Criminals have been committing crimes for centuries, and they are always fooling the police detectives and federal agencies sometimes. If the justice departments would actually look at the persons thought processes and reasoning before a crime is committed, the justice departments will be able to answer the reason for the crime. The different departments could possibly figure out why the criminal did what they did in the first. For instance, they should use a couple of criminology theories to help them with certain cases that are more difficult than the rest. The theories that the justice departments should use in their systems are the rational choice and biological theories of criminology.
The rational choice theory comes from the classical theory which is based off of personal choice towards criminal behavior. Criminal behavior under the rational choice theory has been due to the free thinking of society and has always been because of a specific thought process of personal vendettas. For example, a jealous person may feel the need to do something physically illegal like punching another person in the face because the benefit of gratitude is worth the risk of consequence. The example above is part of the rational choice theory and the reason is because that particular person weighed the costs and benefits of their illegal action. Rational choice theory is a vision where crime is a functionality of the decision-making process of the criminal in which they weigh the costs and benefits of an illegal act in society (Siegel, 2011).
Criminals use the rational choice theory in society when they are trying to avoid any kind of pain and are in a mindset of looking for pleasure. Criminals find the easiest way to have fun and find a rewarding prize when the rational choice theory is associated with a certain crime. Basically, if a criminal thinks that the punishment of their future crime is too great and the reward is very small the criminal will more than likely not engage in that particular criminal act. For instance, a criminal may find it easier to commit a robbery than commit a burglary and the criminal will stay away from the burglaries due to the consequences that come because of the crime. Rational choice theory can be more behavioral than anything because of the amount of behaviors that are associated in determining whether to commit certain crimes or not (Siegel, 2011).
All criminals that use the rational choice theory before they commit their certain crimes does not always understand how to weigh the costs and benefits of certain acts. There will always be some kind of calculation before a rational crime occurs. For example, before a robbery takes place the criminals must first choose the location, place and time that they would like to have for a certain robbery crime. The criminals involved in this certain robbery will weigh the costs and benefits of the crime and then think about the whole situation itself. When the criminals have...
