The Elliott Youth Development lecture.

It is with great honor that I introduce the 2011 Elliott Youth Development Lecture. The lecture is authored and presented by a leading researcher widely recognized as having made foundational contributions to our understanding of youth. In 2011, Alex R. Piquero was selected as the recipient of this recognition by a group of researchers at Indiana University, where the lecture was delivered. His engaging presentation, which is published in this issue, was entitled James Joyce, Alice in Wonderland, and Criminal Careers. The lecture is supported by a generous donation from Howard R. ‘‘Skip’’ Elliott, BA’77. Elliott was a double major in Forensic Studies and English and continues to be a faithful alumnus of what has become known as the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University. After graduating from the Department, Elliott then graduated from the state police academy, after which he joined the police department of Conrail railroad. Eventually, he joined CSX Transportation, where he currently serves as vice president of public safety and environment. CSX Transportation is one of America’s major freight railroads and a Fortune 250 Company that operates in 23 states and in cities such as Chicago, Boston, and New York City. Elliott leads CSX’s hazardous materials transportation safety efforts, its environmental protection program, its police department and its homeland security initiatives. Among his many commitments to public service is his exemplary service to National Safe Place, an organization that links runaway and homeless youth with the help needed to be safe (see Walsh and Donaldson 2009). Elliott earned Indiana University’s Department of Criminal Justice’s first-ever Distinguished Alumni Award, for the great credit he has given the Department, Indiana University, and the field of criminal justice. It was Elliott’s dedication to serving others, and his passion for helping youth, that led to the development of this lecture series. The Elliott Youth Development Lecture has many goals. The lecture seeks to recognize the accomplishments of a leading scholar who has made a foundational impact on our understanding of youth and social responses to them. It does so by requesting that the lecturers offer a review of their work, their sense of where the field is heading, and their thoughts on potentially fruitful research and policy directions. Publishing a written version of the lecture helps to enhance its reach and, equally importantly, attract increased attention to the multidisciplinary study of adolescence. Professor Piquero was the ideal recipient of this honor. He currently is Professor in the Program in Criminology in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, Adjunct Professor Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice, and Governance, Griffith University and Co-Editor of the Journal of Quantitative Criminology. He has published over two-hundred peerreviewed articles in the areas of criminal careers, criminological theory, and quantitative research methods. His research has found homes in leading journals in a wide variety of disciplines, including developmental science. Indeed, he has been a regular contributor to the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, recently authoring at least two articles per year (see Goldweber et al. 2011; Haynie et al. 2009; Jennings et al. 2010; Lee et al. 2011; Mauricio et al. 2009; Piquero et al. 2010). Notably, he also has R. J. R. Levesque (&) Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA e-mail: rlevesqu@indiana.edu