Offending is one element of a larger syndrome of antisocial behavior that arises in childhood and tends to persist into adulthood, with numerous different behavioral manifestations. The theory proposed here suggests that the key underlying construct is antisocial tendency and that offending depends on energizing, directing, inhibiting, decisionmaking, and social learning processes. It aims to explain how individuals interact with situations to produce offenses. The stability of antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood suggests that delinquency prevention efforts should be implemented as early in a child's life as possible. The interrelationships among social problems make it difficult to know which are causes and which are indicators, what causes what, or when and how it is best to intervene. However, because of the link between offending and numerous other social problems, any measure that succeeds in reducing crime will have benefits that go far beyond this. Problem children tend to grow up into problem adults who produce more problem children. Major efforts to deal with the roots of crime are urgently needed, especially those focusing on early development in the first few years of life. References