Introduction. Criminal trajectories and life- course development

This chapter develops the thesis that a developmental perspective is essential to advancing knowledge about criminal trajectories and to gaining a deeper, more nuanced understanding of criminal behavior across the life span. In discussing criminal trajectories, an emphasis is placed on the importance of longitudinal data, person-oriented analyses, developmental processes, a life-span approach, and dynamic transactions between the individual and the environment. Last, the chapter details three premises on which the book is based (a) crime is a product of developmental processes, (b) criminals compose a heterogeneous population, and (c) process models are essential to understand criminal behavior in a developmental context.