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What Is The Rational Choice Theory

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Homework Assignment 2 The rational choice theory states that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the potential offender weighs the costs and benefits of an illegal act. I believe that most, if not all criminal activity, is committed after making a rational decision to do so. However, this decision requires careful planning by the prospective offender. Before choosing to commit the crime, potential criminals consider the risk of apprehension, the seriousness of the punishment, the potential value or benefit of the crime, the likelihood to succeed, and the need for criminal gain. Based on their thoughts from thinking over those criminal elements and weighing the costs and the benefits, the person makes a decision. Because
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In the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers” by Jennifer Jenkins, the author shares her thoughts on teen killers and their lives after committing crimes. Throughout the article she also goes through the analysis of the punishment. To summarize, Jenkins starts off by sharing a quote that also shares her opinion on how people act on their own whether they’re influenced or not. As the article goes on she includes her personal experience on how a teen killer murdered her family where she also reveals that she is biased. With research that she might’ve done she implied and backed up the idea that crimes aren’t on impulse sometimes.

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While a few theories are not as regular, others have developed and are utilized as a part of numerous criminal reviews today. Cutting edge criminologists consolidate the most important aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories to advance their comprehension of criminal behavior. Rational choice theory, psychological, biological, and strain theory are used to analyze the

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The first theory I will be explaining is Rational Choice Theory. Cornish and Clarke argue that “offenders are rational people who seek to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain.” (Cullen, 2015 pg. 438)

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Reiman begins his essay be explaining and describing the reasons in which he is against the common sense idea. The basis behind this theory is that common sense would tell someone that if something cost higher than something else, then fewer people will choose the item that cost more. Reiman offers three arguments in which he disagrees that the common sense idea will deter crime. The first one being that just because a person fears one penalty more than another, does not mean that this will deter the criminal behavior. It was stated that there is an equal likelihood of crime being deterred for the death penalty than there is for life behind bars.

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Supposed someone name Alice enjoys street racing with the thrill of winning big prizes and competing against other street racers in their fancy cars. But Alice also enjoys the danger of this illegal activity. As a street racer, she enjoys trespassing on private properties, carjacking, vandalism, and the possible contact with law enforcement. She understands all these risks can lead to her in jail or be killed, but she doesn’t regret her decision in participating in street racing. This is one of the examples of a rational choice theory.

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CHOICES “White collar crime” refers to those offenses that are anticipated to generate fiscal gain using some form of dishonesty. This type of crime is usually committed by people in the commercial world who, as a result of their employment position, are able to get a hold of large amounts of other people’s money. “White collar crime” does not involve forceful, drug-related, or blatantly illicit activities. In fact, perpetrators are typically involved in otherwise lawful industries and may hold respectable positions in the community prior to the discovery of their fraudulent schemes. The slogan “white collar crime” was made up in 1939 by Edwin Sutherland during a dialog which he gave to the American Sociological Society.

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The classical theory of crime says that people make rational choices when they commit crimes. “Individuals have the will and rationality to act according to their own will and desires. Individuals will calculate the rationality of the crime based on the benefits of the crime versus the consequences of the crime” (Robinson, 2014). This theory discuses that how people think about the negative and positive outcomes before they commit crime. Even though they realize it is not right, they still continue to commit illegal offence because they believe that what they are doing is for the greater

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Fear of crime refers to the fear of being a victim of crime. Fear of crimes is very prevalent in society the extent of the fear of crime depends on many things: such as the persons age, sex, past experiences with crime and law enforcement. In addition, some of the other things that play a role are the neighborhood, ethnicity, social and economic background. As stated in the book, “The idea that prison, by separating dedicated criminals from vulnerable potential victims is both necessary and sufficient to repress the worst kinds of crime". Potential victims of crimes saw prison as a way of separating themselves from viscous criminals.

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Third, I will explore Farrell 's critique of Hayward 's article and consider his arguments made in response to Hayward 's conclusions. Fourth, this paper will engage in its own critique of both Hayward 's and Farrell 's work and conclude with which article makes the most compelling argument. Tenets of Rational Choice Theory and Situational Crime Prevention Rational choice theory originated in the Classical School of thinking as it is based on the ideas of utilitarianism, which states that individuals make decisions that provide the greatest pleasure, as well as the ideas of free will and rational thought (Farrell and Hodgkinson, 2015). According to Farrell and

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When a person is going to make a moral decision based on consequentialism, he or she first look at the good and bad possible consequences of the action, then determine whether the total good consequences outweigh the total bad.

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The court system should acknowledge the offenders past and realize that the reasons they are committing crimes are not their free will, it is elements in their past that have caused them to act in a deviant manner. Furthermore, Cullen and Johnson (2017) agree by stating, “science has demonstrated that un-chosen individual traits (e.g., temperament, self-control, IQ) and un-chosen social circumstances (e.g., family, school, community) can be

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The Concept of Justice: Utilitarianism Evaluating Justice The actions you decide to take in life have consequences. In an ideal world you will be rewarded for being good, while making bad decisions will be consequences. This is what many fail to realize about legal systems. Many individuals expect to get off easy after committing a crime, when ideally, everyone should be able to distinguish between right and wrong, and understand that there are consequences to unlawful action.

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Assignment #1 Review questions Chap. 1 p. 26: 1. A single standard of ethics cannot be applied to all criminal justice agencies. The world is too complex to legislate morality and ethics. The cultures that make up each part of the world are not the same.

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Deterrence Theory A special case of the rational choice theory is the deterrence theory, which emphasizes the costs of legal sanctions (Liska & Messner, 1999). While the rational choice theory was initially applied to the field of economics, and considered all costs, the deterrence theory was initially applied to the field of law and only considered legal costs. Accordingly, as a deterrent for committing crime, increasing the severity of punishment, increasing the certainty of punishment, and increasing the celerity of punishment will all increase the legal costs for committing crime and, consequently, decrease the benefits versus cost ratio. Furthermore, there is a specific deterrence and a general deterrence (Barkan, 2006).

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Motivation is a key factor; many criminals are motivated by desires, rage and desperation. It is very possible that criminals are not thinking rationally when committing a crime. In other words, the severity of a punishment is largely irrelevant when criminals are not thinking clearly at the time, the very fact that they committed the crime in the first place is already evident that they never considered the consequences. Therefore, it is untrue that harsher punishments are more

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