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This chapter introduces the reader to life course theory. It provides definitions of the life course and explores the challenges in defining the different stages of the life course. The interaction of law and life stages is considered. The chapter also introduces some of the themes that run through the book such as age discrimination and intergenerational justice.

This chapter provides an overview of theoretical process models for the explanation of crime in developmental context. It introduces key propositions from leading developmental and life-course theories of offending, including the dual taxonomy of antisocial behavior, coercion theory, interactional theory, and age-graded theory of informal social control, and stresses the need for further elaboration of the role of human agency in criminal trajectories across the life span. The chapter also describes the core tenets of the relational developmental systems framework, which serves as a major metamodel that undergirds contemporary developmental science. It is argued that developmental science theories of intentional self-regulation across the life span hold great promise to enrich criminological theorizing on human agency.

This chapter reviews the state of past monothematic, and current multithematic and multidisciplinary, integrated theories of crime, particularly developmental and life course theories explaining why some individuals and not others become serious offenders. It argues that major advances have been made by the measurement of official and self-reported delinquency, and the understanding of the heterogeneity of criminal careers. It recognizes the role of individuals’ decision-making and human agency in offending, and desistance from offending and nonoffending. Future theories will become more encompassing, incorporating biological and economic factors. At the same time, it is desirable to counteract the proliferation of different theories by the creation of a unified theory, which should link the development and explanation of offending with interventions.

This introductory chapter discusses the importance of studying human sexuality from a life course perspective. Until recently, theory, research, and public policy discussions on sexual topics have tended to focus on childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, or adulthood. With some reflection, however, one realizes that what happens in adulthood is not unrelated to what took place in adolescence or even childhood. Thus, there is a need for serious exploration of how events at one stage in life affect sexual attitudes, behavior, and relationships at other, later stages. Another contribution to be made by the life course theory is the development of transdisciplinary perspectives, incorporating biological, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions; these are often referred to as biopsychosocial models.

This concluding chapter provides a synthesis of this book's empirical research and its vision for future research on sexualities from birth to death and every age in between. Many of the studies in this present volume illustrate how specific aspects of sexuality unfold across multiple stages of the life course. Almost all of them address at least three of the major forces—biology, psychology, society, culture, and history—shaping sexual expression. Moreover, whereas earlier work often examined race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexual identity in isolation, complex analyses of social location are incorporated in almost every chapter in this book. Another goal of this book has been to showcase the wide range of substantive topics that can benefit from analysis through a life course lens. The book thus encourage scholars to look at sexuality studies through a life course perspective.

This chapter introduces the reader to some of the themes of the book. It explains the different ways that law can impact on society and how these related to different stages of life. It also sets out the legal concepts of rights and best interests which are used in the regulation of human behaviour.

Life course theory focuses attention on the impact of history, timing, and important transitions in life trajectories. In this chapter, the life course analysis of boomer drug users reveals that drug trajectories were not developmental. Instead, they were discontinuous, interrupted phases dependent on social context and situations that changed over time. The chapter provides a closer inspection of the turning points into and out of drug use phases to better understand the causes of problematic drug use and what resources are needed to control it. In contrast to law enforcement and treatment professionals, who view problematic drug use as a lack of self-control, research finds that informal social control mechanisms are more important for maintaining or regaining control over drug use. Life course theory predicts that missing critical transitions in life, such as graduating from high school, leads to fewer informal social controls. The stories in this chapter reveal the negative impact of juvenile incarceration, which did not help anyone become drug free, but instead plunged youths into a criminal culture and broke their social bonds to mainstream social networks and access to informal social control mechanisms.

Scientific theory is essential to research on sexuality and sexual experiences in emerging adulthood. Theory serves a number of important functions for research, including prediction and explanation. Research has often utilized theory to help enhance what is known about sexuality among those in the developmental period of emerging adulthood. This chapter offers a primer on theories that have been used regularly when studying sex and relationships using emerging adult samples, including life course development theory, symbolic interactionism, social exchange theory, and the theory of sexual possible selves. Following discussion of these theories and their role in guiding research and explaining findings on sex and sexuality, this chapter offers theoretical directions to enhance the rigor of the use of theory in future research on sexual experiences among emerging adults.

This chapter draws from two predominant criminological theories that have been used to explain desistance from crime: Life-course theories and theories of cognitive transformation. Particular attention is paid to life-course notions including aging out and acquiring new social roles. This chapter also addresses the nature of the homicide and the influence of imprisonment to help us understand how the homicide offenders on which this study was based, fare post-release. Did prison act as a school of crime, as a deterrent, or simply as a ‘deep freeze’, which implies that offenders came out the exact way they came in? Finally, the chapter discusses potential harmful effects of imprisonment, including institutionalization. This chapter serves as a theoretical background in coming to understand the ability of lifers to build a life for themselves before, during, and most importantly, after release.

Prevention science recommends that EBIs should be based on theories that describe the causes of behavioral health problems. They should also be evaluated in high-quality research studies that examine implementation and outcomes both under ideal conditions, like scientist-led efficacy trials, and naturalistic conditions, such as effectiveness trials that rely on community agencies and staff. This chapter reviews the theories guiding the development of the CTC system, including life-course developmental theory, the Social Development Model, social disorganization theory, and the Diffusion of Innovations theory. CTC has been created and evaluated using a community-based participatory approach. The benefits and challenges of this approach are also discussed.

Chapter eleven concludes by exploring the boundaries of two main theoretical models: Life-course theories and theories of cognitive transformation, in explaining success and failure among these lifers. The majority of the interviewed lifers, in a strict sense, desisted from crime, but still experienced great difficulty adjusting to life outside of prison. The chapter discusses ways in which the findings can be put into practical and policy recommendations, to better prepare this unique group of offenders for release to the community: By reclaiming self-efficacy in prison and through employment, by evidence-based programming, and by acknowledging the psychological aftermath of long-term incarceration. The chapter concludes with a discussion on reform in both prison and parole systems for lifers. Providing lifers a fair chance on the job market, adequate programming taking into account the prolonged period of confinement, and a sense of certainty in terms of reasons for recall enables them to start a life beyond bars.

This chapter focuses on the development of sexual orientations and identities among sexual minority emerging adults, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, and other non-heterosexual sexual identities. The importance of sociohistorical context when examining sexual orientations and identity development is considered in explaining why emerging adults increasingly question binary constructs of both sexuality and gender, and more often adopt fluid and shifting identities, compared to older generations. New psychological frameworks accounting for these more diverse ways of approaching sexual identity and gender identity are reviewed. Nevertheless, health disparities among sexual minority emerging adults still prevail, and the minority stress framework is utilized to explain and understand the underlying reasons. The chapter concludes with suggestions on directions for future research on sexual orientations and identities in emerging adulthood.

This chapter conceptualizes the link between the occurrence of prisoner radicalization and the terrorist event in terms of the theoretical perspective most attuned to temporal ordering: life-course criminology. Life-course theory concentrates on a criminal's changing personal choices and life experiences over time, and it seeks to uncover trajectories or “turning points” that form critical periods in the process of violent development. In this way, becoming radicalized in prison is just one of what may be several decisive life experiences—including those that may have occurred before and after imprisonment—in the process leading to terrorism. Thus, the chapter demonstrates this theory via a database of cases where prisoner radicalization has been linked to terrorism.

This chapter draws upon four paradigmatic U.S. cases from the Prisoner Radicalization/Terrorism Database and examines them under the lens of life-course theory. One looks at the white supremacy movement and another examines the threat posed by Somali gangs. The other two cases interrogate the threat of lone-wolf terrorists—one influenced by Prison Islam and the other inspired by an Internet-recruiting campaign by Anwar al-Awlaki. This analysis provides a social context for understanding how a stretch in prison contributed to a radicalization process that led to bona fide acts of terrorism during the post-9/11 era. While radicalizing in prison is certainly important, it is only one of several key turning points along the pathway to terrorism.

Chapter seven explores the initial impacts of re-entering a world these lifers left many years ago. The chapter highlights specific roadblocks to re-entry. These include the ‘felon label’, the implications stigma, labeling, and the widespread availability of criminal background checks. These factors prevent lifers from obtaining housing and employment. The chapter discusses how interviewees managed the stigma of being an ex-offender. Deriving indicators from life-course theories, the chapter further details how relationships with family, intimate partners and children influenced the interviewees over the years. By being in prison for decades, these lifers have been removed from structures that favor maturation and provide sources of informal social control, such as employment, intimate relationships, family relationships and parenthood. Prison, in this view, has disrupted their journey of going straight.

Chapter ten delves deeper into the factors the interviewees mentioned as key to staying out. These included aging out of crime, a healthy fear for the conditions of parole, and self-efficacy, or having a sense of choice and control over one’s life. Non-incarcerated interviewees, as opposed to re-incarcerated individuals, reflected a strong sense of agency in their narrative. The process of desistance is thus not the result of societal forces, as emphasized by life-course theorists. Nor does it seem to be a resolution of an individual to change, as the vast majority of interviewees said that they underwent a transformation leading to a better version of themselves. What seems to be crucial for lifers in being successful in staying out on parole is a combination of social support structures, having regained a sense of control, and a strong awareness of the restraints that govern their day-to-day life.