Formation of Crime - Life Path and Turning Points

Author: Sampson
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-11-01
Features: The preface discusses the original intention of compiling this book, starting from our two confusions about contemporary criminology research. Eight years ago, we encountered a confusion in the basement of the Harvard Law School library: data and materials stored in dusty cardboard boxes. These materials were collected by Sheldon #8226; Glueck and Irina #8226; Glueck and were the original case files for their classic study UJD (1950). The Glueck donated these case files, along with reports on the tracking and investigation of 1,000 sample subjects over the following 18 years, to the Harvard Law School library. Attached were personal records, letters, books, photographs, and related materials of the sample subjects. These personal records and other materials were categorized and indexed, becoming part of the Glueck's archive. The materials in these boxes were stored only in the library's basement. We realized the importance of these data, but it was also foreseeable that analyzing and organizing them would be extremely challenging. For example, the research materials on just 500 sample criminal subjects exceeded 50 boxes of 12×15 size, making the organization work seem almost impossible. How could we re-code this vast amount of data and input it into computers? Furthermore, when we began to review these case files and categorize them, we quickly discovered that they were not the conventional types of data we were familiar with. As our research deepened, we also found that the Glueck were not scholars in the traditional sense (Laub and Sampson, 1991). Despite this, after years of persistent effort, we reorganized the Glueck's data, extracted what we considered the essence, and used it as the material source for the theoretical analysis in this book. The second confusion arose when we reorganized the Glueck's data and saw many intense discussions, with complex topics involving hot issues in recent criminology research, including the age-crime problem, longitudinal and cross-sectional research, and the validity of the concept of "criminal careers" (see Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1986, 1990; Blumstein et al., 1986, 1988a). On one hand, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argued that the effects of effective child-rearing in the early stages of adolescence were crucial for forming their "self-control." Since this "self-control" was assumed to be stable over time and sufficient to explain crime patterns throughout life, they believed that longitudinal life analysis was unnecessary. In seeking the origins of juvenile delinquency, Gottfredson and Hirschi emphasized focusing on the impact of family factors on adolescent behavior, a concept that strongly attracted us. On the other hand, we questioned the idea in this "self-control" theory that this trait, once established, remains stable over time. Can child-rearing effects alone fully explain adult crime? What if individual changes occur or major life events take place in adulthood? Are longitudinal analyses truly meaningless for understanding crime? In exploring these questions, the differing viewpoints of Gottfredson and Hirschi's opponents in criminological research theory hold significant reference value (e.g., Farrington, 1986a; Blumstein et al., 1988a, 1988b). By reasonably utilizing longitudinal research data and conducting theoretically grounded analysis, we can derive new insights into the causes of crime. We believe that, essentially, the theoretical confusion at the heart of this debate can be simplified as follows: Can a model be proposed and validated that explains antisocial behavior in childhood, deviant behavior in adolescence, and crime in adulthood from a longitudinal perspective? In other words, can crime and delinquency be unraveled throughout the entire life course? Finally, the solutions to these two confusions and our attempts to integrate and reconcile conflicting parties in criminology research are left for the reader to judge. We did not cover everything but attempted to adopt the perspectives we believed were empirically and theoretically sound, integrate them, and form a more coherent viewpoint, which clearly surpasses the simple addition of individual viewpoints. These debates, of course, are not limited to academia. We believe that the research and analysis of the Glueck's data contribute to public discussions on crime and criminal policy. It is particularly important that the Glueck's data provide a rare opportunity to promote a comparative understanding of historical and contemporary crime. The excessive emphasis on "current data" stems from a misconception that sociological research is unrelated to the time dimension. Thernstrom, in his famous study on social mobility in Boston residents, pointed out: "Historical analysis of social phenomena is not just a luxury for those interested in history. If one wants to study the present but ignores the developmental process it is based on, such research will inevitably be superficial and shallow." (1973: 3) In this sense, we believe that the comprehensive discussion of contemporary crime issues in this book is highly beneficial. For example, in today's society, we often hear views on crime that link criminal behavior inevitably to racial issues and drug problems (Kotlowitz, 1991). However, a look at the historical context reveals that the first to engage in criminal activities were not Black people but marginalized individuals within the white majority. In an era when drug use was not as prevalent, crime and alcoholism were rampant. In the Glueck's data, the criminal sample consisted of persistent and severe habitual offenders—if you use contemporary terms, some of them could be called "professional criminals." Therefore, using samples of socially and economically marginalized individuals who were of white descent provided an important comparative foundation for evaluating racial, crime, and underclass issues in today's society (Jencks, 1992). Additionally, since the use and trade of drugs like cocaine and heroin were not yet widespread at the time, this was a unique opportunity to study the relationship between alcoholism and criminal behavior. We believe that criminal policies are often formulated hastily without sufficient data, theory, or historical/longitudinal perspectives. This book covers all three aspects. Therefore, we strongly oppose limiting solutions to crime problems to imprisonment. We argue that criminal policy must broaden its scope and focus on non-governmental organizations such as families, schools, workplaces, and neighborhood environments, placing these organizations at the center of crime prevention. The government can and should play a leading role in strengthening the basic institutions of our society. This does not mean that individuals who commit serious crimes should not be imprisoned. Further, we hold reservations about overly relying on long-term imprisonment, especially for minors, reflecting our concerns that such policies may not reduce crime. Such policies may actually have unintended consequences. Crime is an urgent social problem that demands more attention. Both of us have written on related topics in the past, including the destructive impact of crime on society, particularly concerning social stability and quality of life (Sampson, 1987, 1988; Garofalo and Laub, 1978; Laub, 1983a). Given these concerns, we have proposed an empirical and theoretical framework in this book to open new avenues for criminal policy. Public discussions on crime are often dominated by talk shows, radio programs, and forums. We believe these are not suitable for discussing the causes of crime and solving crime problems. The idea of reducing the study of crime to a ten-second lecture is reckless, yet this is what we have been asked to do for years. While the media cannot achieve this, we believe most citizens will understand and recognize the complexity of the crime problem through our analysis. Sometimes these analyses may seem discouraging, but they provide a very important foundation for glimpsing the "big picture" of criminological research. Through this foundation, we hope to maintain optimism among those concerned about crime issues, much like we do, that social science research can serve criminal policy. We hope our work contributes to the development of such policies. The organization of empirical and theoretical challenges and more attention to current criminal policy is presented as follows. The first three chapters outline the main theoretical framework of the book. Specifically, the first chapter summarizes the life course framework and introduces the basic principles of the theoretical model in the book, the "Age-Graded Informal Social Control Theory." The second chapter details the Glueck's UJD study and their tracking investigations. We also place the "Glueck perspective" on the study of criminology within the broader context of historical and institutional considerations, and respond to critics who have opposed the Glueck's research from methodological and ideological perspectives. The third chapter discusses how to apply the Glueck's data to modern criminology research, including our validated theory. We place the Glueck's research sample in its historical context and discuss the roles of peer effects and period effects, which help explain the causes of individual crime over a period. The next two chapters explore the causes of adolescent antisocial and deviant behavior. The fourth chapter elaborates on the informal social control theory. The fifth chapter focuses on the influence of schools, siblings, and peer groups on adolescent delinquent behavior. In these two chapters, we analyze the cross-sectional data initially extracted from the UJD study. The final three chapters examine the stability and change in crime and adult deviant behavior. This discussion focuses on an empirical study targeting the persistent and discontinued criminal behavior of individuals in the UJD study. The sixth chapter discusses the empirical research on the association (continuity) between childhood deviant behavior and adult crime. The seventh chapter describes the influence of the strength of adult social ties on criminal behavior among 500 criminal adolescent samples. The eighth chapter presents an empirical study on the criminal and deviant behavior of 500 non-criminal adolescent samples in adulthood. We used data collected by the Glueck from official records and interviews, primarily from the age group of 25 to 32. Some new data on criminal behavior were also used, drawn from the age group of 32 to 45. The ninth chapter synthesizes the qualitative and quantitative data collected by the Glueck's research team. Based on extensive narrative data, we reveal the life histories of 70 men, representative of the differences in antisocial behavior and social control in our theory. Finally, in the tenth chapter, we provide a comprehensive pathway for criminological theory and research and explore the implications of our conclusions for criminology theory and research. The book concludes by discussing the significance of our research for current debates on criminal policy.