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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brezina, Timothy (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)
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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