Book Review: Prospective Studies of Crime and Delinquency
| Author | Satyanshu K Mukherjee |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486588802100210 |
| Published date | 01 June 1988 |
| Date | 01 June 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
126 BOOK REVIEWS (1988) 21 ANZJ Crim
The
book does not claim to offer a comprehensive review of all of
the
behavioural
ideas being used with delinquents, so omissions can be forgiven. It offers an
optimistic view, based on 15 years of experience by the author and certainly
achieves its aim of showing that some positive work can be carried out.
The
ideas
will be of interest to case-workers, to administrators, and to educators.
Ade/aide
DON
TUSTIN
Prospective Studies of Crime and Delinquency, edited by Katherine T
Van
Dusen
and Sarnoff AMednick, Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing (1983) pp 408.
Prospective Studies ofCrime and Delinquency is a collection of 18 essays, divided
into three sections -Criminal Behaviour, Violence and Psychopathy, and
Non-criminal Aggressive Behaviour.
The
main objective of this collection,
according to the editors, is the advancement of knowledge.
The
editors identify
three
research areas in which more research studies are essential. These are: nature
and
progress of criminal and delinquent careers, longitudinal studies of the causes
of crime, and interdisciplinary research.
The
essays selected attempt to fill the gap
in knowledge.
The volume begins with a description of the two Philadelphia cohorts by
Wolfgang. Although
both
the 1945 and 1958 cohorts show a similar
rate
of entry
into delinquency, about one-third, the later cohort members were
more
violent
than
those born in 1945.
The
essay does
not
explain the reasons or causes of this
disparity. Since
the
members of the two cohorts grew up in two different
environments, at least in terms of time, it would have been helpful if
the
research
was complemented by a study of the differences in the environmental factors.
One
factor which immediately comes to mind is the reaction to
the
Vietnam war and
youth violence of the late 60s and early 70s. Philadelphia was
one
of the few US
cities seriously affected by these incidents, and the members of
the
second cohort
were 10 years old or over at the time.
The chapter by Farrington uses a different methodology.
The
411 boys in the
sample consisted of those born in the year 1953-54, and they were tested or
interviewed several times, first at the age of 8 and lastly at the age of 24. Some of
the main findings of this research are that: there is a close relationship between
juvenile and adult delinquency, that the earlier the age of the first conviction the
more
persistent are the offenders, and
the
prob
ability of one conviction following
another reaches a
peak
of about .90 for boys with 6 or more convictions.
The above two researches are well known in the English speaking world. The
strength of the volume, however, lies in the inclusion of a large
number,
9
out
of
18, studies from
Denmark,
Holland and Sweden. Two essays are based on a large
sample of adoptions in Denmark between 1924 and 1947.
The
results indicate that
biological factors, at least in some cases, influence criminal behaviour and
that
social class is related negatively to criminal convictions.
Although none of these findings are new, it is highly valuable to learn
that
American and English results find support in
other
cultures.
In a study of approaches to recidivision in Holland, Buikhuisen and Meijs
develop amodel, and show the importance of interaction between psychological
factors and
other
factors
indetermining
future behaviour.
It is difficult to summarise in this short space all the essays in
the
volume.
Certainly, the editors have been successful inselecting research studies which enrich
the existing research literature in criminology. The collection should be of great
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