Key Issues in Criminal Career Research New Analyses of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

This book examines several contentious and under-studied criminal career issues using one of the world's most important longitudinal studies, the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), a longitudinal study of 411 South London boys followed in criminal records to age 40. The analysis reported in the book explores issues related to prevalence, offending frequency, specialization, onset sequences, co-offending, chronicity, career length, and trajectory estimation. The results of the study are considered in the context of developmental/life-course theories, and the authors outline an agenda for criminal career research generally, and within the context of the CSDD specifically.

1. Introduction; 2. Literature review: A. General criminal careers; B. Organize around contentious issues; 3. Data overview; 4. Prevalence and incidence; 5. Onset age and incidence; 6. Specialization; 7. Onset sequences; 8. Co-offending; 9. Chronicity; 10. Offending trajectories; 11. Career length; 12. Discussion.

This 2007 book presents one of the world's most descriptive accounts of the criminal careers of 411 South London boys followed to age 40. It highlights the longitudinal patterning of criminal activity as well as the factors that distinguish between different types of offenders.

Alex R. Piquero, Ph.D. is Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Florida. He currently serves on the editorial boards of eleven journals including: Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, etc. He has been recognized as the leading publisher of articles in criminology/criminal justice from 1996–2000 and again from 2000–4 by articles published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.
David P. Farrington, OBE, is Professor of Psychological Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, of the Academy of Medical Sciences, of the British Psychological society and of the American Society of Criminology, and an Honorary Life Member of the British Society of Criminology and of the Division of Forensic Psychology of the British Psychological Society.
Alfred Blumstein is a University Professor and the J. Erik Jonsson Professor of Urban Systems and Operations Research and former Dean (from 1986 to 1993) at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management of Carnegie Mellon University.