Crime and the Life Course

In recent years, the lifecourse 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 Lifecourse: 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. This book:

• provides an overview of the life course approach and describes the major concepts and issues in lifecourse 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 lifecourse 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 lifecourse approach to white-collar crime
• discusses how macro sociological and historical developments have influenced the shape of the lifecourse in American society as it relates to patterns in crime.

Michael L. Benson is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. He is a past President of the White-Collar Crime Research Consortium. In addition to numerous journal articles on white-collar crime, he co-authored White Collar Crime: An Opportunity Perspective and Combating Corporate Crime: Local Prosecutors at Work.