PurposeTo explain why many offenders desist from crime, and why some persist, some theorists highlight the role of personal agency. Qualitative studies, in particular, observe that desisting offenders tend to express a “language of agency”—they view themselves as capable of influencing their actions and environment—while persistent offenders tend to see themselves as relatively helpless and even “doomed to deviance.”MethodsDrawing on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which highlights self-efficacy as a key mechanism of agency, we analyze quantitative data from a large sample of serious offenders and examine how confidence in their ability to desist (desistance self-efficacy) is related to offending behavior. To advance research in this area, we focus on within-person effects and examine how changes in desistance self-efficacy relate to changes in offending over time. We also examine factors that are expected to enable or constrain personal agency.ResultsThe findings indicate that a number of factors contribute to changes in desistance self-efficacy. An increase in desistance self-efficacy, in turn, is associated with a decrease in overall criminal involvement.ConclusionsImplications for theory, research, and policy are discussed.

中文翻译：

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代理，自我效能和犯罪感：社会认知理论的应用

目的为了解释为什么许多罪犯不再犯罪，为什么某些罪犯会继续犯罪，一些理论家强调了个人代理的作用。尤其是定性研究发现，绝望的罪犯倾向于表达一种“代理语言”，他们认为自己有能力影响自己的行为和环境，而顽固的​​罪犯则倾向于认为自己相对无助，甚至“过失”。方法利用班杜拉（Bandura）的社会认知理论（强调自我效能感是代理的关键机制），我们分析了来自大量严重罪犯的定量数据，并检验了其抵制能力的信心（抗拒自我效能感）与犯罪行为之间的关系。为了推动这方面的研究，我们着重于人际效应，并研究耐心自我效能的变化与犯罪行为随时间的变化之间的关系。我们还研究了预期会启用或限制个人代理的因素。结果发现表明，许多因素有助于提高自我效能感。终止自我效能感的提高反过来又与总体犯罪参与度的降低有关。结论讨论了理论，研究和政策的含义。