FIN 300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sexual Assault, Trait Theory, Inferiority Complex
CRIM lecture 3
Utilitarianism
Does Crime Pay?
• Many criminals believe crime pays, makes you a lot of money quickly
• Most crimes actually pay less than legitimate work (there are costs in criminal activity, ie legal
fees, being incarcerated, )
Why do it?
• Overestimate proceeds, underestimate legal costs
• They do’t hae realisti ies aout ertaities of gettig aught
Is Crime Rational
• Certain crimes strongly are the result of rational choice,
• Street crime: specific economic motive, do careful assessment, adv vs disadv
• Economic crime: greatest example of rational choice crime, financial cost benefit analysis,
• Drugs: rationally consider economic benefits,
• Sexual assault, vandalism, - no financial motives, no clear rational explanation
Eliminating Crime: Crime Prevention Strategies
• Situational: use rational choice theory, modifying the physical environment to reduce
possibilities to commit crime, ex CCTV situational strategy, security guards, police presence
o Adv: diffusion of benefits:
o efforts to reduce one type of crime has unexpected benefit of reducing another type of
crime
o discourage ment: Efforts to eliminate one type of crime by reducing access to a site of
another type of crime
o Disadv: extinction: gets used to one type of prevention, overcomes it
o Displacement: crime is just moved to another area // temporal: another time
▪ Target: criminals choose another target/ easier
▪ Spatial: offenders move to less protected areas
▪ Tactical: criminals device new tactics to get around security measures
▪ Perpetrator: new offenders replace old offenders
▪ Type of crime: offenders take up different type of crime that is less difficult to
commit
• General Deterrence: #1 guiding principle in Canadian system, fear of punishment will deter
crime.
o Certainty: how likely to be punished,
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