Understanding Criminal Behavior: Rational Choice Theory & Economic Perspective, Slides of Criminology

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“Rational Choice” Theories and

Situational Crime Prevention

“Rational Choice Theory”

 Economics (language, theory)

 “Expected Utility” = calculation of all risks and rewards  Note: This is much broader than deterrence  Includes risks not associated with criminal justice

 Same assumptions as deterrence theory

 Human nature = rational, calculating, hedonistic  This is because “economic theory” (supply/demand, rational consumers) has same “classical school” roots

Cornish and Clarke (1986)

 Crime as a Rational Choice

 Criminal Involvement: the decision to engage in crime (versus other activity)

 Criminal Event: factors that influence the decision to commit a specific crime

Criminal Involvement

 Choices to become involved in crime, to

continue in crime, and to desist from crime

 Each (involvement, continuance, desistence) need separate explanation  Involvement decisions are multistage and multi- factor, extending over long time periods

Criticisms

What happened to our “rational” offender guided by “free will?”  In their models, rational thinking and free will are very constrained/limited  Not much different from other theories of crime  Borrow liberally from learning theory, psychology, social control theory…  At what point does their theory cease to be a “rational choice” model and start to become a learning, social control, IQ theory of crime?

Example of Continuance in Burglary

Increased Professionalism

 pride in skills, reduce risk (better planning), acquire fencing contacts, skill in dealing with criminal justice system

Changes in Lifestyle and Values

 choose work to facilitate burglaries, enjoy “life in fast lane,” devalue legitimate work

Changes in Peer group

 lose contact with prosocial friends, labeled as criminal, quarrels with family...

Evaluating Rational Choice

 Empirical Support?

 Criminal Involvement  Ethnographic research suggests limited (if any) rational reasoning or weighing of costs/benefits.  Criminal Event  Ethnographic research somewhat supportive, but many crimes suggest limited appraisals.

 Parsimony and Scope?

 Policy Implication?

Routine Activities Theory

 Cohen and Felson (1979): “Crime and

Everyday Life”

 Crime as the Convergence in Time and

Space of Three Factors

1. Motivated Offenders (typically ignored)
2. Suitable Targets
3. Lack of Capable Guardianship

 Scope: “Direct-Contact Predatory Crimes”

 Felson in 1990s extended to white collar crime, drug crime

Suitable Targets

 Value ($, ability to fence)

 Some universal ($) some dependent upon offenders environment

 Visibility (sights and sounds)

 Inertia (why autos are victimized, high tech

movement)

 Access (cul-de-sac vs open-ended street,

garage parking vs. street parking)

Lack of Capable Guardianship

 Protection from police??

 Less emphasis in this over time

 Informal social control

 “…not usually someone who brandishes a gun or threatens an offender with quick punishment, but rather someone whose mere presence serves as a gentle reminder that someone is looking.”

 Strength in numbers

 Time spent at home

Environmental Criminology and

Situational Crime Prevention and

 Environmental Criminology

 An umbrella term (catch-all) to describe opportunity theories that focus on the criminal event (e.g., routine activity theory)

 Situational Crime Prevention

 A policy implication of routine activities/RCT (not a specific theory)

Policy Implications

Deterrence vs. Environmental Crim

 In deterrence theory, if the CJS (e.g., threat

of arrest/imprisonment) is not effective, the

only other option is incapacitation.

 This has been the preferred U.S. strategy

 Environmental Criminology suggests that we

can remove or limit the opportunity to offend

 This has been the preferred strategy in the UK  Benefit of this approach over incapacitation??