Book excerpt: The developmental and life-course perspective in criminology came to prominence during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s a number of theories were developed to explain offending behavior over the life-course. This volume brings together theoretical statements, empirical tests and debates of these major theories within the developmental and life-course criminology perspective. In the first section of the book, original theoretical statements are provided and this is followed by a section which includes empirical tests of each of these theories conducted by researchers other than the original theorists. The final section of the book provides a summary of the major debates both within the developmental and life-course perspective and also between this perspective and others within criminology. This comprehensive volume provides an informative overview of the developmental and life-course perspective in criminology.