Title: Explaining criminal careers : implications for justice policy /
Authors: MacLeod, John F.; Grove, Peter G.; Farrington, David P.
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Year: 2012
Subjects: Criminals Great Britain; Crime Great Britain; Criminal justice, Administration of Great Britain
Abstract: Using the Home Office Offenders Index, a unique database containing records of all criminal convictions in England and Wales since 1963, this simple but influential theory makes exact quantitative predictions about criminal careers and age-crime curves, in particular the prison population contingent on a given sentencing policy.
Contents: 1. Criminal career research, mathematical models, and testing quantitative predictions from theories -- 2. An analysis of the offenders index -- 3. The theory and a simple model -- 4. Criminal careers of serious, less serious, and trivial offenders -- 5. Is age the primary influence on offending? -- 6. Characteristics of individuals -- 7. Applications for managing the criminal justice system -- 8. Criminal policy implications -- 9. Summary and conclusions -- Appendix: mathematical notes.