Method evidence record

Life-Course Criminology Analysis

Life-course criminology analyzes both continuity and change in offending across the entire life span, anchored in Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory of informal social control. The core claim is that social bonds that emerge at different ages — strong marriages, stable employment, military service — function as informal social control that can redirect criminal trajectories, so that change is possible at any age and is not fully determined by childhood propensity.

Evidence statusSources recorded, not reviewedBibliographic sources are present. Claim-level evidence review has not been performed.