ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the key question whether individuals' rate of offending changes when they move from one neighbourhood to another. It reviews current knowledge of the effect of changes in the direct social context on the persistence in and desistance from offending between adolescence and early adulthood. The chapter also reviews the empirical knowledge about the extent to which offending between adolescence and early adulthood is influenced by individuals' moves from one neighbourhood to another. It focuses on a specific period of life: the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood. The chapter presents the literature on the impact on offending of changes in the direct social context and changes in neighbourhood context. It demonstrates how to disentangle both types of context changes. The chapter argues the effects of either of the two types of context changes on criminal careers, it is essential to simultaneously take into account changes in other contexts as well.
