[11] Sampson has published widely in the areas of crime, neighborhood effects, ecometrics, and the social organization of cities.
In the area of neighborhood effects and urban studies his work has focused on race/ethnicity and social mechanisms of ecological inequality, immigration and crime, the meanings and implications of "disorder," spatial disadvantage, collective civic engagement, and other topics linked to the general idea of community-level social processes.
[12][13] Sampson published his first book in 1993, co-authored with John Laub, entitled Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life.
[14] The book detailed a longitudinal study from birth to death of 1,000 disadvantaged men born in Boston during the Great Depression era.
[15] Sampson built upon the research of Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, whose records had been stored in the Harvard Law School basement.
It showed, among other things, that even highly active criminals can change and stop committing crimes after key turning points in life such as marriage, military service, or employment that cut connections to offending peer groups.