SOC 2700 Study Guide - Comprehensive Midterm Guide: Crime Prevention, Glasser'S Choice Theory, Neighborhood Watch

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2700
• Professor: Reza Barmaki

Document Summary

Crime data tells us that most offenders are young makes who abstain from crime as they mature: the bulk of adult offending is committed by few persistors. To criminologists, persistence is a function of personal choice. Illegal acts is a matter of individual decision making, a rational choice mad after weighting out benefits and consequences. Choice theory the view that delinquent behavior is a rational choice made by a motivated offender who perceives the chances of gain as outweighing any perceived punishment or loss: first appeared as classical criminology. Classical criminology the theory that people have free will, choose to commit crime for reasons of greed or need, and can be controlled by only the fear of criminal sanctions. Criminals behavior can be controlled or deterred by the fear of punishment. Desistance is explained by a growing and intense fear of punishment. Beccaria saw people as egotistical, self centered needing to be controlled by the fear of punishment.