How do some young people "escape" from a life of crime while others remain in it? This landmark book is the first longitudinal study of deviancy that gets to the heart of this question. During the mid-1970s, Howard Williamson studied a group of young offenders. Twenty-five years later, Williamson decided to track them down in order to find out how their teenage years had shaped their futures. The result is an extraordinary account of how many of these young people "beat all the odds" while others remained embedded in criminality. A celebration of success as much as a confirmation of...

How do some young people "escape" from a life of crime while others remain in it? This landmark book is the first longitudinal study of deviancy that gets to the heart of this question. During the mid-1970s, Howard Williamson studied a group of young offenders. Twenty-five years later, Williamson decided to track them down in order to find out how their teenage years had shaped their futures. The result is an extraordinary account of how many of these young people "beat all the odds" while others remained embedded in criminality. A celebration of success as much as a confirmation of...