Persisters and Desisters in Crime from Adolescence into Adulthood: Explanation, Prevention and Punishment

Too many juvenile delinquents persist in their offending into adulthood. They constitute a major burden for individual victims, for businesses and the justice system, all contributing to the total cost of crime for society. Focusing on the transition between juvenile offending and adult crime, this book examines research based on Dutch, European and North-American studies on the persistence and discontinuity of offending between late adolescence and early adulthood. Presenting empirical studies showing why persistence or discontinuity take place, the book provides up-to-date information on preventive and remedial interventions to promote discontinuity of offending amongst young adults. From the same team who produced 'Tomorrow's Criminals', this book will be a valuable resource for criminologists, criminal justice professionals, psychologists, sociologists, and psychiatrists interested in juvenile and young adult offenders, as well as those interested in what makes career criminals and youth who reform.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction; 2: Criminal Career Patterns; 3: Disentangling Context Effects on Criminal Careers; 4: Explanations of Offending; 5: Vulnerable Youth in Pathways to Adulthood; 6: Risk Assessment and the Impact of Risk and Protective Factors; 7: Juveniles in Transition from Juvenile Justice to Adult Criminal Justice; 8: Offending and Justice Response at the Juvenile—Adult Interface; 9: Prevention Programmes in Early and Middle Childhood and Their Effect on Adult Crime; 10: Interventions; 11: European Perspectives; 12: Overview, Conclusions, and Policy and Research Recommendations

About the Author :
Rolf Loeber is Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Epidemiology, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, USA. Machteld Hoeve is Research Fellow Forensic Child and Youth Care Sciences, University of Amsterdam. N. Wim Slot is Professor of Education and Child Protection, VU University Amsterdam.

Review :
'Loeber and colleagues have done it again! Following on the success of Tomorrow's Criminals, this book brings together top-notch scholarship and intelligent policy proposals on another pressing social issue of our age: the transition of juvenile delinquency to adult crime. It demands serious attention.' Brandon C. Welsh, Northeastern University, USA and Senior Research Fellow, NSCR, The Netherlands 'Rolf Loeber and his colleagues show the reader that empirical findings and practical implications can go hand in hand. In this book about the longitudinal course of crime, the authors collected an immense amount of information in a highly comprehensive and readable way.' Frank Verhulst, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands