ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the theoretical and methodological advances linked to an ongoing longitudinal study of randomly sampled young people from one UK city, the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS). Recent advances in developmental science present challenges for traditional developmental and life course criminology, both at a theoretical and methodological level. The chapter aims to answer these challenges by applying and testing a general theory of the role of person–environment interactions in crime causation – Situational Action Theory (SAT) – using unique methods to collect detailed data on people, environments and people's exposure to environments across key phases of their life course. SAT provides a situational explanation of crime at the point of action, and an eco-developmental explanation of how specific situations come about and change over time. An analytical criminology differs from the more traditional correlational criminology in its emphasis on establishing causation and providing explanation, rather than charting correlations and making predictions.
