Freedom of Action, Freedom of Choice, and Desistance from Crime: Pitfalls and Opportunities in the Study of Human Agency
In a recent issue of JDLCC, readers were presented with two opposing views of human agency and its value to life-course criminology. Paternoster (J Dev Life Course Criminol 3(4):350-372, 2017) proposes that agency be embraced as a key organizing concept in criminology, arguing that it is central to...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
|
| In: |
Journal of developmental and life-course criminology
Year: 2020, Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Pages: 224-244 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | In a recent issue of JDLCC, readers were presented with two opposing views of human agency and its value to life-course criminology. Paternoster (J Dev Life Course Criminol 3(4):350-372, 2017) proposes that agency be embraced as a key organizing concept in criminology, arguing that it is central to offender decision making and desistance from crime. In response, Cullen (J Dev Life Course Criminol 3(4):373-379, 2017) downplays the role of agency. He further argues that an emphasis on agency is antithetical to positivism, would undermine the search for the developmental and life-course causes of crime, and would legitimize punitive crime control policies. In this paper, I highlight the existence of a theoretical middle ground in the form of an alternative conceptualization of agency. In particular, I highlight the value of Albert Bandura’s sociocognitive approach to agency. Instead of asking whether agency plays a role in behavior, this approach leads us to ask the following: when, and under what conditions, is the meaningful exercise of agency likely to occur? |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2199-465X |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s40865-019-00111-w |