Conclusions and implications for developmental and life-course criminology

This concluding chapter summarizes current knowledge about developmental and life-course criminology based on the previous chapters, reviews some areas in need of further research, and makes some recommendations about how future research can address these gaps in current knowledge. It shows how a great deal is known about risk factors for offending in general (especially for the prevalence of offending), but less is known about risk factors for specific criminal career features, such as the age of onset, the frequency of offending per year, and so on. The chapter discusses the limitations and challenges to current research and provides some recommendations for research that can expand on the topics already covered in this volume. Finally, this chapter suggests some methods for further research. It also provides some examples of studies undertaken along these lines.