Rational Choice
Perspective
Rational Choice Theory
• Also known as choice theory or rational action theory, is a
framework for understanding and often formally modeling social and
economic behavior.
• Rational choice theory assumes that all people try to actively
maximize their advantage in any situation and therefore consistently
try to minimize their losses.
• Rational Choice Theory view that people believed as they do
because they believe that performing their chosen action has more
benifits than costs. That is, people make rational choices based on
their goals, and those choices govern their behavior.
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Routine Activities Theory
• Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that
focuses on situations of crimes.
• This theory was developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen.
• Routine Activities theory is a theory of criminology that for a crime to occur,
three elements must be present:
1. A person motivated to commit the offense
2. A vulnerable victim who is available, and
3. Insufficient protection to prevent the crime.
• Therefore, if the target is not protected enough, and if the reward is worth
it, crime will happen.
Broken Windows Theory
• Was introduced in a 1982 article by social scientists James Q.
Wilson and George L. Kelling.
• The broken windows theory is a criminological theory that states
that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder
create an urban environment that encourages further crime and
disorder, including serious crimes.
• The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor
crimes such as vandalism, public drinking, and fare evasion help
to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby
preventing more serious crimes.
Situational Crime Prevention
• Traditional crime prevention strategies aim at reducing crime and violence
by changing criminal tendencies.
• Situational crime prevention (SCP) focuses on the more immediate
opportunities for offending. Situational crime prevention seeks to reduce
the harms caused by crime through altering immediate or situational factors
in the environments where crime regularly occurs.
Strategies:
Lighting
Installing CCTV's
Fence
Windows with bars
Crime Prevention Through
Environment Design (CPTED)
• Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is defined as a multi-
disciplinary approach for reducing crime through urban and environmental
design and the management and use of built environments.
• It originated in America around 1960, when urban renewal strategies were felt
to be destroying the social framework needed for self-policing. Architect Oscar
Newman created the concept of ‘defensible space’, developed further by
criminologist C. Ray Jeffery who coined the term CPTED. Growing interest in
environmental criminology led to detailed study of specific topics such as
natural surveillance, access control and territoriality.
• include the planting of trees and shrubs, the elimination of escape routes, and
the correct use of lighting.
Detterrence Theory
• Why Do People Obey the Law?
• Deterrence theory says that people don't commit crimes because they are afraid of getting caught -
instead of being motivated by some deep moral sense. According to deterrence theory, people are
most likely to be dissuaded from committing a crime if the punishment is swift, certain and severe.
• What is Deterrence?
• Deterrence is the act of punishing an individual who has committed a crime in such a manner as to
warn others not to do the same, else they too will receive a similar punishment.
2 basic types of detterrence
a. General deterrence
• The term “general deterrence” refers to the practice of instilling fear in people in the hopes that such
fear will prevent them from committing crimes in the future. This is done by making an example of
offenders through their punishments.
• Specific Deterrence
• The category of specific deterrence focuses on the individual who committed the crime. The aim of a
specific deterrence is to discourage the individual from committing crimes in the future.
Crime Pattern Theory
• Crime Pattern Theory is a way of explaining why
crimes are committed in certain areas. Crime is not
random, it is either planned or opportunistic.
According to the theory crime happens when the
activity space of a victim or target intersects with
the activity space of an offender.
