Becker's Economic Theory Of Crime

Gang violence and activity has arisen in the past decades, with exceeding concerns and amongst youth being the primary target. Law enforcement try to gain a better understanding to why people are falling into criminal activity. Throughout the following essay we will be summarizing the background of one of the most notorious gang known internationally, MS-13. In addition, we will also be explaining ways different criminology theorist and theories apply to these particular group of people.

Rational choice theory is the most useful for understanding white collar crime. These are crimes that often require specialized knowledge, or access. They are often committed by individuals with advanced educations. This theory is vital to contemporary political science in addition to other chastisements for instance sociology and philosophy. The core of the rational choice theory can often be challenged amongst several courses of encounters, people typically do according to what they consider to result in the best inclusive outcome. A white collar crime is committed to make profits, they are not the acts of madmen or irrational people. They are rational acts that often require planning and careful

This article, written by William Spelman, focuses on the controversial relationship between prison populations and crime rates. Spelman demonstrates the controversy by referencing studies that yielded a wide array of results ranging from rising prison populations causing a decrease in crime to having no effect at all, and even a study that showed crime increasing as prison populations did. Spelman states that this controversy has long been present when discussing this issue. He expresses concern with the divergent findings due to the fact that they are largely all based on the same data set. This, Spelman believes, is largely due to the fact that the varying studies used different methods in conducting their research. For this reason, Spelman seeks to test the remaining methods in order to determine the most appropriate specification for the crime equation.

Deterrence theory states that people follow the law because they are scare of getting caught or being punished. In this article, “The Death Penalty Deters Crime,” David Muhlhausen, expert on criminal justice programs in the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis and a research fellow in empirical policy analysis, confirms the deterrence theory. By means of statistical data and research dating, Muhlhausen contends that the death penalty does deters murder crime which ultimately saves lives. He also believes that executions and murder rates are somehow connected to each other. Even though, some adequate emotional appeals appeared, Muhlhausen’s article failed to prove, logically, the deterrence theory.

There are many phenomena that could cause or correlate with crime. In addition to this, there are many characteristics to these phenomena that cause/correlate with criminal behavior. Furthermore, these characteristics can be individual, sociological, or both that could have an effect on criminal behavior. This paper will take the educational avenue on crime. Also, there are numerous ways that education can correlate with crime. The first way of correlation is through an economic scope. This way will take a look at how education can have an effect on an individual’s wages that may deter them from crime. The second way education has an affect on crime is the principles that a school would teach to kids that could keep them from crime. In addition, this section will focus on some key sociological aspects. The next way that crime is correlated with education is that crime could be a barrier to education. Finally, some statistics to present the education and crime correlation. There is a correlation between education and crime that shows the more education an individual obtains, the more opportunity costs, which would reduce the risk of the individual participating in criminal behavior.

The connection between economics and crime activities is multifaceted and complex. Perhaps as a result of this density, there has been thorough coverage of the issue of crime in connection to capitalism which has become elusive to administrative or mainstream criminology, more especially in the United States, regardless of some occasionally high-profile and ostensibly elaborate attempts to address it. The modern market system is capitalism. It has been grafted into almost the entire economic system. The idea behind this modern economic system, capitalism, is that it is not an economic activity’s usefulness-it’s the fulfillment of the actual need of an individual-that is vital, but it’s only its commodification

proven as an effective theory (Akers 1998, 200; Agnew, 2005). The general theory of crime and delinquency shares some of the strengths of social learning theory except this specific theory focuses on a bigger picture of what causes crime and is showed through what Agnew refers as life domains (Akers 1998, 200; Agnew, 2005). The theory also focuses on risk factors and explains how people go through these risk factors across their lifetime (Agnew, 2005). The weaknesses of this theory is that it lacks empirical testing just like the labeling theory but a strength is that social learning theory, deterrence theory, rational choice theory, and Thornberry’s interactional theory of delinquency have been empirically tested which supports this theory

One of Levitt’s main four causes of the 1990s crime was the legalization of abortion in the 1970s. Levitt argued that unwanted children were at higher risk for crime and the legalization of abortion reduced the number of unwanted children. His hypothesis was brought about because “the five states that allowed abortion in 1970… experienced declines in crime rates earlier than the rest of the country” (Levitt, 2004, p. 182). His statistics are compelling, but the reasoning seems slightly irrelevant, as argued by Baumer and

Let’s think about this for a minute. Depending on what type of crime is being committed, and the reasoning behind it crime may actually pay. For, example a man, Mr. Roberts, goes and rob a bank. His reason for doing so? He is in need of money to help pay for the house that he and his family are currently living in. Why don’t he try to get a loan from the bank? Mr. Roberts have been to multiple banks and time after time he was denied a loan. Down on his luck Mr. Roberts decides to rob a bank to save his family. Mr. Roberts was sentenced to ten years in a state prison for armed

A shift is happening in America. The pendulum is swinging from the ideals of get tough and mass incarceration. The swing has both positive and negative affects on the prison system. On the plus side, prison populations are decreasing. By shifting away from incarcerating any who break the law, there are fewer drug dealers and fewer violent offenders in the system. The other side of this trend is that many who make these choices are likely to become repeat offenders.Individuals also may escalate their negative behaviors to more violent or disturbing crimes. The punishment may not do enough to deter these actions in the future. Opinions on the best way to handle criminals are as vast as the varying crimes committed. Some say that these individuals

While many opponents argue the economics of the issue, they fail to acknowledge that the main goals of punishment are to correct behavior that is deviant from the law and to prevent similar incidences from occurring. Without capital punishment, the culprits would not have to confront the potential of death, meaning that the marginal cost of violent crime would be diminished. Therefore, capital punishment is an effective method to deter

In the article “The Crime Bust” by Gordon Witkin, it is introduced that in 1994, after a 9 year soar in crime rates, they began falling (1). According to preliminary figures released by the FBI, all across the board, the amount of crime committals were declining at a drastic rate. (Witkin 1). To determine the source of this sudden decline, several factors were examined, such as the economy, dismissed as “Robbery and burglary fluctuate with economic conditions--but murders generally do not…” (Witkin, 1-2) Prevention and domestic abuse were also discredited since “Studies show that prevention programs don’t work, and others may or may not be effective…” and “...in 1996, there were only 447 fewer ‘domestics’ than in 1993, accounting for just 9 percent of the murder reduction.” (Witkin 2) From there, Witkin begins to analyze the connection between the crime decrease and harsher prison sentencing and smarter policing (Witkin 2) As stated by Witkin, “Imprisonment...seems to be important, but not the underlying cause of the crime drop…” and while “...smarter policing was spectacularly decisive in some cities… it probably was not the key factor nationwide.” (Witkin 3-4).

Why do people commit crimes? What goes through their minds before they actually commit a crime? These are questions asked from society to criminologist every time one decides they want to commit a crime. Criminologists has given us different crime causations, theories, to explain the answer to these questions. A theory is a speculation about how phenomena, behavior, or process are caused and what takes place after the cause is determined (Anderson, 2015). There are numerous theories that have evolved over time to explain why crimes are committed. These theories include anomie, strained, social control, and rational choice theory. In this research paper I will be focusing on rational choice theory. Majority of these theories focus on a macro-level, which is the largest, meanwhile some focus on a micro-level, the smaller level, depending on the circumstances. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize how rational choice theory is integrate with different crimes. The crimes included are burglary, white collar crime, and murder.

Situational crime prevention (SCP) and rational choice theory (RCT), together, provide an insightful explanation as to why people commit crimes and what can be done to deter them. Much of the work done in RCT and SCP was founded by Derek Cornish and Ronald V. Clarke, who wanted to understand the decision-making process of potential offenders and focus on the spatial and situational factors that make such crime possible (Farrell and Hodgkinson, 2015). This paper aims to explore SCP and its relationship to RCT, as well as analyze the works of Keith Hayward and Graham Farrell in their discussion of these ideas. This paper has four objectives: first, the paper will discuss SCP and RCT and explain the link between the two concepts. Second, this paper will examine Hayward 's discussion of RCT, SCP, and cultural criminology. Third, I will explore Farrell 's critique of Hayward 's article and consider his arguments made in response to Hayward 's conclusions. Fourth, this paper will engage in its own critique of both Hayward 's and Farrell 's work and conclude with which article makes the most compelling argument.

Poverty’s effects on crime can be explained through a variety of reasons. There is a higher rate of mental illness among the poor than the rich. Poverty can lead to high levels of stress, which in turn drive individuals to commit theft, robbery or other violent acts. Moreover, poverty may lead to actual or perceived inferior education. Youth with less access to quality schools, jobs, and role models and opportunities end up spending time on the streets associating with gangs. Crime offers a way in which poor people can obtain material goods they cannot attain through legal means. Often, threat or force helps them acquire even more goods, encouraging them to commit more violent acts such as robbery and rape. Thus, poverty increases crime