Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Freedom of Action, Freedom of Choice, and Desistance from Crime: Pitfalls and Opportunities in the Study of Human Agency

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

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?

Conclusion

I argue that a sociocognitive approach largely avoids the potential pitfalls identified by Cullen and can readily be adapted to the contemporary study of desistance. It also draws attention to issues in need of further examination and can inspire new lines of desistance research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. At one point, Paternoster [37] refers briefly to external factors that may reduce the ability to exercise “fully fledged” agency, such as lack of education or economic disadvantage. But the emphasis here is on moral gradations in the exercise of agency. That is, it is recognized that certain external factors may influence the type rather than degree of agency that is exercised, pushing actors in the direction of selfish versus altruistic (fully fledged) agency. As discussed later in this paper, he is mostly silent on the question of whether groups or individuals differ in terms of the real or perceived ability (power) to exercise agency.

  2. It may be of interest to note that in prior works, Paternoster embraced the importance of real or perceived agentic power and viewed it as a variable (e.g., see [40]). In his latest work, he suggests that agency is inherent in all purposeful behavior and, instead of focusing on gradations in the ability (power) to exercise agency, he focuses on different moral types of agency (i.e., selfish versus “fully fledged” altruistic agency).

  3. Wikström’s situational action theory of crime adopts a similar approach. According to Wikström [50], agency can be defined as “people’s powers to make things happen intentionally.” Further, the degree of agency that individuals exercise is said to be shaped by their circumstances. When individuals perceive but one effective course of action, they are likely to act habitually, without serious deliberation. However, when individuals view multiple courses of action as viable, engage in deliberation, and make a choice “…they may be seen as exercising ‘free will’ within the constraint of perceived action alternatives” ([50]:58).

References

  1. Agnew, R. (1995). Determinism, indeterminism, and crime: an empirical exploration. Criminology, 33, 83–109.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Agnew, R. (2011). Toward a unified criminology: integrating assumptions about crime, people, and society. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bandura, A. (1982a). The self and mechanisms of agency. In J. Suls (Ed.), Psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 1, pp. 3–39). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bandura, A. (1982b). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37(2), 122–147.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bandura, A. (1999). A sociocognitive analysis of substance abuse: an agentic perspective. Psychological Science, 10(3), 214–217.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bandura, A. (2006). Toward a psychology of human agency. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(2), 164–180.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Benda, B. B. (2001). Factors that discriminate between recidivists, parole violators, and nonrecidivists in a 3-year follow-up of boot camp graduates. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45(6), 711–729.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bottoms, A. (2006). Desistance, social bonds, and human agency: a theoretical exploration. In P. O. H. Wikstrom & R. Samspon (Eds.), The explanation of crime: context, mechanisms and development (pp. 243–290). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bottoms, A., & Shapland, J. (2011). Steps towards desistance among male young adult recidivists. In S. Farrall, M. Hough, S. Maruna, & R. Sparks (Eds.), Escape routes: contemporary perspectives on life after punishment. (pp. 43–80). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bottoms, A., Shapland, J., Costello, A., Holmes, D., & Muir, G. (2004). Towards desistance: theoretical underpinnings for an empirical study. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 43, 368–389.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Brezina, T. (2017). Commentary: interpreting risky behavior as a contextually appropriate response: significance and policy implications beyond socioeconomic status. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Published first online, 40, e314. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X1600234X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Brezina, T., & Topalli, V. (2012). Criminal self-efficacy: exploring the correlates and consequences of a ‘successful criminal’ identity. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39, 1042–1062.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Cullen, F. T. (2017). Choosing our criminological future: reservations about human agency as an organizing concept. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 3(4), 373–379.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Farrall, S. (2002). Rethinking what works with offenders: probation, social context and desistance from crime. Cullompton: Willan.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Farrall, S., Sharpe, G., Hunter, B., & Calverley, A. (2011). Theorizing structural and individual-level processes in desistance and persistence: outlining an integrated perspective. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 44(2), 218–234.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Giordano, P. (2017). A relational perspective on agency and the desistance process. In A. Blokland & V. van der Geest (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of life-course criminology. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L. (2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: toward a theory of cognitive transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 107(4), 990–1064.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Giordano, P. C., Schroeder, R. D., & Cernkovich, S. A. (2007). Emotions and crime over the life course: a neo-median perspective on criminal continuity and change. American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1603–1661.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Halsey, M., Armstrong, R., & Wright, S. (2017). F*ck it! Matza and the mood of fatalism in the desistance process. British Journal of Criminology, 57(5), 1041–1060.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hay, C., Wang, X., Ciaravolo, E., & Meldrum, R. C. (2015). Inside the black box: identifying the variables that mediate the effects of an experimental intervention for adolescents. Crime & Delinquency, 61(2), 243–270.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Healy, D. (2013). Changing fate? Agency and the desistance process. Theoretical Criminology, 17(4), 557–574.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Hitlin, S., & Johnson, M. K. (2015). Reconceptualizing agency within the life course: the power of looking ahead. American Journal of Sociology, 120(5), 1479–1472.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Johnston, T. M., Brezina, T., & Crank, B. R. (2019). Agency, self-efficacy, and desistance from crime: an application of social cognitive theory. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology. Published first online. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-018-0101-1.

  26. King, S. (2012). Transformative agency and desistance from crime. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 13(3), 317–335.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  28. LeBel, T. P., Burnett, R., Maruna, S., & Bushway, S. (2008). The ‘chicken and egg’ of subjective and social factors in desistance from crime. European Journal of Criminology, 5(2), 131–159.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Lindegaard, M. R., & Jacques, S. (2014). Agency as a cause of crime. Deviant Behavior, 35, 85–100.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Lloyd, C. D., & Serin, R. C. (2012). Agency and outcome expectancies for crime desistance: measuring offenders’ personal beliefs about change. Psychology, Crime & Law, 18(6), 543–565.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Maruna, S. (2001). Making good: how ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: America Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Matza, D. (1964). Delinquency and drift. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Matza, D. (1969). Becoming deviant. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Nagin, D. S. (2007). Moving choice to center stage in criminological research and theory. Criminology, 45(2), 259–272.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Nguyen, H., & Loughran, T. A. (2018). On the measurement and identification of turning points in criminology. Annual Review of Criminology, 1, 20.1–20.24.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Osgood, D. W. (1998). Interdisciplinary integration: building criminology by stealing from our friends. The Criminologist, 23(4), 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Paternoster, R. (2017). Happenings, acts, and actions: articulating the meaning and implications of human agency for criminology. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 3(4), 350–372.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Paternoster, R., & Bushway, S. (2009). Desistance and the “feared self”: toward an identity theory of criminal desistance. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 99(4), 1103–1156.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Paternoster, R., & Pogarsky, G. (2009). Rational choice, agency and thoughtfully reflective decision making: the short and long-term consequences of making good choices. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 25(2), 103–127.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Paternoster, R., Bachman, R., Bushway, S., Kerrison, E., & O’Connell, D. (2015). Human agency and explanations of criminal desistance: arguments for a rational choice theory. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 1(3), 209–235.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Petrosino, A., Turpin-Petrosino, C., Hollis-Peel, M. E., & Lavenberg, J. G. (2013). “Scared Straight” and other juvenile awareness programs for preventing juvenile delinquency. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2013(4), Art. No.: CD002796). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002796.pub2.

  42. Piquero, A. R., Paternoster, R., Pogarsky, G., & Loughran, T. (2011). Elaborating the individual difference component in deterrence theory. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 7(1), 335–360.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Pratt, T. C. (2016). A self-control/life-course theory of criminal behavior. European Journal of Criminology, 13(1), 129–146.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the making: pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2016). Turning points and the future of life-course criminology: reflections on the 1986 criminal careers report. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(3), 321–335.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Schnoll, R. A., Martinez, E., Tatum, K. L., Glass, M., Bernath, A., Ferris, D., & Reynolds, P. (2011). Increased self-efficacy to quit and perceived control over withdrawal symptoms predict smoking cessation following nicotine dependence treatment. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 144–147.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Sims, B. (2003). The impact of causal attribution on correctional ideology: a national study. Criminal Justice Review, 28, 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Sullivan, C. J. (2013). Change in offending across the life course. In F. Cullen & P. Wilcox (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminological theory (pp. 205–225). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  49. van Ginneken, E. F. J. C. (2017). Constrained agency: the role of self-control in the process of desistance. In E. L. Hart & E. F. J. C. van Ginneken (Eds.), New perspectives on desistance: theoretical and empirical developments (pp. 241–265). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Wikström, P. O. H. (2012). Individuals’ situational criminal actions: current knowledge and tomorrow’s prospects. In R. Loeber & B. C. Welsh (Eds.), The future of criminology (pp. 55–61). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3992, Atlanta, GA, 30302-3992, USA

    Timothy Brezina

Authors
  1. Timothy Brezina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy Brezina.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Brezina, T. Freedom of Action, Freedom of Choice, and Desistance from Crime: Pitfalls and Opportunities in the Study of Human Agency. J Dev Life Course Criminology 6, 224–244 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-019-00111-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-019-00111-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation