The Criminal Lifestyle: Patterns of Serious Criminal Conduct

Recipient of Choice Magazine’s 1991 Outstanding Academic Book Award Why do some individuals pursue crime as a lifestyle? After years of incarceration, why do these offenders habitually repeat criminal behavior? In The Criminal Lifestyle, Walters approaches the question of crime by examining how various biologic, sociologic, and psychologic factors interact to bring about criminal behavior. He extends the criminal career concept to include those persons who approach crime–not as an isolated incident–but as a lifelong commitment. Organized in the same manner as the study was conducted, this riveting book reviews and evaluates research, theoretical issues and practical considerations concerning crime, and develops a model of lifestyle criminality. In The Criminal Lifestyle Walters examines a variety of different perspectives, and organizes them into a framework which furthers our understanding of persons who approach crime as a lifestyle. As such, this contemporary study should be required reading in courses on psychology, criminology, and criminal justice. In addition, practitioners and policymakers who must make decisions about individual offenders will not want to pass up this distinctive resource.
This is an intriguing book that should have a wide audience both in criminology and in other fields. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
–Choice