Saving Children from a Life of Crime: Early Risk Factors and Effective Interventions
David P. Farrington and Brandon C. Welsh
Abstract
After decades of rigorous study in the United States and across the Western world, a great deal is known about the early risk factors for offending. High impulsiveness, low attainment, criminal parents, parental conflict, and growing up in a deprived, high-crime neighborhood are among the most important factors. There is also a growing body of high quality scientific evidence on the effectiveness of early prevention programs designed to prevent children from embarking on a life of crime. Drawing on the latest evidence, this is the first book to assess the early causes of offending and what wor ... More
After decades of rigorous study in the United States and across the Western world, a great deal is known about the early risk factors for offending. High impulsiveness, low attainment, criminal parents, parental conflict, and growing up in a deprived, high-crime neighborhood are among the most important factors. There is also a growing body of high quality scientific evidence on the effectiveness of early prevention programs designed to prevent children from embarking on a life of crime. Drawing on the latest evidence, this is the first book to assess the early causes of offending and what works best to prevent it. Preschool intellectual enrichment, child skills training, parent management training, and home visiting programs are among the most effective early prevention programs. The authors of this book, who are both criminologists, outline a policy strategy—early prevention—that uses this current research knowledge and brings into sharper focus what America's national crime fighting priority ought to be. At a time when unacceptable crime levels in America, rising criminal justice costs, and a punitive crime policy have spurred a growing interest in the early prevention of delinquency, the book lays the groundwork for change with a comprehensive national prevention strategy to save children from a life of crime.
Keywords:
early risk factors,
offending,
early prevention programs,
policy strategy,
national crime fighting priority
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195304091 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2012 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304091.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
David P. Farrington, author
Cambridge University
Brandon C. Welsh, author
University of Massachusetts, Lowell
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