategic approaches to crime prevention (pp. 1-20). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
51.
Tonry, M., Ohlin, L. E., & Farrington, D. P. (1991). Human development and criminal behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag.
52.
Tremblay, R. E., Pagani-Kurtz, L., Vitaro, F., Masse, L. C.,& Pihl, R. O. (1995). Abimodal preventive intervention for disruptive kindergarten boys: Its impact through mid-adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 560-568.
53.
Wasserman, G. A.,& Miller, L. S. (1998). The prevention of serious and violent juvenile offending. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions (pp. 197-247). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
54.
Weitekamp, E.G.M., & Kerner, H.-J. (Eds.). (1994). Cross-national longitudinal research on human development and criminal behavior. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.
55.
Wikström, P.-O. H. (1990). Age and crime in a Stockholm cohort. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 6, 61-84.
