Crime in the Making

Pathways and Turning Points through Life

John H Laub author Robert J Sampson author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Harvard University Press

Published:14th Apr '95

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Crime in the Making cover

Hard-headed quantitative variable-oriented statistics are skillfully blended with qualitative person-oriented studies of individual life histories. A 'must' for anyone interested in either criminology or life-span development, and of great interest to a much wider group of readers. Crime in the Making is destined to become a classic. -- Michael Rutter, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London

Based on the re-analysis of Sheldon and Eleanor Gluecks' mid-century study of 500 delinquents and 500 non-delinquents from childhood to adulthood, this informal social control theory accepts the importance of childhood behaviour but rejects the idea that adult social factors have little relevance.This new explanation of crime over the life course provides an important foundation for rethinking contemporary theory and criminal justice policy. It is based on the reanalysis of a classic set of data: Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency, Sheldon and Eleanor Gluecks’ mid-twentieth-century study of 500 delinquents and 500 nondelinquents from childhood to adulthood. Several years ago, Robert Sampson and John Laub dusted off sixty cartons of the Gleucks’ data that had been stored in the basement of the Harvard Law School. After a lengthy process of recoding and reanalyzing these data, they developed and tested a theory of informal social control that acknowledges the importance of childhood behavior but rejects the implication that adult social factors have little relevance.

Imaginative and forthright, a well-argued book with broad theoretical and methodological implications. -- John Modell * American Journal of Sociology *
Crime in the Making deserves widespread attention. -- Joan McCord * Contemporary Sociology *
The book’s logical organization, the authors’ parsimonious explanation of key concepts and theoretical propositions, and the comprehensive presentation of their findings interact to produce a volume that possesses a high degree of clarity and readability… Crime in the Making should be read by all developmental criminologists and those interested in the study of criminal careers. -- Douglas Yearwood * Criminologist *
This book will be widely read and cited, and it deserves to be. [The authors] have carefully crafted a model which addresses both stability and change in delinquency and crime over the life course, and they have done an impeccable job of testing it. -- Candace Kruttschnitt * Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency *
Hard-headed quantitative variable-oriented statistics are skillfully blended with qualitative person-oriented studies of individual life histories. A ‘must’ for anyone interested in either criminology or life-span development, and of great interest to a much wider group of readers. Crime in the Making is destined to become a classic. -- Michael Rutter, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
No previous work offers such a systematic and theoretically informed view of delinquent and criminal involvements from adolescence through adulthood. -- John Hagan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ISBN: 9780674176058

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 463g

320 pages