In general, developmental/life-course theories focus on offending behavior over time (e.g., trajectories) and on dimensions of the criminal career and make an effort to identify risk and protective factors that relate to life-course patterns of offending.
The life-course perspective gives increased importance to social structure, whereas the developmental approach generally tends to focus more on psychological factors to explain developmental processes. In many instances, these two approaches have been employed in the context of similar studies but with slightly different focuses.
This interest has ushered in a number of methodologically sophisticated and important contributions thus far. Having said this, there is certainly room for this theoretical perspective to grow, as well as a place for continued empirical assessments on the validity of developmental/life-course theories.
Taken together, developmental/life-course theories and developmental/life-course research can still be considered to be in its relative infancy compared with more-traditional criminological theories such as social bonding (Hirschi, 1969) and social learning (Akers, 1973) theories.
An assumption made continually by life-course theory supporters regards human behavior as being affected by nurture rather than nature. The theory recognizes that not one human is identical, but instead establishes that there are typical life phrases that are experienced in typical patterns.
Life course theory has five distinct principles: (a) time and place; (b) life-span development; (c) timing; (d) agency; and (e) linked lives. We used these principles to examine and explain high-risk pregnancy, its premature conclusion, and subsequent mothering of medically fragile preterm infants.
Developmental and life-course theories of crime are collectively characterized by their goal of explaining the onset, persistence, and desistance of offending behavior over the life-course.
These institutional or structural turning points all involve, to varying degrees, new situations that (1) knife off the past from the present, (2) provide both supervision and new opportunities for social support and growth, (3) change and structure routine activities, and/or (4) provide the opportunity for identity ...
Moffitt's theory of delinquency suggests that at-risk youths can be divided into two groups, the adolescence- limited group and the life-course-persistent group, predetermined at a young age, and social interactions between these two groups become important during the adolescent years.
In general, developmental theories view development as progress from simple to more complex understandings of the self and the world over time. Progress may be continuous in nature, or occurring in stages, but the momentum is most always forward toward greater, more complex understandings.
Developmental theories are explanatory models of criminal behavior that follow individuals throughout their life course of offending, thus explaining the development of offending over time.
What is a fundamental proposition of Bryan Vila's integrated theory? Social capital. What is the concept used by Sampson and Laub to refer to relationships (such as parent-child) that can become resources that can reduce the chances of criminal or delinquent behavior? Continuity.
According to Sampson and Laub, marriage and this factor are the two most critical turning points in a criminal career. The three factors linked to predatory crime rates in routine activities theory are a supply of motivated offenders, a supply of suitable targets and this factor.
The life course perspective or life course theory (LCT) is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the mental, physical and social health of individuals, which incorporates both life span and life stage concepts that determine the health trajectory.
Moffitt proposed that there are two main types of antisocial offenders in society: The adolescence-limited offenders, who exhibit antisocial behavior only during adolescence, and the life-course-persistent offenders, who begin to behave antisocially early in childhood and continue this behavior into adulthood.
It is important to point out that Elliott et al.'s (1979) theory is an integrated theory because it borrows concepts from three reputable theories (strain, social control, and social learning) and articulates how these concepts relate to one another.
Moffitt's taxonomy, combining a micro and macro-level of approach (Wellford & Solé, 2002), draws attention upon the interactional relationship between the biological and environmental perspectives when referring to LCPs (neuropsychological vulnerabilities/criminogenic environments), and also, to same extent, to ALs ( ...
The life course paradigm: Social change and individual development. In Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development. Edited by Phyllis Moen, and Glen H. Elder, Jr., and Kurt Lüscher, 101–139. APA Science Volumes. Washington, DC: APA Press.
Developmental and life-course criminology are both concerned with the study of changes in offending and problem behaviors over time. Although these two theoretical approaches share some common features, they also differ in the concepts that they deem to be of focal concern.
Second major reanalysis of the Gluecks’ data, including a longer follow-up of the study participants, a further examination of life-course events, and a focus on developmental issues such as early prediction of offending patterns .
The life course perspective is a broad approach that can be used in a variety of subject matters such as psychology, biology, history, and criminology. As a theory, the denotation establishes the connection between a pattern of life events and the actions that humans perform s.
When putting the theory into practice, key assumptions should be acknowledge. An assumption made continually by life- course theory supporters regards human behavior as being affected by nurture rather than nature.
Factors in the childhood stage would include developmental events concerning mainly parental guidance (or lack thereof). A common factor throughout childhood is the one parent household case in which studies have shown cause a higher risk for criminal activity later in one’s life.
As a result of this conclusion, the term ‘theoretical integration’ is often used when discussing life-course theory.
The history of the theory partially stems from the 1920’s theorist, Karl Mannheim, who wrote the groundbreaking dissertation, The Sociological Problem of Generations.
From a criminological stance, the aspect of Mannheim’s discovery on the importance of influence is the primary focus. Although Mannheim’s research helped expand the life-course approach, generally in the social sciences field W.I Thomas and F. Znaniecki are the two sociologists credited to having ignited the broad theory.
With distinct advances since the 1980s, developmental, life-course criminology has expanded to become one of the most prominent subdivisions in the field of criminology, as the knowledge gained from this perspective has propelled the field forward. Although studies of gangs and gang membership predate the emergence of developmental, life-course criminology, the proliferation of research in both of these areas shares many parallels. Furthermore, increased applications of developmental, life-course perspectives to gang-related research, as well as scholars’ continued efforts to generate life-course-rooted theories specific to gang delinquency, can and have benefited the study of gangs.
Some of the life-course models and theories commonly applied in studies of gangs include Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control, Hawkins and colleagues’ social developmental model, Thornberry and Krohn’s interactional theory, and Howell and Egley’s developmental model of gang membership.
Some of the life-course models and theories commonly applied in studies of gangs include Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control, Hawkins and colleagues’ social developmental model, Thornberry and Krohn’s interactional theory, and Howell and Egley’s developmental model of gang membership. The foundation of each of these theories is the life-course perspective, the thrust of which demonstrates the utility of following individuals, or gang members, throughout their lives. Viewing gang-related issues through a developmental, life-course lens further permits studying gang membership from multiple time points and angles and has allowed for theoretically rooted analyses of the precursors to gang joining, experiences while being gang involved, and factors related to gang exiting.
Thornberry and Krohn. expanded theory to deal with early childhood and to early adulthood. *early childhood-recognized the importance of temperament and other trait-like behavior. -importance of degree of deficits in predicting continuity. *later adolescence/early adulthood recognized. -importance of transitions.
Moffitt's theory: same traits that got them in trouble in childhood continue to manifest themselves in adulthood. -continuing reciprocal interaction between personal traits and environmental reactions to them. Terri Moffitt's developmental taxonomy conclusion. -influence of neurological factors, learning deficits, ...
turning points. important life events/people can produce a transition in the life course and change/have impact the direction of a person's life course trajectory. Cumulative continuity. snowball effect due to ineffective parenting of Moffitt's theory. -temperament effect on parenting.
adolescence limited (Al) someone who commits crime during adolescence. -social mimicry-when two animal species share a single niche and one of the species has cornered the market on a resource that is needed to promote fitness the other will copy their behavior. -biological maturity and adolescence independence.
Development- something in the way you develope
Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) General Theory of Crime
Children learn conformity to social rules and to function effectively in society.
the propensity to commit crime is stable; those who have it continue to commit crime over their life course
Developmental theories tend to look at the individual as the unit of analysis, and such models focus on the various aspects of the onset, frequency, intensity, persistence/duration, desistence, and other aspects of the individual’s criminal career.
Developmental or life-course theory focuses on the individual and following such individuals throughout life to examine their offending careers. This perspective puts a lot of emphasis on life events, often referred to as transitions, which significantly affect an individual’s trajectory in criminal behavior.
In this chapter, we also examined the policy implications of this developmental approach, which emphasized the need to provide universal care for pregnant mothers, as well as their newborn children. Other policy implications included legally mandated interventions for mothers who are addicted to toxic substances (e.g., alcohol and drugs) and assignment of caseworkers for high-risk infants and children, such as those with birth or delivery complications. Such interventions would go a long way toward saving society the many problems (e.g., financial and victimization) that will persist without such interventions. Ultimately, a focus on the earliest stages of intervention will pay off the most and will provide the “biggest bang for the buck.”
Moffitt’s developmental theory of chronic offenders (which she labeled life-course persistent offenders) versus more normal offenders (which she labeled adolescence-limited offenders) is the developmental model that has received the most attention over the last decade, and much of this research is supportive of the interactive effects of biology and
Another key developmental theory is Thornberry’s Interactional Model, which emphasizes different types of influences of certain factors at different times of our development, as well as the reciprocal or “feedback” effects of certain outcome variables on previous antecedent factors.
Moffitt’s Developmental Taxonomy. Proposed by Terrie Moffitt in 1993.
Sampson and Laub’s Developmental Model. One of the best-known and researched developmental theoretical models to date. Sampson and Laub have proposed a developmental framework that is largely based on a reanalysis of original data collected by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck in the 1940s.