Sociology of Crime and Justice
[25.10.22]
Course Title: Soc-3207
Sayeda Ishrat Ara
ID: 191637
3RD YEAR, 1ST TERM
SOCIOLOGY DISCIPLINE
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1.a) What is rational choice theory?
b) How does prison system deter criminal activities? Discuss.
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Answer to the Question No. 1 (a)
Rational Choice Theory:
The rational choice theory states that people make decisions that
benefit or align with their personal goals after logical analysis. In simple terms, whenever an
individual is given choices, they are most likely to opt for a choice that will maximize their
advantages. Rational choice theory is related to human behavior. It explains the mindset of
humans that make their decisions and choices by keeping their self-interest a priority. Rational
choice theory refers to the school of thought that defines human behavior and how any
individual is most likely to make decisions. It is sometimes called a choice theory or rational
action theory.
The three significant elements of the theory are –
Example
The rational choice technique can play a significant role in choosing an equity fund over a fixed
income fund when investing if historical evidence suggests that stocks outperform safer
investment options like fixed income funds. At the same time, stocks, options, and futures are
examples of somewhat higher-risk products that a risk-averse trader will ignore. Instead, they
prefer to remain with assets with low risk and fixed rates of return like Treasury bills and bonds.
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Answer to the Question No. 1 (b)
It is still debatable whether or not the prison system can always discourage a criminal from
committing crime.
A team of researchers from the University of California, the University of Michigan, Kaiser
Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research, the State University of New York and the
University of Colorado School of Medicine has found evidence that incarcerating people who
commit serious crimes does not prevent them from committing more crimes once they are
released. Locking people up when they have been convicted of a crime is an age-old form of
punishment. In the short term, it prevents the offender from committing more crime. At least
against those outside the prison gates. But jailing people has also been espoused as a means of
teaching the offender a lesson, being locked up is supposed to make them think twice about
committing future crimes once they are released.
Imprisonment may well provide punishment and sequester criminals away from public life for
a time, that may be all it does: A large body of research finds that spending time in prison or
jail doesn’t lower the risk that someone will offend again. In some instances, it actually raises
the likelihood that they will commit future crimes.
The things we should know about deterrence are –
Deter would-be criminals by using scientific evidence about human behavior and perceptions
about the costs, risks and rewards of crime.
1. The certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment:
Research shows clearly that the chance of being caught is a vastly more effective deterrent than
even draconian punishment.
2. Sending an individual convicted of a crime to prison isn’t a very effective way to deter crime.
Prisons are good for punishing criminals and keeping them off the street, but prison sentences
are unlikely to deter future crime. Prisons actually may have the opposite effect: Inmates learn
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more effective crime strategies from each other, and time spent in prison may desensitize many
to the threat of future imprisonment.
3. Police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and
punished:
The police deter crime when they do things that strengthen a criminal’s perception of the
certainty of being caught. Strategies that use the police as “sentinels,” such as hot spots
policing, are particularly effective. A criminal’s behavior is more likely to be influenced by
seeing a police officer with handcuffs and a radio than by a new law increasing penalties.
4. Increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime
Laws and policies designed to deter crime by focusing mainly on increasing the severity of
punishment are ineffective partly because criminals know little about the sanctions for specific
crimes. More severe punishments do not “chasten” individuals convicted of crimes, and prisons
may exacerbate recidivism.
5. There is no proof that the death penalty deters criminals
According to the National Academy of Sciences, “Research on the deterrent effect of capital
punishment is uninformative about whether capital punishment increases, decreases, or has no
effect on homicide rates.”
Increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.
To clarify the relationship between the severity of punishment and the
deterrence of future crimes, you need to understand:
• The lack of any “chastening” effect from prison sentences,
• That prisons may exacerbate recidivism,
• The different impacts of the certainty versus the severity of punishment on deterrence, and
• That individuals grow out of criminal activity as they age.
A person’s age is a powerful factor in deterring crime.
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Even those individuals who commit crimes at the highest rates begin to change their criminal
behavior as they age. The data show a steep decline at about age 35.4. A more severe (i.e.,
lengthy) prison sentence for convicted individuals who are naturally aging out of crime does
achieve the goal of punishment and incapacitation. But that incapacitation is a costly way to
deter future crimes by aging individuals who already are less likely to commit those crimes by
virtue of age
To some up everything that has been stated so far, whether a prison system can deter
a criminal from committing a crime is not just one thing, but depends on a variety of factors.
A criminal's mindset is largely responsible here.