This textbook provides an interdisciplinary overview of theories of crime, explanations of how and why criminal typologies are developed, literature reviews for each of the major crime catagories, and discussions of how theories of crime are used at different stages of the criminal justice process.

An important classic, especially useful for courses in criminal behavior and personality, this text begins with a discussion of the construction of types of crime and then formulates and utilizes a typology of criminal behavior systems.

This student-friendly introductory text describes the criminal justice process—outlining the decisions, practices, people, and issues involved. It provides a solid introduction to the mechanisms of the criminal justice system, with balanced coverage of the issues presented by each facet of the process, including a thorough review of practices and controversies in law enforcement, the criminal courts, and corrections.

This is the second edition of the landmark book that standardized the language and terminology used throughout the criminal justice system. It classifies the critical characteristics of the perpetrators and victims of major crimes—murder, arson, sexual assault, and nonlethal acts—based on the motivation of the offender. The second edition contains new classifications on computer crimes, religion-extremist murder, and elder female sexual homicide. This edition also contains new information on stalking and child abduction, the use of biological agents as weapons, cybercrimes, Internet child sex offenders, burglary and rape, and homicidal poisoning. In addition, many of the case studies and crime statistics have been updated.

Taken from published reviews: " Dr Blackburn has written a remarkably good book; indeed, the best book on the topic from either side of the Atlantic I have read. the breadth of the author s knowledge is nothing short of encyclopaedic. Not only psychology developmental and social, as well as clinical but also psychiatry, biology, philosophy, and law are addressed in this volume. Finally, the book is written with clarity, economy, and a lucid style. It is as inviting and user-friendly as any work of such complexity can be. I hope that it will find its way into psychiatry residency training programmes as well. It could do wonders for replacing turf-battles with common ground." Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health " The scholarly breadth and accuracy of this work are remarkable. There seems to be no important contribution to our psychological understanding of crime which Blackburn has omitted to discuss, including those approaches from sociological and social psychology which are frequently neglected in straightforward psychological treatments. Moreover, all approaches are intelligently and sympathetically discussed." Expert Evidence " The volume is infused with the author s enthusiasm for a social cognitive perspective on offending behaviour, but he also robustly defends the utility of the notion of personality traits. Overall, this book brings together a vast array of research and theory examined from the perspective of the clinician involved with the individual. It will almost certainly become the key background text for post-graduate courses teaching forensic psychology and would be a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any clinician with forensic concerns." Clinical Psychology Forum " This is undoubtedly an important book. The end result is a book of excellent quality, which I recommend most warmly to clinical psychologists, and indeed, to anybody who is interested in criminological psychology ." Behaviour Research and Therapy " This author is to be congratulated for having produced this impressive volume. It provides a comprehensive review which is critical yet well-balanced. It assumes no prior familiarity with the field, and specialists from many different disciplines will learn a great deal from it." Criminal Law Review

Background In July of 1992, approximately sixty scholars and researchers met for a week at the "Fritz Erler Akademie" in Freudenstadt, Germany, to participate in a workshop entitled "Cross-National Lon gitudinal Research on Human Development and Criminal Behavior". The participants represented 15 nations and 45 universities and research centers. Although longitudinal research in criminology has a long history, this workshop represented the first one in the field of criminology in which it was attempted to get together the main scholars in this field from around the world. The largest group of the workshop represented American scholars (19), a reflection of the fact that longitudi nal research in criminology is predominantly conducted in North America. This volume is the result of the workshop process and in particular of the invitations to participants to prepare pre or conference papers. The chapters in this volume were selected from a larger set of pre- or conference papers. As workshop conveners and volume editors, it falls to us to set some of the context for this enter prise. Longitudinal research in criminology became a major approach after the publication of the land mark study by Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin "Delinquency in a Birth Cohort" in 1972. Around the same time, when Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin started their Philadelphia cohort study, were longi tudinal studies, although different in scope and aim, launched by Shannon in the USA, West in England, Janson in Sweden, and Goppinger in Germany.