The authors argue that the details of life-course inquiry -- especially aging (social and biological), stability and change, human agency, cohort, and historical period -- yield powerful insights directly related to the substantive phenomenon of crime. They view Hirschi and Gottfredson's view of the importance of early childrearing as important, along with the resulting concept of self-control; however, since self-control is only one factor among many, the authors of this paper are puzzled about why Hirschi and Gottfredson insist that low self-control is the cause of crime for all individuals at all ages, at all times, and in all places. The authors view controls as varying within and between individuals through historical time and across place; consequently, control theory may be tested at the individual level (both cross-sectionally and longitudinally), historically, and at the macrosocial level. The life-course perspective thus presents an exciting and challenging research agenda for criminology. 45 references