Criminal Career Continuity

The author describes his longitudinal birth cohort study of juvenile delinquency and adult crime in a middle-sized midwestern urban area (Racine Wisconsin). Covering the years 1948 through 1976, it emphasizes the processes by which delinquent and criminal patterns of behavior are acquired in childhood and how they continue into adulthood. The changing ecological structure of the city and its relationship to changing rates of deliquency and crime are discussed. Interviews with cohort members enable the reader to obtain an understanding of delinquency as a natural process in a complex urban society.