Gangs in America’s Communities
Second Edition
SAGE Journal Articles
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- Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2005). A life-course view of the development of crime. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 602, 1, 12-45.
- Abstract: In this article, the authors present a life-course perspective on crime and a critique of the developmental criminology paradigm. Their fundamental argument is that persistent offending and desistance—or trajectories of crime—can be meaningfully understood within the same theoretical framework, namely, a revised age graded theory of informal social control. The authors examine three major issues. First, they analyze data that undermine the idea that developmentally distinct groups of offenders can be explained by unique causal processes. Second, they revisit the concept of turning points from a time-varying view of key life events. Third, they stress the overlooked importance of human agency in the development of crime. The authors’ life-course theory envisions development as the constant interaction between individuals and their environment, coupled with random developmental noise and a purposeful human agency that they distinguish from rational choice. Contrary to influential developmental theories in criminology, the authors thus conceptualize crime as an emergent process reducible neither to the individual nor the environment.
- Abstract: In this article, the authors present a life-course perspective on crime and a critique of the developmental criminology paradigm. Their fundamental argument is that persistent offending and desistance—or trajectories of crime—can be meaningfully understood within the same theoretical framework, namely, a revised age graded theory of informal social control. The authors examine three major issues. First, they analyze data that undermine the idea that developmentally distinct groups of offenders can be explained by unique causal processes. Second, they revisit the concept of turning points from a time-varying view of key life events. Third, they stress the overlooked importance of human agency in the development of crime. The authors’ life-course theory envisions development as the constant interaction between individuals and their environment, coupled with random developmental noise and a purposeful human agency that they distinguish from rational choice. Contrary to influential developmental theories in criminology, the authors thus conceptualize crime as an emergent process reducible neither to the individual nor the environment.
- McGloin, J. M. & Povitsky Stickle W. (2011). Influence or convenience? Disentangling peer influence and co-offending for chronic offenders. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48, 419-447.
- Abstract: Both developmental and propensity theories root the etiology of chronic offending in factors other than peer influence. This does not mean that peers have no role in the expression of chronic offending, however. For instance, scholars have noted that offending with accomplices (i.e., cooffending) can reflect processes other than normative influence, such as selection and cooperation. Drawing from these notions, this investigation hypothesizes that chronic offenders will be less likely to cite peer influence as a reason for their deviance when compared to other offenders, whereas they will be equally likely to engage in group offending. The analysis uses information from the Racine cohort data and the results support the hypothesis. The discussion considers the implications of these findings for theory and research, as well as provides directions for future work.