An Intersectional Analysis of Agentic Efforts Individuals Under Community Supervision Describe to Improve Their Lives

Scholarship on desistance recognizes the interconnected nature of personal agency and structural influences on desistance. Less is known regarding what specific agentic efforts convicted individuals take in pursuing pathways out of criminal lifestyles. The objectives of the present study are to understand how individuals on probation and parole describe their agentic efforts to improve their lives and examine how these efforts vary by gendered and racialized identities. Interviews from 274 men and women on community supervision revealed 49 different life-improving projects. Social location impacted both the nature of projects reported and the strategies deployed for project attainment. Findings clarify how desistance operates within varying socio-cultural contexts.