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The main aim of this paper is to advance knowledge and (especially) theories about developmental and life-course criminology (DLC). First, I review the widely accepted DLC findings that all DLC theories have been designed to explain. Second, I review more contentious and unresolved empirical DLC issues that might present challenges to DLC theories. Third, I describe my own DLC theory and specify how it addresses key empirical and theoretical questions. Fourth, I summarize five important DLC theories, by Catalano and Hawkins, Sampson and Laub, Moffitt, LeBlanc, and Thornberry and Krohn. Fifth, I identify differences in assumptions and predictions between my theory and the other five theories. Finally, I recommend a detailed comparison of the key features of all DLC theories, of their answers to key empirical and theoretical questions, and of their predictions regarding key unresolved empirical DLC issues.
DEVELOPMENTAL AND LIFE-COURSE CRIMINOLOGY
Developmental and life-course criminology (DLC) is concerned with three main issues: the development of offending and antisocial behavior, risk factors at different ages, and the effects of life events on the course of development. DLC is especially concerned with documenting and explaining within-individual changes in offending throughout life. It is a further elaboration of the criminal career paradigm that became very prominent in the 1980s (Blumstein et al., 1986) by adding in the study of risk factors and life events. This paradigm enormously advanced knowledge about the measurement of criminal career features such as onset, continuation, and desistance, but it paid less attention to risk factors and life events that influenced these features, or to theories that might explain development, risk factors, and life events (see Piquero et al., 2003). To some extent, the DLC theories were a reaction to what was perceived as a largely atheoretical criminal career paradigm.
DLC incorporates three other paradigms with slightly different emphases that became prominent during the 1990s. The risk factor prevention paradigm focuses on identifying the key risk factors for offending and implementing prevention methods to tackle these risk factors (Farrington, 2000; Hawkins and Catalano, 1992; Loeber and Farrington, 1998). Developmental criminology focuses especially on the development of offending, but also on risk factors (LeBlanc and Loeber, 1998; Loeber and LeBlanc, 1990). Life-course criminology focuses especially on the effects of life events and...