Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Lecture Notes
Chapter 13: Developmental/Life-Course Perspectives on Criminality
Learning Objectives
13.1 Discuss how developmental or life-course theories differ from other theoretical perspectives
presented in this book.
13.2 Explain how factors that are important in life-course/developmental perspectives, such as
13.3 Identify some of the primary criticisms or weaknesses of the life-course/developmental
perspective as well as which theories are clearly “antidevelopmental.”
13.5 Summarize some of the key policy implications of developmental/life-course theories.
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
i. This chapter discusses the development of the life-course perspective in the
late 1970s and its influence on modern research on criminal trajectories.
II. Basic Concepts and Early Developmental Theory
i. Developmental theories are distinguished by their emphasis on the
evolution of individuals’ criminality over time.
ii. Developmental theories tend to look at the individual as the unit of
analysis, and such models focus on the various aspects of the onset,
iii. Desistance refers to when the criminal career of an individual ends and he
or she opts out of offending.
iv. For those who offend many times, a certain pattern emerges.
a. This pattern involves an escalation from minor-status offending
(e.g., truancy, underage drinking, smoking tobacco), usually
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
b. This then leads to some higher level petty crimes (e.g., shoplifting,
v. Perhaps the most discussed and researched aspect of developmental theory
is offender frequency, referred to as lambda.
III. Antidevelopmental Theory: Low Self-Control Theory
i. Individuals are born predisposed toward selfish, self-centered activities and
that only effective child rearing and socialization can create self-control.
ii. The formation of low self-control by age 10 is the oppositional feature of
this theory compared with the developmental perspective.
iii. The general theory of crime assumes that people can exercise a degree of
control over their own decisions and, within certain limitations, control
themselves.
iv. Recent research has supported the idea that inadequate child-rearing
IV. Modern Developmental/Life-Course Perspectives
A. Sampson and Laub’s Developmental Model
i. Emphasized the importance of certain events and life changes that can alter
an individual’s decisions to commit (or not commit) criminal actions.
ii. Sampson and Laub’s model assumes, like other developmental
perspectives, that early antisocial tendencies among individuals, regardless
of social variables, are often linked to later adult criminal offending.
iii. Another key factor in this development of criminality is the influence of
delinquent peers or siblings, which further increases an individual’s
likelihood for delinquency.
iv. Sampson and Laub also strongly emphasize the importance of transitions,
or specific events (e.g., marriage, stable employment) that are important in
altering long-term trends in behavior, which are referred to as trajectories.
vi. Recent research has consistently shown that marriage and full-time
employment significantly reduced the recidivism of California parolees,
and other recent studies have shown similar results from employment in
later years.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
B. Moffitt’s Developmental Taxonomy
i. Moffitt’s developmental theory or taxonomy distinguishes two types of
offenders: adolescence-limited offenders and life-course persistent
offenders.
ii. Adolescence-limited offenders make up most of the general public and
include all persons who committed offenses when they were teenagers or
young adults.
iii. On the other hand, there exists another, smaller group of offenders, referred
to in this model as life-course persistent offenders.
iv. In contrast to the adolescence-limited offenders, the disposition of life-
C. Thornberry’s Interactional Model of Offending
i. Thornberry’s interactional model incorporated empirical evidence that
addressed an extremely important aspect never before addressed in
criminological theory.
ii. Thornberry’s interactional theory was the first to emphasize reciprocal, or
feedback, effects in the causal modeling of the theoretical framework.
iii. As a basis for his model, Thornberry combined social control and social
learning models. According to Thornberry, both of these theories try to
explain criminality in a straightforward, causal process and are largely
targeted toward a certain age population.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
delinquent peers will have more effect in the mid-teenage years than at
other ages.
V. Policy Implications
i. We will focus on the most important, which are those policies emphasizing
the prenatal and perinatal stages of life; the most significant and effective
interventions can occur during this time.
ii. If policymakers hope to reduce early risk factors for criminality, they must
insist on universal health care for pregnant women, as well as for their
newborn infants through the first few years of life.