David Farrington was a distinguished British criminologist and forensic psychologist who served as Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology at the University of Cambridge. Born on March 7, 1944, in Ormskirk, England, he earned his BA, MA, and PhD in psychology from Cambridge University where he spent his entire academic career. He joined the Cambridge Institute of Criminology in 1969 as a research officer working on the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, became University Lecturer in 1976, and was appointed Professor of Psychological Criminology in 1992. For over four decades, he was a central figure in the Institute, which was still establishing itself when he joined, and he remained dedicated to research rather than administrative leadership roles, preferring to focus on advancing criminological science.
Professor Farrington's pioneering work established the scientific foundations of developmental criminology and made key contributions to the criminal career paradigm. He directed the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, a landmark prospective longitudinal survey tracking over 400 London males from age 8 to 61, which identified crucial childhood risk and protective factors associated with later offending. His scholarship greatly advanced understanding of life-events and labeling processes over the life course, and he played a leading role in establishing developmental crime prevention as a field of research, policy, and practice. His extraordinary scholarly output included over 1,200 publications with more than 146,000 citations and an h-index of 200, reflecting his profound influence on criminological theory and evidence-based crime prevention strategies worldwide.
Beyond his research achievements, Farrington was instrumental in building the global criminology community through leadership roles including President of the American Society of Criminology from 1998 to 1999, where he was the first and only person from outside North America to hold this position. He served as the founding leader of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Coordinating Group, promoting systematic reviews of crime prevention interventions. He was deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of criminologists, with former students and colleagues consistently noting his encouragement, inspiration, and scientific rigor. David P. Farrington, OBE, passed away on November 5, 2024, at the age of 80 from Motor Neurone Disease, leaving an enduring legacy that continues to shape criminological research and criminal justice policy internationally.
