Explaining Criminal Careers
Explaining Criminal Careers

Author: John F. MacLeod

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-08-23

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0191645249

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This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Explaining Criminal Careers presents a simple but influential theory of crime, conviction and reconviction. The assumptions of the theory are derived directly from a detailed analysis of cohort samples extracted from the Home Office Offenders Index - a unique database which contains records of all criminal (standard list) convictions in England and Wales since 1963. In particular, the theory explains the well-known Age/Crime curve. Based on the idea that there are only three types of offenders, who commit crimes at either high or low (constant) rates and have either a high or low (constant) risk of reoffending, this simple theory makes exact quantitative predictions about criminal careers and age-crime curves. Purely from the birth-rate over the second part of the 20th century, the theory accurately predicts (to within 2%) the prison population contingent on a given sentencing policy. The theory also suggests that increasing the probability of conviction after each offence is the most effective way of reducing crime, although there is a role for treatment programmes for some offenders. The authors indicate that crime is influenced by the operation of the Criminal Justice System and that offenders do not 'grow out' of crime as commonly supposed; they are persuaded to stop or decide to stop after (repeated) convictions, with a certain fraction of offenders desisting after each conviction. Simply imprisoning offenders will not reduce crime either by individual deterrence or by incapacitation. With comprehensive explanations of the formulae used and complete mathematical appendices allowing for individual interpretations and further development of the theory, Explaining Criminal Careers represents an innovative and meticulous investigation into criminal activity and the influences behind it. With clear policy implications and a wealth of original and significant discussions, this book marks a ground-breaking chapter in the criminological debate surrounding criminal careers.

Situational Action Theory: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide
Situational Action Theory: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide

Author: Oxford University Press

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2010-05-01

Total Pages: 14

ISBN-13: 0199803617

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This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of criminology find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. A reader will discover, for instance, the most reliable introductions and overviews to the topic, and the most important publications on various areas of scholarly interest within this topic. In criminology, as in other disciplines, researchers at all levels are drowning in potentially useful scholarly information, and this guide has been created as a tool for cutting through that material to find the exact source you need. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Criminology, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study and practice of criminology. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.aboutobo.com.

White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers
White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers

Author: David Weisburd

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-02-12

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9780521777636

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Weisburd and Waring offer here the first detailed examination of the white-collar criminal career.

Criminal Recidivism
Criminal Recidivism

Author: Georgia Zara

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-07-24

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 1136185127

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Criminal Recidivism intends to fill a gap in the criminological psychology literature by examining the processes underlying persistent criminal careers. This book aims to investigate criminal recidivism, and why, how and for how long an individual continues to commit crimes, whilst also reviewing knowledge about risk assessment and the role of psychopathy (including neurocriminological factors) in encouraging recidivism. It also focuses on the recidivism of sex offenders and on what works in reducing reoffending. At an empirical level, this book attempts to explain criminal persistence and recidivism using longitudinal data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). At a psycho-criminological level it joins together quantitative and qualitative analyses, making its content a practical guide to explain, predict, and intervene to reduce the risk of criminal recidivism. The authors present quantitative analyses of criminal careers, as well as qualitative life histories of chronic offenders, in order to bring home the reality and consequences of a life of crime. The book is aimed not only at advanced students and academics in psychology, criminology, probation studies, social sciences, psychiatry, sociology, political science, and penology, but also at decision makers, policy officials, and practitioners within the realm of crime intervention and prevention, and also at forensic experts, judges and lawyers.

From Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime: Criminal Careers, Justice Policy, and Prevention
From Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime: Criminal Careers, Justice Policy, and Prevention

Author: Rolf Loeber

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-05-09

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0199828172

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What makes a juvenile delinquent develop into an adult criminal? What defines-cognitively, developmentally, legally-the transition from juvenile to adult and what determines whether patterns of criminal behavior persist? In most US states and Western nations, legal adulthood begins at age 18. This volume focuses on the period surrounding that abrupt transition (roughly ages 15-29) and addresses what happens to offending careers during it. Edited by two leading authorities in the fields of psychology and criminology, Transitions from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime examines why the period of transition is important and how it can be better understood and addressed both inside and outside of the justice system. Bringing together over thirty leading scholars from multiple disciplines in both North America and Europe, this volume asks critical questions about criminal careers and causation, and whether current legal definitions of adulthood accurately reflect actual maturation and development. The volume also addresses the current efficacy of the justice system in addressing juvenile crime and recidivism, why and how juveniles ought to be treated differently from adults, if special legal provisions should be established for young adults, and the effectiveness of crime prevention programs implemented during early childhood and adolescence. With serious scholarly analysis and practical policy proposals, Transitions from Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime addresses what can be done to ensure that todays juvenile delinquents do not become tomorrows adult criminals.

Testing Criminal Career Theories in British and American Longitudinal Studies
Testing Criminal Career Theories in British and American Longitudinal Studies

Author: John F. MacLeod

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-07-07

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 1009037803

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Most criminological theories are not truly scientific, since they do not yield exact quantitative predictions of criminal career features, such as the prevalence and frequency of offending at different ages. This Element aims to make progress towards more scientific criminological theories. A simple theory is described, based on measures of the probability of reoffending and the frequency of offending. Three offender categories are identified: high risk/high rate, high risk/low rate, and low risk/low rate. It is demonstrated that this theory accurately predicts key criminal career features in three datasets: in England the Offenders Index (national data), the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) and in America the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS). The theory is then extended in the CSDD and PYS by identifying early risk factors that predict the three categories. Criminological theorists are encouraged to replicate and build on our research to develop scientific theories that yield quantitative predictions.

Understanding Criminal Careers
Understanding Criminal Careers

Author: Keith Soothill

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1134025904

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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.

Explaining Criminal Careers
Explaining Criminal Careers

Author: John F. MacLeod

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-08-23

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0199697248

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Using the Home Office Offenders Index, a unique database containing records of all criminal (standard list) convictions in England and Wales since 1963, this simple but influential theory makes exact quantitative predictions about criminal careers and age-crime curves, in particular the prison population contingent on a given sentencing policy.

The Termination of Criminal Careers
The Termination of Criminal Careers

Author: Stephen Farrall

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 1351540041

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Recent years have witnessed an increase in the attention given to the later stages of criminal careers. Research upon this topic has charted the main factors associated with the termination of criminal careers, outlined some of the possible reasons behind these relationships and started to develop theoretical explanations for such relationships. Collected together for the first time are some of the most important contributions to this field of research. The collection focuses upon the initial explorations into this topic, the most commonly observed findings, the cessation of offending by specific offender-types and theoretical matters. An introductory essay by the editor provides a thorough overview of the work in this area and highlights the reasons why the termination of criminal careers will become increasingly important to criminologists and criminal justice policy makers alike.