The 2012 Elliott Youth Development Lecture

Abstract

I am most pleased to introduce the 2012 Elliott Youth Development Lecture. The lecture is authored and presented by a leading researcher widely recognized as having made foundational contributions to our understanding of youth. In 2012, Rolf Loeber was selected as the recipient of this recognition by a group of researchers at Indiana University, where the lecture was delivered. His engaging presentation, the result of which is the article published in this issue, was entitled Street Killings: Prediction of Homicide Offenders and Their Victims. We extend our appreciation to Mark T. Berg, a former faculty member at Indiana University, for inviting Professor Loeber and serving as host. The lecture is supported by a generous donation from Howard R. ‘‘Skip’’ Elliott, BA’77. Elliott was a double major in Forensic Studies and English and continues to be a faithful alumnus of what has become known as the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University. After graduating from the Department, Elliott then graduated from the state police academy, after which he joined the police department of Conrail railroad. Eventually, he joined CSX Transportation, where he currently serves as vice president of public safety and environment. CSX Transportation is one of America’s major freight railroads and a Fortune 250 Company that operates in 23 states and in cities such as Chicago, Boston, and New York City. Elliott leads CSX’s hazardous materials transportation safety efforts, its environmental protection program, its police department and its homeland security initiatives. Among his many commitments to public service is his exemplary service to National Safe Place, an organization that links runaway and homeless youth with the help needed to be safe (see Walsh and Donaldson 2009). Elliott earned Indiana University’s Department of Criminal Justice’s first-ever Distinguished Alumni Award, for the great credit he has given the Department, Indiana University, and the field of criminal justice. It was Elliott’s dedication to serving others, and his passion for helping youth, that led to the development of this lecture series. The Elliott Youth Development Lecture has many goals. The lecture seeks to recognize the accomplishments of a leading scholar who has made a foundational impact on our understanding of youth and social responses to them. It does so by requesting that the lecturers offer a review of their work, their sense of where the field is heading, and their thoughts on potentially fruitful research and policy directions. Publishing a written version of the lecture helps to enhance its reach and, equally importantly, attract increased attention to the multidisciplinary study of adolescence. Professor Loeber was the ideal recipient of this honor. He currently is Distinguished University Professor of Psychiatry, and Professor of Psychology, and Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is Director of the Life History Research Program and is the principal investigator of three longitudinal studies: the Pittsburgh Youth Study, the Developmental Trends Study, and the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Without interruption since 1983, he has been the recipient of major grants for his research from several funding agencies, including the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the National Institute of Justice, and a number of smaller organizations. Professor Loeber has published widely in the fields of juvenile antisocial behavior and delinquency, substance R. J. R. Levesque (&) Indiana University, Bloomington, USA e-mail: rlevesqu@indiana.edu