Theories

1. Theories Or Why do People do Silly Things? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB8fplh21hk

2. Rational Choice Theory • The Rational Choice Theory begins with the observation that crime is chosen because of the benefits it brings to the offender. • Crimes are deliberate acts, committed with the intention of benefiting the offender. The most obvious benefits are material gain such as money or goods, but they can also include: fun, prestige, sexual gratification, and domination of others.

3. Reasons for Rational choice • to obtain money or goods • to obtain excitement, fun or thrills or to relieve boredom • to achieve peer approval, admiration, status or popularity • to prove toughness or bravery • to see someone suffer or become frightened • to gain compliance with orders or wishes • to assert dominance or control • to hurt an enemy • to avenge an insult

4. Routine Activity Approach • Routine activities refer more precisely to everyday behaviors giving rise to specific chances to put an illegal act into motion at the moment an offender finds a target with the guardian(s) indisposed.

5. Examples of When this theory is in effect. • For example, populated cities with poor parking situations will result in a greater number of car thefts, yet burglaries occur more in less dense areas with larger backyards that can easily hide burglars. • Crime rates vary dramatically over the hours of the day and times of the year, reflecting the natural daily and yearly cycles of life. • For example, the crime rates rise in the summer when people are outside more often thus providing both more likely offenders and targets.

6. Social Disorganization Theoryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4A6fwVRaVU • The Social Disorganization Theory is not concerned with the criminality of the individual, but the criminality of groups in different geographic regions. • The Social Disorganization Theory contends that the cause of high crime in certain areas is rooted in the characteristics of particular types of neighborhoods.

7. Characteristics of Social Disorganization • Poverty • Families are frequently moving in and out of the area and often are dysfunctional. • Neighbors are inattentive to the needs of one another. • Organized groups within the community are either nonexistent or ineffective in achieving the needs of the residents. • In the absence of informal community controls, crime is more likely. • Since social disorganization continues to exist in a neighborhood, crime rates stay consistent over long periods of time.

8. Strain Theory • States that when people encounter strain, they commit more crimes Three types of Strain Theory • First, there is strain that prevents you from achieving your positively valued goals. These goals include money, status, respect and autonomy. • Next, there is strain that removes or threatens to remove positively valued stimuli that you already possess. • Lastly, strain may present or threaten to present you with unpleasant or negatively-valued stimuli. Strain makes you feel bad, angry, depressed or anxious. These negative feelings create a desire for corrective action.

9. Control Theory • The Control theories offer a different approach to criminal behavior than other theories. Rather than answering the usual question of "Why do people commit crime?" the Control theorists ask, "What causes people to conform to the rules and laws?"

10. Outer Containment • Outer containment is attained through the power of various social institutions to restrain the conduct of individuals: • One of the most important and first sources of outer control is the family. The family restrains the deviant impulses of its children by meeting its basic needs and providing a strong emotional relationship.

11. Outer Containment Continued • In addition to the family, the community provides social controls, as well. • Finally, a strong attachment to the school is another effective source of social control.

12. More on Outer Containment • Attachment is considered the emotional element of the social bond. One of the forces that prevents people from committing crimes is that they don't want to lose the good opinion of those who mean most to them. When attachment to others is lacking, people are not restrained by their disapproval of their conduct.  • Commitment can be thought of as the material element of the social bond.  It consists of prized objects or experiences that are at risk when committing deviant behavior. It could be something as simple as losing an allowance or use of the family car.  • Involvement is the part of the social bond that involves time and energy. When one expends their time and energy doing conventional things such as homework, sports or extracurricular activities, there is less time to engage in deviant behavior. • Belief. It represents the moral aspect of the social bond. One thing that restrains people from breaking the rules is the belief that the rule is legitimate and that there is a moral obligation to follow it.

13. Inner Containmentor Self Control • Inner containment refers to the capacity of the individual to control impulses and resist the temptation to engage in deviant behavior. One of the most important aspects of inner containment is a favorable self concept. 

14. Deterrence Theory • The Deterrence Theory offers a different perspective on criminal behavior. Its focus is not on why people commit crimes, but rather why people do not commit crimes • An association between crime and punishment is necessary, so that when would-be offenders are contemplating a crime, they will bring vividly to mind all possible legal consequences.

15. How It Works • One of the greatest curbs on crime is not the cruelty of the punishments, but their infallibility. • The more promptly and the more closely punishment follows the commission of a crime, the more useful it will be. • For a punishment to attain its end, the evil which it inflicts has only to exceed the advantage derivable from the crime