Terrie E. Moffitt

Terrie E. Moffitt is an internationally renowned psychologist and criminologist whose research has profoundly shaped developmental and life-course perspectives on crime. She is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University and Professor of Social Behaviour and Development at King’s College London. Moffitt is best known for her work on antisocial behavior, mental health, and aging, and for directing the long-running Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study in New Zealand. Her research bridges psychology, psychiatry, and criminology, with a strong emphasis on longitudinal methods.

Moffitt’s most influential contribution is her Developmental Taxonomy of antisocial behavior (1993), which distinguishes between life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited offenders. This framework explains why some individuals engage in persistent criminal behavior from childhood into adulthood, while others exhibit temporary delinquency during adolescence due to maturity gaps and peer influences. The theory integrates biological, psychological, and social risk factors and remains central to developmental and life-course criminology. Moffitt’s work has also advanced understanding of the interplay between genetics and environment in shaping antisocial trajectories.

Interview

This video interview was conducted as part of the Oral History of Criminology Project. In this conversation, Terrie E. Moffitt discusses her influential research on antisocial behavior and developmental trajectories, including the origins and impact of her renowned Two-Path Theory.