NCJ Number
153871
Journal
Criminology Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1995) Pages: 83-111
Date Published
1995
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Most individual-level research in criminology is based on a deterministic model: the factors that constrain individuals to crime or conformity are listed, and those factors are used to predict differences in the crime level between individuals or groups of similar individuals; this article explores an empirical model derived from recent work on "soft" determinism and indeterminism.
Abstract
Behaviors are theorized to vary in the extent to which they are determined, with behavior being fully determined at one end of the continuum and largely free (indetermined) at the other end. The author discusses those factors that influence the extent to which behavior is determined, and he hypothesizes that crime will be more variable and less predictable when conditions favor indeterminism. The empirical model presented in this article focuses on those factors believed to foster freedom of action and choice; it uses these factors to predict differences in the amount of variation (unpredictability) in crime between individuals or groups of similar individuals. Data from two national surveys of adolescents provide tentative support for the hypothesis. 1 figure, 5 tables, and 46 references