CRIM 1650 Lecture 6: Crim Lecture 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,11

• School: York University
• Department: Criminology
• Course: CRIM 1650
• Professor: James Williams

Document Summary

Crim lecture #6, 7 , 8 , 9 , 10, 11, 12. Rational choice theories proceeded biological and psychological approaches. Reaction against unjust, arbitrary, and severe forms of punishment associated with absolute monarchies and religious rule. Individual rights and freedoms and importance of fairness, equality, and predictability in response to crime. Human behaviour is a product of rational choice and calculation, max pleasure, min pain. Policy implications: increase the severity, certainty, and swiftness of punishment. Limitations: failure of offenders to consider or care about future punishments, weak empirical support. Benefits: choice versus determinism, dynamic nature of crime, crime as normal. Limitations: presumption of rationality, crime displacement, over emphasis on policy-relevance and practical utility and neglect of the underlying causes of crime, victim blaming. Cultural and political significance: widespread endorsement of rational choice theories as a foundation for crime control policies, popular appeal and political expedience. Society rather than the individual is the appropriate unit of analysis.