Chapter Four:

1. Chapter Four: Choice Theory: Because They Want To

2. Chapter Objectives • Be familiar with the concept of rational choice • Know the work of Beccaria • Be familiar with the concept of offense-specific crime • Be familiar with the concept of offender-specific crime • Be able to discuss why violent and drug crimes are rational • Know the various techniques of situational crime prevention • Be able to discuss the association between punishment and crime • Be familiar with the concepts of certainty, severity, and speed of punishment • Know what is meant by specific deterrence • Be able to discuss the issues involving the use of incapacitation • Understand the concept of just desert

3. Development of Rational Choice Theory • Has its roots in the classical school of criminology • These ideas declined by the end of the 19th century and re-emerged in the 1960s • Developed by the Italian social thinker Cesare Beccaria, he and other utilitarian philosophers suggested that: • People choose all behavior, including criminal behavior • Their choices are designed to bring them pleasure • Criminal choices can be controlled by fear of punishment • The more severe, certain, and swift the punishment, the greater the ability to control criminal behavior

4. Rational Choice • Law-violating behavior is the product of careful thought and planning • Offenders choose crime after considering both personal and situational factors • The reasoning criminal evaluates: • the risk of apprehension, • the seriousness of the expected punishment, • the potential value or benefit of the criminal enterprise, • his/her ability to succeed, and • the need for criminal gain

5. Contemporary Choice Theory Emerges • By the mid-1970’s, there was renewed interest in the classical approach to crime • Rehabilitation of known criminals was under attack • National surveys failed to find good examples of what worked regarding rehabilitation of offenders • Criminologists began to suggest that it made more sense to frighten criminals with severe punishments than to waste public funds trying to improve social conditions linked to crime

6. Offense-Specific Crime The idea that offenders react selectively to the characteristics of particular crimes • Example burglary: • Evaluating target • Probability of security devices • Police patrol • Getaway car • Ease of selling stolen merchandise • Presence of occupants • Guard dogs • Escape routes

7. Offender-Specific Crime The idea that offenders must decide whether they have the prerequisites to commit a successful criminal act. Example: • Evaluate the necessary skills required to commit the crime • Their need for money or other valuables • Whether legitimate financial alternatives to crime exist • Their fears of expected punishment • Option of alternative criminal acts • Physical ability • Heath and strength

8. Personal Factors Contributing to Criminality • Economic opportunity • Learning and Experience • Knowledge of Criminal Techniques

9. Structuring Crime The decision to commit crime is structured by analysis of: • Choosing the Type of Crime (a specialist vs. a generalists) • Choosing the Time and Place of the Crime (burglars 9:00 am – 11:00am) • The Target of Crime (people with “dirty” hands make suitable targets)

10. Is Crime Rational • It is relatively easy to show that some crimes are the product of rational, objective thought, especially when they involve an ongoing criminal conspiracy centered on economic gain. • Examples: • Bankers indicted for criminal fraud • Stock market manipulations • International drug dealings cartels

11. Violence: a matter of choice Serves specific goals: • Control - control over the victim, • Retribution – perpetrator may want to punish • Deterrence – attacker may want to stop someone from repeating acts they consider hostile or provocative • Reputation – An attack may be motivated by the need to enhance reputation and create self-importance

12. Controlling Crime • Rational choice theorists suggest four ways to reduce crime: • situational crime prevention • general deterrence • specific deterrence • incapacitation

13. Situational Crime Prevention • Situational crime prevention: in order to reduce criminal activity, planners must be aware of the characteristics of sites and situations • Criminal acts will be avoided if: • potential targets are carefully secure • the means to commit crime are controlled, and • potential offenders are carefully monitored

14. Target SpecificSituational Crime Prevention Five Strategies: • Increase the effort needed to commit a crime • Increase the risks of committing crime • Reduce the rewards of crime • Reduce provocation/induce guilt or shame for committing crime, and • Reduce excuses for committing crime

15. Increase Efforts • Target hardening techniques • Curfew laws • After school programs for kids

16. Reduce Rewards • Reduce the value of crime to the potential criminal • Removable car radios • Marking property more difficult to sell • Gender-neutral phone listings to discourage obscene calls • Tracking systems (Lojack)

17. Increase Risk I • Crime discouragers: three categories 1. guardians: who monitor targets (store security guards) 2. handlers: who monitor potential offenders (parole officers and parents) 3. managers: who monitor places (homeowners and door way attendants) • Crime discouragers have different levels of responsibilities.

18. Increase Shame/Reduce Provocation • Setting strict rules to embarrass offenders • Publishing “John lists” in newspapers • Caller ID displays • Create programs that reduce conflict • Early closing of bars • Posting guards outside of schools

19. Remove Excuses • Electronic flash cars’ speed rate, “I didn’t know excuse.” • Litter boxes, brightly displayed

20. Situational Crime Prevention: Costs and Benefits • Diffusion ~ when efforts to prevent one crime unintentionally prevents another crime as well in another area • Discouragement ~ when crime control efforts targeting a specific location help reduce crime in surrounding areas and populations

21. Situational Crime Prevention: Costs and Benefitscontinued • Displacement ~ when crime control efforts redirect offenders to alternative targets, crime not prevented but deflected and displaced • Extinction ~ when crime reduction programs produce a short-term positive effect, but benefits dissipate as criminals adjust to new conditions • Encouragement ~ when criminals increase rather than decrease the potential for crime. • Well-lighted areas may bring a greater number of potential victims and potential offenders in to the area

22. General Deterrence • A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties, convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweigh its benefits • Certainty of punishment, if probability of arrest, conviction, and sanctioning could be increased, crime rates should decline • The greater the severity, certainty, and speed of legal sanctions, the lower the crime rate

23. Specific Deterrence • The view that criminal sanctions should be so powerful that offenders will never repeat their criminal acts

24. Incapacitation • The idea that keeping offenders in confinement will eliminate the risk of their committing further offenses