Rationality and Choice

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Rationality and Choice

• Psychology of Crime

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• 1. Offenders seek to benefit themselves by
  criminal behaviours
• 2. Doing so involves making decisions and
  choices, however rudimentary these might be.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• 3. The decision-making process is constrained by
  the time available (many criminal opportunities
  have a limited life-span), by the availability
  of relevant information (frequently this will be
  incomplete) and by the offenders own cognitive
  abilities (related, presumably, to verbal IQ). It
  follows that rationality will be limited, rather
  than complete.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• 4. Both the decision-making process and the
  factors taken into account by offenders vary
  greatly at different stages of decision-making
  and between different crimes (and presumably also
  between different offenders within crimes there
  are marked differences in success-rates, with
  planning ahead being a key feature of the more
  successful offenders).

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• Cornish and Clarke (1987) argue the need to be
• (a) crime-specific when analysing criminal
  choices
• (b) to treat decisions as relating to varying
  stages of the involvement of an offender in a
  particular crime.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• Thus, they distinguish between
• initial involvement,
• the event,
• continuation,
• desistance.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• The following is a list of choice structuring
  properties for crimes involving cash (i.e., money
  rather than goods, from bank robbery to computer
  fraud, Cornish and Clarke 1987).
• 1. Availability (number of targets,
  accessibility)
• 2. Awareness of method (i.e., technical know
  how).
• 3. Likely cash yield per crime.4. Expertise
  needed.5. Planning necessary.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• Resources required.
• Solo versus assistance required.
• 8. Time required to commit.9. Cool nerves
  required. -
• 10.Risk of apprehension.
• 11.Severity of punishment (if caught).
• 12.Instrumental violence required.
• 13.Confrontation with victim.
• 14.Identifiable victim.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• 15. Social cachet in the criminal world
  (safebreaking versus mugging).
• 16. Fencing accessories (getting rid of any goods
  stolen).
• 17. Moral evaluation.

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• Their work is supplemented and illustrated by a
  report by Walsh (1980), based on interviews with
  45 men in British prisons who had been convicted
  of burglary.
• Their ideal target was a business firm rather
  than a private house (more to be stolen) and,
  while half used information, the other half
  burgled on impulse (presumably, the latter were
  more likely to be caught and hence were more
  available for interview).

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Cornish and Clarke (1987)Rational Choice theory

• There was much fear concerning being interrupted
  during a burglary, with the consequent
  possibility of violence and, hence, of a more
  severe sentence if arrested.
• They found it easier to justify to themselves a
  business than a household target (particularly if
  the latter were ordinary), adding to their
  preference for the former.
• They saw themselves as desisting with increasing
  age (the risks of capture increased, sentences
  stiffened and the risk/return balance generally
  less favourable).

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deterrence hypothesis

• Crime is due to a lack of general deterrence
  (that is, the threat of punishment) or specific
  deterrence (that is, the actual punishment of
  future behaviour).
• So a calculation is made by the criminal of
  subjective benefits against the costs of
  deterrence before a crime is committed.
• This simple equation is probably more applicable
  to instrumental crimes' (with material benefits,
  like robbery), than expressive crimes' (like
  sexual offences which seek non-material needs)
  (Blackburn, 1993).

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Perception of risk

• Rettig and colleagues (e.g., Rettig 1966, Rettig
  and Turroff 1967) gave students a hypothetical
  criminal opportunity in which several potential
  determinants of a decision to steal were
  systematically and simultaneously varied.
• The greatest effect was exerted by the amount of
  punishment involved this exceeded both the
  probability of detection and the incentive
  present.

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Problems with rational choice theory

• Does not explain impulsive crimes
• Offenders at different stages of their criminal
  career will judge crime opportunities
  differently.
• Carroll and Weaver (1986) found that when they
  analysed offenders verbalised thoughts during
  crime simulations, experienced shoplifters were
  adept at evaluating opportunities for offending
  but used the information selectively, while
  novice shoplifters focused on the major question
  of whether to offend at all. Their cognitive
  processes were thus utilised quite differently,
  and the concepts of rationality and choice were
  shown to be problematic.

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Problems with rational choice theory

• Yochelson and Samenow (1976) also focus on
  cognitive processes but emphasise the role of
  cognitive dysfunction in criminal behaviour.
• The concept of rationality therefore disappears.
  They suggest that criminals have quite distinct
  and erroneous thinking patterns which
  differentiate them from non-criminals.
• From their interviews with 240 male offenders
  they conclude that criminals may be less
  intelligent than non-criminals but they are
  essentially in control of their lives and their
  criminality is the result of choices made from an
  early age.

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Problems with rational choice theory

• Yochelson and Samenow emphasise cognitive
  processes, which lead to a distorted self-image
  and result not only in criminal choices but a
  denial of responsibility.

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Problems with rational choice theory (Yochelson
and Samenow)

• They identify 40 thinking errors made by
  criminals, the errors falling into three
  categories
• Criminal thinking patterns which are
  characterised simultaneously by fear and a need
  for power and control. Other features include a
  search for perfection, lying, and inconsistencies
  or fragmentation of thinking.
• Automatic thinking errors, which include a lack
  of empathy and trust, a failure to accept
  obligations, and a secretive communication style.
• Crime-related thinking errors, which include
  optimistic fantasising about specific criminal
  acts with no regard for deterrent factors.

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Problems with rational choice theory

• Yochelson and Samenow are suggesting therefore
  that criminals are not necessarily impulsive,
  that they will have planned and fantasised about
  their actions, and it is these thinking patterns
  which need to be confronted in treatment.
• Wulach (1988) however, has criticised their
  approach, pointing out that Yochelson and Samenow
  are simply describing psychopaths and their
  theory cannot therefore be regarded as a general
  theory of crime.

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Problems with rational choice theory

• Research is based on simulations which are very
  different from real crimes and real decision
  making.
• Less variables have to be considered.
• How the problem is framed may affect the decision
  making.
• Often student samples
• Experimental method

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