ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores how the class background of persistent thieves limits their occupational options and their choices. It examines how in a world of rapidly changing criminal opportunities their criminal options also are limited by their background. An adequate understanding of the behavior of persistent thieves requires examination of the consequences of some of their earlier choices, including both the choice of identity and the choice of lifestyle. Glaser's research sensitizes us to scrutinize points in the lives of persistent thieves when seemingly they choose either to engage in crime or to avoid it. The chapter comprises significant turning points as well as changes in the frequency of crime commission and crime preference are evident in the six biographical sketches. It explores both offenders' knowledge of legal penalties and changes in their perspectives and decision-making produced by experience with sanctions, particularly imprisonment.
