The Termination of Criminal Careers

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the attention given to the later stages of criminal careers. Research upon this topic has charted the main factors associated with the termination of criminal careers, outlined some of the possible reasons behind these relationships and started to develop theoretical explanations for such relationships. Collected together for the first time are some of the most important contributions to this field of research. The collection focuses upon the initial explorations into this topic, the most commonly observed findings, the cessation of offending by specific offender-types and theoretical matters. An introductory essay by the editor provides a thorough overview of the work in this area and highlights the reasons why the termination of criminal careers will become increasingly important to criminologists and criminal justice policy makers alike.

Stephen Farrall, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK. Interests include: why people stop offending; the impact of probation supervision on patterns of offending, and the fear of crime. He has published several articles on these aspects of his work and is currently completing the analysis of a longitudinal, self-report investigation of the impact of probation supervision.