Comment-Personality and crime: Non-issues, real issues, and a theory and research agenda

The Andrews and Wormith paper in this issue presents a detailed attack on mainstream criminologists for their failure to acknowledge the role of individual differences and personality factors in lawbreaking. The authors accuse sociological criminologists of "knowledge destruction." In response, this paper concedes the basic point made by Andrews and Wormith but also argues that they overstate their case and engage in "knowledge distortion." More important, the paper suggests some of the directions that ought to be pursued in future theorizing and research on this question.