What is a crime?
It is a deliberate act which evokes psychological or physical damage and is illegal. There are various kinds of crimes and by accident or not almost everyone will experience a crime at one point in their life. It does not discriminate as to where you are from, nor your age (Eck, 2015). The nature of this illegality comes in various types. These categories of crime are reacted to differently by people depending on the nature of the illegal activity.
Here are some of the types of crime
- Antisocial behavior – this is when you sense you are being distressed or daunted by someone else’s behavior towards you.
- Burglary – this is a break-in into a building to take by force that which does not belong to you, harming a person or committing illegal damages.
- Arson – is an offense where someone intentionally sets ablaze on someone else’s property to damage it or cause harm to people (Vinkers et al.,2011).
One of the most influential countries in the world the United States of America is massively altered by a classical criminology theory; rational theory. This theory states that the select to commit a crime is brought about by a logical judgment of cost concerning reward. This is the best theory that has to describe crime to a better understanding. It leaves a logical and reasonable form of belief (Loughran et al., 2016). This leads to asking another question that is crucial in understanding what crime is; criminal behavior and how to deter people from having one. As the rational theory suggests, punishment best suites this type of behavior in an attempt to correct and weed out its growing state.
Some factors complicate the rational theory despite its logical sense. These include the following; firstly, adolescents have immature brains hence, have difficulty in comprehending the consequences of their actions whether legal or illegal. Secondly, humans are mostly influenced by their emotions than logical thinking. Lastly, people who conduct these offenses often lack information or the general perspective to have logical decision-making.
Even though several factors complicate the rather simple understanding of this theory of crime and human behavior, other theories have not quite made a strong explanation. Quite the contrary, these other theories contradict themselves and base themselves on totally misguided factors. For instance, there is an account that highlights three main sociological theories of crime and delinquency. They are namely; social education, control theories, and strain. This account describes several other significant theories of crime. The major crimes are a representation of these three theories (Seipel, C., & Eifler, 2010). Deeper into the description, there is an attempt to create integrated theories of crime that are explained.
All these theories are expounded upon based on the social environment, work environment, society, and academic places. However, these theories contradict one another in various ways. Firstly, they aim at different features of the social environment. Secondly, they provide varied accounts of why the social environment brings about crime. And lastly, some theories concentrate on explaining individual differences in crime whereas others try to describe group variations in crime; for instance, why is it that some areas of the population have higher crime rates than others?
In summary
The understanding of the rational theory of crime is on the upper hand having a logical explanation compared to the other theories. But a downside is that it is not always that humans can be rational. Also, the theories of contemporary works give their notion that individuals would be totally afraid of punishment and change their behavior. They would eventually be disinclined to intentionally commit an offense. It is for this reason the world has attempted to give this theory a more modest and particular set of focus on crime. There are still policies that make it difficult to achieve the full modesty of this theory and have their reasons for it. All in, it is my take that this theory is the best of them all and has a logical understanding of what crime is.
Work Cited
Eck, J., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Crime is places in crime theory. Crime and place: Crime prevention studies, 4.
Loughran, T. A., Paternoster, R., Chalfin, A., & Wilson, T. (2016). Can rational choice be considered a general theory of crime? Evidence from individual‐level panel data. Criminology, 54(1), 86-112.
Seipel, C., & Eifler, S. (2010). Opportunities, rational choice, and self-control: On the interaction of person and situation in a general theory of crime. Crime & Delinquency, 56(2), 167-197.
Vinkers, D. J., De Beurs, E., Barendregt, M., Rinne, T., & Hoek, H. W. (2011). The relationship between mental disorders and different types of crime. Criminal behaviour and mental health, 21(5), 307-320.
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