ABSTRACT
In 1983, Hirschi and Gottfredson initiated what came to be known as the age-crime debate (see Chapter 9). They were of course interested in pursuing the research implications of their age-invariance thesis, especially considering that well-supported research and well-publicized policy contrary to their thesis was already underway. But repeated submissions to federal granting agencies yielded nothing. The government, it appeared to them, had taken sides on an academic question, and was supported in this decision by those inclined to benefit from it. There seemed no choice but to go public. The resulting paper is sometimes described as “acrimonious.” In their defense, Hirschi reminds us that we did not see the reviews of their proposals. This debate was joined by Blumstein and his colleagues in an issue of Criminology devoted largely to it. (See Blumstein et al. 1988a, 1988b).—JHL/TH
