The Development of Offending from Age 8 to Age 50: Recent Results from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, 411 males have been followed up from age 8 to age 50, in repeated personal interviews and criminal record searches. At age 48, 93 % of males were interviewed, and 41 % of males were convicted up to age 50. There were 39 self-reported offences for every conviction, on average. This article summarizes criminal careers, childhood risk factors at age 8–10, and adult life success outcomes at age 48. Males who desisted from offending before age 21 were similar to unconvicted males in their life success at age 48. These results suggest that crime can be reduced by interventions that target early childhood risk factors.

[1]  J. Coid,et al.  Family factors in the intergenerational transmission of offending. , 2009, Criminal behaviour and mental health : CBMH.

[2]  D. Farrington,et al.  Childhood and Adolescent Predictors of Late Onset Criminal Careers , 2009, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[3]  J. Short.  Integrated Developmental and Life‐Course Theories of Offending. Edited by David P. Farrington. Advances in Criminological Theory no. 14. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2005. Pp. 279. $49.95 (cloth). , 2006 .

[4]  D. Farrington,et al.  Exploring Residual Career Length and Residual Number of Offenses for Two Generations of Repeat Offenders , 2006 .

[5]  D. Farrington,et al.  The Impact of Different Family Configurations on Delinquency , 2004 .

[6]  D. Farrington.  Key Results from the First Forty Years of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development , 2003 .

[7]  D. Farrington,et al.  Disentangling the Link between Disrupted Families and Delinquency Sociodemography, Ethnicity and Risk Behaviours , 2001 .

[8]  R. Abbott,et al.  Preventing adolescent health-risk behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood. , 1999, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine.

[9]  C. Henderson,et al.  Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on children's criminal and antisocial behavior: 15-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. , 1998, JAMA.

[10]  D. Farrington.  The Relationship Between Low Resting Heart Rate and Violence , 1997 .

[11]  P. Cohen.  Childhood Risks for Young Adult Symptoms of Personality Disorder: Method and Substance. , 1996, Multivariate behavioral research.

[12]  L. Mâsse,et al.  A bimodal preventive intervention for disruptive kindergarten boys: its impact through mid-adolescence. , 1995, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[13]  David P. Farrington,et al.  CRIMINAL CAREER RESEARCH IN THE UNITED KINGDOM , 1992 .

[14]  D. Farrington,et al.  Advancing Knowledge About Co-Offending: Results from a Prospective Longitudinal Survey of London Males , 1991 .

[15]  David P. Farrington,et al.  Minimising attrition in longitudinal research: methods in tracing and securing cooperation in a 24-year follow-up study , 1990 .

[16]  David P. Farrington,et al.  The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development: A Long-Term Follow-Up of 411 London Males , 1990 .

[17]  D. Farrington.  Self-Reported and Official Offending from Adolescence to Adulthood , 1989 .

[18]  T. Gibbens.  Age and Crime , 1965, Mental health.