ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors suggest that while their perspective included a role for agency relative to Laub and Sampson's theory of informal social control, people did not go far enough in making agency the centerpiece, or spell out what they meant by agency or agentic moves, and gave insufficient attention to the idea that desistance is in fundamental respects the individual's own idea and accomplishment. They briefly outline as an alternative an identity theory of desistance that is thought to overcome these limitations. As Kazemian noted recently, a major way of distinguishing theories of desistance is on the basis of the attention they give to forces "outside" or "inside" the individual. Paternoster and Bushway's discussion introduces a needed dose of vinegar to theorizing about the desistance process, and is useful as it highlights the need for additional research on these negatives as constituting, in effect, their own "hooks for change".
