U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Some Critical Observations on Criminal Types and Criminal Careers

NCJ Number
110979
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1988) Pages: 8-23
Author(s)
D C Gibbons
Date Published
1988
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article deals with offender typologies, which have been of interest to several generations of criminologists.
Abstract
A number of these efforts are reviewed, but major emphasis is placed on the author's 'role-career' scheme. A variety of research findings produced in the past decade or so suggest that the typological approach has been relatively unfruitful. In general, 'careers' in crime and deviance are encountered less frequently than is suggested by typologies. (Publisher abstract)