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Rational choice theory, also known simply as choice theory, is the assessment of a potential offender to commit a crime. Choice theory is the belief that committing a crime is a rational decision, based on cost benefit analysis. The would-be offender will weigh the costs of committing a particular crime: fines, jail time, and imprisonment versus the benefits: money, status, heightened adrenaline. Depending on which factors out-weigh the other, a criminal will decide to commit or forgo committing a crime. This decision making process makes committing a crime a rational choice. This theory can be used to explain why an offender will decide to commit burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, or murder. It is 9:00am on a warm July morning. John Smith is dropped off near an affluent neighborhood. He creeps down a side street and enters the back yard of a large home. John uses a pry bar he had hidden in his pants to break open the door. Once inside he heads for the upstairs. When he reaches the second floor he finds the door to the master bedroom and enters to find the jewelry he had come for. John takes the watches, bracelets, necklaces, and rings and stuffs them into a small duffle bag. He quickly turns and when he exits the bedroom is confronted by a teenage girl, who he knows to be the daughter of the home owner. John makes a quick decision and hits the girl in the head with the pry bar and she falls to the floor. John now panicky flees the home. The above scenario can be explained by the rational choice theory. John it turns out is twenty years old and met the homeowner while working at a jewelry store at his local mall. He used the employer computers to gain access to the woman’s personal information finding that she was divor... ... middle of paper ... ...e: season, neighborhood, age, and economy will allow police departments to target areas for police presence. Overall I feel that no one theory can explain all crime. No one individual is the same and cannot be grouped into one category. Understanding all theories of crime along with insight into victimization will better enable a police department to develop crime prevention strategies. Works Cited Findlaw: Assault/Battery. Thomson Reuters, 2011. Web. 7 May. 2011. Ciccarelli, Saundra, and White, J. Noland. Psychology Second Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. 2009. Print. Siegel, Larry J. Criminology: The Core Fourth Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 2008. Print. ---. Essentials of Criminal Justice Seventh Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 2009. Print.
Debra’s crime is a perfect example of the rational choice theory. The rational choice theory is best defined as when an individual rationally decides to commit a crime. The individual’s decision to commit a crime or not is based on the potential gains and potential losses. Debra embezzled nearly 2 million dollars so she most likely decided to commit the crime based on potential gains. In addition, Debra must have known that her chances of getting caught would be slim. Since she was smart enough to commit such a crime, she most likely funnelled the money to an offshore
Kody Scott, later known as Shanyika Shakur, was born in Los Angeles in 1963. Before last imprisonment he committed various crimes, such as, robbery, assault, and murder. Kody’s childhood was pretty rough. He grew up as the fifth of six children in a broken home. His mother, Birdy Scott, worked odd jobs and long hours to support her children. While his father, Ernest Scott, left the family in 1970 and was completely out of Kody’s life by 1975. Shortly after completing sixth grade at Horace Mann, Kody joined a subgroup of the infamous L.A. Crips on June 15th, 1975. Kody committed his first murder on the night of his initiation. This would be the start of Kody’s descent into becoming “Monster Kody”. It was two years after his initiation that Kody first donned the name Monster. Scott had beaten a robbery victim so bad that the police said it was “The work of a
Wade, C., Tavris, C., Garry, M. (2011). Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.
According to Clarke and Cornish (2001, p. 34), “the rational choice perspective was explicitly developed to assist policy thinking … specifically through detailed modeling of criminal decision making. The theory theorizes that offenders who have chosen to commit criminal acts, do so because of the reward it brings to them. Coupled with the different conditions that are needed for specific crimes to occur, with its emphasizes on the role of crime opportunities in causation.
Gazzaniga, Michael, and Todd F. Heatherton. Psychological Science. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003.
One element that the rational-choice perspective and the routine-activity approach have in common is the consideration of target vulnerability. The rational-choice perspective assumes that an offender thinks about a variety of factors such as how vulnerable is the target, before committing the crime. According to the routine-activity approach that for a crime to occur there has to be a suitable target.
In regards to rational choice theory, my opinion lies somewhere in between believer and nonbeliever. The research that supports both the theory’s merits and limitations appears to be minimal and lacking true empirical evidence. However, I believe there is reasoning for all we do and all that is done. With that being said, I would have to say that I am a believer of rational choice theory. It is my belief and personal opinion, that even when making choices irrationally, our actions can, to some degree be rationalized.
Pratt, T. C. (2008). Rational Choice theory, criminal control policy, and criminology relevance. Policy essay, 43-52.
Myers, D. G. (2013). Psychology: Tenth Edition in Modules. New York: Worth Publishers. Retrieved May 5th, 2013
Personal choice to commit a crime shows the person’s ability to rationalize; indicating they are knowledgeable that the act is illegal, and those consequences can ensue, According to (e.g.. TRAVIS HIRSCHI, 1986) he stated that, because rational choice theory assumed that people are free to choose their course of action, people consider first their own profit or pleasure, which is a personal choice to commit a crime. An example could be a mother of an infant who is in desperate need of milk for her new born. She decides to steal formula from the supermarket for her new born. Because of her personal choice, she decided that committing a crime was a better option than her infant going hungry despite the consequence of theft.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
In comparison, the deterrence theory proposes that the fear of legal punishment diverts people away from crime, while rational choice theory advances that in the act of choosing whether or not to commit a crime the benefits are weighed (Stafford and Warr, 1993; Cornish and Clarke, 1986). Hence, in both theories pain is a cause for not committing crimes. Furthermore, the deterrence theory has two chil...
Kalat, J. W. (2011). Introduction to psychology (9th ed.). Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co..
Classical Theory, now known as Rational Choice Theory or Choice theory was founded over two hundred years ago in the 18th century by two philosophers, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. Both used theories to correlate with criminal justice, to interpret reasoning for actions and a concept on the connection between carrying out illegal actions.
Although rational choice theory has made considerable advances in other social sciences, its progress in sociology has been limited. Some sociologists' reservations about rational choice arise from a misunderstanding of the theory. The first part of this essay therefore introduces rational choice as a general theoretical perspective, or family of theories, which explains social outcomes by constructing models of individual action and social context. "Thin" models of individual action are mute about actors' motivations, while "thick" models specify them ex ante. Other sociologists' reservations, however, stem from doubts about the empirical adequacy of rational choice explanations. To this end, the bulk of the essay reviews a sample