The ascendance of rational-choice theory as justification for a new approach to crime control occurred together with growing interest in criminal careers. This concept now figures prominently in public-policy debates over what should be done about crime. The principal reason is obvious: some offenders have only a brief fling with crime while others commit it repeatedly and may endure repeated convictions and imprisonment. Dubbed “career criminals,” these persistent offenders have captured the attention of elite academics and political leaders alike (Piquero, Farrington, and Blumstein, 2003). Research on criminal careers and career criminals, which has focused most intensely on street offenders, shows indisputably that the great majority eventually desist from their earlier patterns.

The notion that offenders have “careers” in crime is beguiling but potentially misleading. Borrowed from the world and analysis of legitimate occupations, the career concept is an analytic tool that should not be construed literally. Proportionately few white-collar criminals may see or approach crime as an occupation, and even among these persistent criminals there probably are not the formalized career lines and well-defined career progression markers that are common in legitimate employment (Luckenbill and Best, 1981).

There is immense variation in the patterning and duration of individual criminal careers. Self-report research in which individuals are asked to indicate the number of crimes of various kinds they committed during a specified period of time provide some of the strongest evidence of this. Autobiographical descriptions and analyses also confirm career variation.