LS229 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Bounded Rationality, Anomie
22 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Rational choice theory (bank robbery, high-level drug trafficking) Implicit in the economic perspective is an actor who views theft as a rational and productive activity despite the fact that capture, imprisonment, and death may be part of the equation. Best suited for utilitarian offences (theft, burglary, robbery, etc) -> but behaviours that may be pathologically motivated or impulsively executed also seem to have rational components present. Criminal behaviour is seen as the result of choices assumes that the offenders exhibit limited or bounded rationality when making these decisions, rather than normative rationality. Offender"s perspective: when planning a crime, which factors are focused on and why that is in that offender"s perspective (how they make sense of the world) Criticized for largely ignoring background factors that are usually thought of as the root of crime (things like age, gender, socioeconomic status, race, family, peer influences, etc)
