The Criminal Career

How can the average 'criminal career' be characterized and how common are career criminals? Does offending become more specialized and/or more serious as people get older? Do female careers in crime differ from those of males in substance or only in magnitude? Britta Kyvsgaard examines these questions through her longitudinal analysis of the life circumstances and criminal pursuits of 45,000 Danish offenders. This 2002 book provides a remarkably broad assessment of the full spectrum of criminal career patterns. The data, unparalleled in size and quality, allows powerful analyses of criminal behavior, even among relatively small demographic subgroups. Kyvsgaard is thus able to make solid assessments of offending patterns for males and females, juveniles and middle-aged adults, and employed and unemployed individuals. Furthermore, she examines the empirical evidence of the effects of deterrence and incapacitation. Her findings suggest rehabilitation as an alternative worthy of further research.

• Covers all the parameters of the criminal career from an empirical point of view and reveals patterns not shown in any previous study
• Utilizes data of unparalleled size and quality, examining the offending patterns of 334,000 subjects over a thirteen-year period
• Provides a comparative look at the generalizability of career patterns across nations