ABSTRACT
This book shows that Developmental and Life-Course Criminology (DLC) has come of age and points the way to further exciting developments! It addresses many contemporary issues related to the onset, continuation, and desistance of offending and the influence of risk and protective factors at different ages on offending at different ages. The book is very important in grappling with important issues such as establishing causal influences through for example the more thorough analysis of within-person changes, and the conceptualisation of prosocial behaviours as more than just the absence or the opposite of antisocial behaviours. This collection is in addition very helpful in demonstrating the use of large-scale administrative data and the simultaneous collaboration with governmental agencies. Also, I am very pleased to see the application of DLC research to such problems as system change in correctional settings for women in order to break the intergenerational transmission of offending, and the use of internationally famous prevention techniques such as Communities That Care to improve large-scale, government-administered prevention initiatives in disadvantaged communities in Australia. Hopefully, this book will encourage more application of effective techniques to prevent offending. That would be in everyone's interests!
