Life-course criminology has generated new energy and provoked sharp debate over competing ideas about the fundamental relationship between age and crime. A major catalyst for this debate - a 2003 American Society of Criminology (ASC) conference session entitled "Age, Crime, and Human Development: The Future of Life-Course Criminology," chaired by the editors of this issue - provided a springboard for this special issue of The Annals.
With an eye to the future, this special issue provides critical debate on patterns of age and crime across the full life course - from infancy to late adulthood. Criminal career topics such as onset, continuation, termination, and career length are also discussed, along with the viability of developmental and taxonomic theories of crime, the suitability of existing data archives to test theories, and the prospects for marrying longitudinal and experimental studies.
The distinguished papers that appear in this compelling collection include the full set of presentations from the inaugural Albany Symposium on Crime and Justice: "Developmental Criminology and Its Discontents: Offender Typologies and Trajectories of Crime," which took place in April 2005 and built upon the questions raised at the ASC conference session. In addition to the revised original papers and commentaries from the Albany symposium, this journal also includes never-before-published responses to the commentaries by each of the papers' authors. An overview by Alfred Blumstein of the central issues raised at the symposium and a book-review essay by Hans-Jürgen Kerner rounds out the volume and collectively provides a comprehensive representation of the provocative discussion ignited by these intriguing session panels.
Centered on the fundamental discussions raised by the life-course paradigm in criminology, this historical issue of The Annals will potentially shape the theoretical and research agenda for years to come. It is an essential resource for scholars, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of criminology, sociology, psychology, criminal justice, aging, human development, and social policy.
With a diverse set of viewpoints, this well-rounded and in-depth look at age, crime, and human development is a valuable contribution to existing studies and will serve as a foundation for future research into this lively topic.

Preface - Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub
A Life-Course View of the Development of Crime - Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub
Offender Classifications and Treatment Effects in Developmental Criminology: A Propensity/Event Consideration - Michael R. Gottfredson
Explaining When Arrests End for Serious Juvenile Offenders: Comments on the Sampson and Laub Study - Lee N. Robins
When Prediction Fails: From Crime-Prone Boys to Heterogeneity in Adulthood - Robert J. Sampson, John H. Laub
What Has Been Learned from Group-Based Trajectory Modeling? Examples from Physical Aggression and Other Problem Behaviors - Daniel S. Nagin, Richard E. Tremblay
Developmental Trajectory Modeling: A View from Developmental Psychopathology - Barbara Maughan
How Do We Study ?What Happens Next?? - Stephen W. Raudenbush
Further Reflections on Modeling and Analyzing Developmental Trajectories: - Daniel S. Nagin and Richard E. Tremblay
Explaining Multiple Patterns of Offending across the Life Course and across Generations - Terence P. Thornberry
Making Sense of Crime and the Life Course - D. Wayne Osgood
Explaining Patterns of Offending Across the Life Course: Comments on Interactional Theory and Recent Tests Based on the RYDS-RIS Data - Janet L. Lauritsen
Notes on Theory Construction and Theory Testing: A Response to Osgood and Lauritsen - Terence P. Thornberry
An Overview of the Symposium and Some Next Steps - Alfred Blumstein
The Complex Dynamics of the Onset, the Development, and the Termination of a Criminal Career: Lessons on Repeat Offenders to Be Drawn from Recent Longitudinal Studies in Criminology - Hans-Jurgen Kerner
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