Criminal Recidivism

Georgia Zara, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Criminological Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy, and is Head and Programme Leader of the Higher Degree in Criminological and Forensic Psychology in the same Department. She has been a Visiting Scholar of the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University, UK since 2003. She is also a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society, a Criminologist, and has been appointed an Honorary Judge in Turin’s Surveillance Court. Her major research interests are criminal careers, criminal persistence and recidivism, neurocriminology, psychopathy, and violent and sexual offending.David P. Farrington, O.B.E., is Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology and Leverhulme Trust Emeritus Fellow in the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University. He received the Stockholm Prize in Criminology in 2013. He is Chair of the ASC Division of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology. His major research interest is in developmental criminology, and he is Director of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, a prospective longitudinal survey of over 400 London males from age 8 to age 56. In addition to over 600 published journal articles and book chapters on criminological and psychological topics, he has published nearly 100 books, monographs and government reports.

‘Five percent of offenders commit fifty percent of crimes. Beyond that, what else do we know? This book is the authoritative source for the newest information on reoffending, rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration, specialisation, versatility, life-course-persistent offending, escalation or de-escalation, risk assessment, psychopathic personality, desistence, and most important of all, what works to reduce recidivism.’ - Terrie E Moffitt, Nannerl O. Keohane University Professor, Duke University, USA‘A small group of offenders are accountable for the majority of crime, and our capacity to explain, predict, and prevent recidivism is of the utmost importance for society. David Farrington and Georgia Zara, leading scholars in the field, provide a penetrating analysis of the most important issues in recidivism research. Deeply informative and clearly written, this groundbreaking book provides a fresh and invigorating perspective on criminal recidivism. Engaging and level-headed, this absorbing and very accessible account of recidivism covers all key knowledge bases on criminal reoffending, including prediction, risk assessment instruments, psychopaths, sex offenders, treatment, and much more. It’s an outstanding and invaluable resource for all those who deal with offenders, both in research and practice.’ - Adrian Raine, Richard Perry University Professor, Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, USA‘This book is an impressive overview of scientific knowledge on criminal recidivism and its correlates, including relevant European data on this topic. I particularly like Zara and Farrington’s integration of general quantitative results and their qualitative description of persistent offender’s life stories. Crime researchers and Criminal Justice practitioners will find in this book the most solid scientific basis for their analyses and practical interventions.’ - Santiago Redondo, Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Spain‘This volume addresses critical questions for criminal justice policymakers, academics and students of criminology: Why do people continue to commit crime and what can be done to stop them? The depth and range provided by the authors in answering these critical questions make this book a truly impressive contribution.’ - Darrick Jolliffe, Professor of Criminology, University of Greenwich, UK

• Foreword, Rolf Loeber Introduction 1. Criminal recidivism 2. Criminal careers, recidivists and chronic offenders 3. Chronic offenders and their life stories 4. Risk assessment 5. Psychopathy 6. Sex offending 7. Evidence-based intervention and treatment 8. Conclusions.