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When people commit crime, some of those people understand that consequences come along the way. They understand the means, ends and cost of their actions, the benefits that come for committing a crime. In criminology, rational choice theory plays a role when people commit crime. People will act in their self-interest and make choices to commit crime after weighing the potential risks against the rewards. In two different articles, it will demonstrate how rational choice theory comes into play, as for the second one, why this theory would not work in this particular crime. Rational choice theory and Deterrence theory come from the same philosophy to crime. Both of these theories come from an individual action, which are based on rational decisions that they make. These theories have inspired criminals in decision-making when it comes to a specific crime they are about to commit (Akers, 1990). According to researchers, rational …show more content…
Rational choice theory is about making decisions and weighing the costs and benefits of the decision that was made. In this article, two jewelry dealers did not think that the crime that they were committing, they would get caught and charged for their crime. Two owners of a jewelry shop owed a lot of money to the government had created a plot in order to defraud the insurance company and escape financial problems (Moynihan, 2011). Mahaveer Kankariya and Atul Shah, the owners of the jewelry shop went inside their own dealer, armed with pistols and dressed as Hasidic Jews and were demanding money. They sabotaged the security system, tied up two people, and left with millions of dollars. Later on the jewels and the money that were taken and the suspects were never found. Both of these men were accused of a fake robbery that had taken place, they thought they would get away with it but evidence have proven otherwise (Moynihan,
Houser, K. (2014). Nature of Crime, Deterrence Theory. Lecture conducted from Temple University, Ambler, Pa.
Pratt, T. C. (2008). Rational Choice theory, criminal control policy, and criminology relevance. Policy essay, 43-52.
Rational Choice Theorists believe that human beings are logical at nature and rationally make every choice. They believe that before a person commits a crime to weigh the pros and cons of the crime. Humans free willed creature that are hedonistic and will do things to increase pleasure but decrease pain.This theory doesn’t work for Kody Scott because even when Kody was shot multiple times, which could have killed him, he continued to do gang activities. When Kody was at the point of getting his third strike and facing life in prison he yet again didn’t stop his activities. If Rational Choice Theory explained Kody Scott’s criminal behavior then he would have stopped at one of those events. Risking his life might not have been too much of a big deal for him since he gets shot at all the time but risking life in prison would have stopped all of his pleasures. Rationally he wouldn’t have risked getting a third strike yet he did so this theory just doesn’t fit the
Rational Choice, Deterrence, Incapacitation and Just Desert In seeking to answer the question, "Why do people engage in deviant and/or criminal acts?", many researchers, as well as the general public, have begun to focus on the element of personal choice. An understanding of personal choice is commonly based in a conception of rationality or rational choice. These conceptions are rooted in the analysis of human behavior developed by the early classical theorists, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. The central points of this theory are: (1) The human being is a rational actor, (2) Rationality involves an end/means calculation, (3) People (freely) choose all behavior, both conforming and deviant, based on their rational calculations, (4)
Situational crime prevention is an idea criminologists use in order to reduce the chances of crime initially taking place. This theory does not aim to punish criminals after the crime has taken place like the criminal justice system does, but however the opposite, it aims to reduce the chances of the crime taking place to start with. Ron Clarke (2005) describes this theory as an approach that aims to reduce the opportunities out there for crime, involving rational choice theory. Clark focuses on three methods within this theory, directing at specific crimes, altering the environment we live in and aiming to reduce the benefits of committing crimes.
Rational Choice Theory - Rational choice theory, as defined by the textbook, is "A perspective on crime causation that holds that criminality is the result of conscious choice. Rational choice theory predicts that individuals will choose to commit crime when the benefits of doing so outweigh the costs of disobeying the law" (Schmalleger 76). It is an economic principle that assumes that individuals always make prudent and logical decisions that provide them with the greatest benefits or satisfaction and that are in their highest self-interest. It should also be noted that most mainstream economic assumptions and theories are based on rational choice theory. According to the lawdictionary.org, rational choice theory "attempts to explain social phenomenon in terms of how self-interested individuals make choices under the influence of their preferences. All parties try to maximize their advantage, and to minimize their disadvantages" (lawdictionary.org). An example of rational choice theory would be a person stealing money from a company that they work for, with the intent of having the benefit of getting rich at no cost. The person believes that he or she will not get caught, thus not having to pay any costs, making it a rational decision or choice in their
The study of criminology involves many different theories in which people attempt to explain reasoning behind criminal behavior. Although there are many different theories the focus of this paper is the comparison and contrasting sides of The Differential Association Theory (DAT) of Edwin Sutherland and the Neoclassicism Rational Choice Theory. The Differential Theory falls under Social Process Theories which focuses on sociological perspective of crime. The Rational Choice Theory falls under Neoclassicism which believes that criminal behavior is ultimately a choice.
Crime causation is looking at why people commit crimes. There are many theories that have been developed to explain this. The theories can be grouped into eight general categories of which one is the Classical theory (Schmallegar, 2011, p. 79). A subset of this theory, rational choice theory, will be specifically looked at to explain the crime of burglary. Just as no one causation theory explains all crimes committed, the rational choice theory itself does not completely explain why all burglars commit their crimes. Therefore, the pros and cons of the rational choice theory will be discussed in relation to the crime topic of burglary.
Did you know that in 2014, shoplifting and worker’s theft cost the retail industry a loss of thirty-two billion dollars (Wahba, 2015)? According Wahba “a common misperception about shoplifting is that retailers can ‘afford’ the loss of a candy bar or a pair of jeans” (2015). This type of reasoning certainly does make more sense when explained through the context of a criminological theory. For example according to the Rational Choice theory individuals weigh the costs and benefits associated with a criminal and or deviant act and then make a conscious choice. Other criminological theories explain criminal and deviant behavior using a biological, psychological, social, conflict, or multifactor component. Taking that into consideration in this
The second example of when this case study involves the rational choice perspective is when Danny lied to Laura about having the job at GM. Danny used his rational thinking that if he told Laura he had a good job, that she would stay with Danny. Danny was desperate at this point and attempted to make Laura and the children stay. In his mind, he had to lie in order to gain his reward. He believed that the benefit of him saying he had a job would make his marriage
The objective of this paper is to provide insight into Rational Choice Theory. This theory, highly relied upon by many disciplines, is also used to calculate and determine crime and criminal behavior. Through definition, example and techniques utilized by criminologists, the reader will have a better understanding of the subject.
There is an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of the deterrence doctrine. The deterrence doctrine is dated back to its origins in the 18th century, known to be the Age of Enlightenment. During the 1700s to 1800s, the Classical School of Criminology became the focal point as it commenced to force attention on the “cruel” justice system. The two most influential scholars who have elaborated along the idea of deterrence are Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. Beccaria, known as the father of classical criminology, believed that people are “being motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and trying to avoid being in pain” (Owen et al., 2012, p. 132). The classical criminology is primarily founded on the notion of liberal volition. That is to say that
Rational Choice Theory is the belief that man is a reasonable actor who decides means and ends, costs and benefits, and makes rational choices. Routine activity theory provides a simple and powerful insight into the causes of crime problems. At its heart is the idea that in the absence of effective controls, offenders will prey upon attractive targets. Social Control Theory gives an explanation for how behavior conforms to that which is generally expected in society. Social disorganization theory explains the ecological differences in levels of crime based on structural and cultural factors shaping the nature of the social order across communities. This approach alters the sociological studies on which is any of two or more random variables exhibiting correlated variation of urban growth to examine the concentration and stability of rates of criminal behavior. Strain Theory. Conflict theory explains the belief that individuals choose to commit a crime, which many po...
Deterrence theory of crime is a method in which punishment is used to dissuade people from committing crimes. There are two types of deterrence: general and specific. General deterrence is punishment to an individual to stop the society as a whole from committing crimes. In other word, it is using the punishment as an example to “scare” society from precipitating in criminal acts. Under general deterrence, publicity is a major part of deterrence. Crime and their punishments being showing in the media or being told person to person can be used to deter crime. Specific deterrence is punishment to the individual to stop that individual from committing other crimes in the future. This type of deterrence is used to teach the individual a lesson whatever action that participated in. Specific deterrence is founded on a principle called hedonistic calculus meaning, “an assumption that human nature leads people to pursue pleasure and avoid pain” (Brown, Esbensen, & Geis, 2010, p 155).
The video starts with Shaka Senghor explaining that in 1991 he was a drug dealer and ended up killing another man. When he was 17, he got shot and was sent to the hospital but no-one helped him or told him that it would be okay and he felt very unloved and isolated and spent the rest of his time in fear until eventually he was the one behind the trigger. Once he was in prison, he ran black-market operations, was a loan shark, and sold drugs that were illegally smuggled into the prison. Because of this, he ended up in solitary confinement for seven and a half years.