CMY3701 Part 1: The rational actor model of crime and criminal behaviour + Theme 1: The rational actor model 2024 Questions and Answers

CMY3701 Part 1: The rational actor model of crime and criminal behaviour + Theme 1: The rational actor model 2024 Questions and Answers Aggravating circumstances - Answer- Cause offender to be punished more severely Ex. rape of a child is more serious than rape of adult Classical Criminology - Answer- - Emphasises free will - Views criminal act as consciously carried out - Offender is rational: weighs up advantages and disadvantages Main focus: CJS = if it operated in a consistent and predictable way it would eliminate crime Criminal event decision - Answer- Shorter processes that use more limited info relating to immediate circumstances and situations Criminal involvement - Answer- Process: Individuals choose to become involved in forms of crime, continue and desist later Bounded rationality - Answer- Poor decisions based on incomplete info Mitigating cirumstances - Answer- Result in more lenient sentences Ex. being a first-time offender Neo-classical school - Answer- Scientific criminology AKA Positivism Believe that rehab is invalid Routine activities theory (Marcus Felcon) - Answer- 3 factors contribute to crime Motivated offender Suitable victim Absence of capable guardian Rational choice theory - Answer- Emphasises the importance of rationality in human action, even if limited or bounded Emphasises decision making involved in offending Social contract - Answer- When an individual is bound by society by their own consent. Society is responsible to them Introduction to the rational school - Answer- - Grew out of a group of Enlightenment philosophers in the 8th century - Humans should be addressees by reason NOT religion or superstition - Explanations of crime moving from sin to rationality, individual responsibility and free choice which influenced the law - Law and punishment moved to be predictable and non-discriminatory, humane and effective - Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Betham Punishment should be (4) - Answer- 1. Avoid unnecessary suffering 2. Proportionate to the crime 3. Follow quickly after the offence 4. Be sufficient to act as a deterrent Assumptions of the classical school Human nature - Answer- - People are self-interested, rational - Able to choose what they want to do - Act according to personal choices - Free will - Conformity is rewarded, rebellion is punished Assumptions of the classical school Conception of society or social order - Answer- - Social contract as basis for social order - People choose to give up freedom to be protected by law Assumptions of the classical school Cause of crime - Answer- - Pleasure punishment - OR as a result of irrational choices due to limited info to make decisions - Behaviour is guided by hedonism - Decision to commit rime as a result of logic Assumptions of the classical school Implication for policy - Answer- - Strict law - Punishment is fixed and severe - Judge's discretion is limited Assumption of the classical school Most appropriate solution to crime - Answer- - Cearly defined and consistently applied legal code - CJS is predictable and swift - Offenders are aware of the cost Limitations of classicism - Answer- - Mitigating and aggravating factors are not applied - People are not always rational ex. poverty, insanity and immaturity Neoclaccisim NOW RECOGNISE THAT - Answer- - History and context are important - Children and the insane are less responsible - Non legal experts testify - Sentences are personalised Neoclacisism: Psychologists and psychiatrists looked at - Answer- 1. Statements by the police 2. Hospital records 3. Witness accounts 4. Past criminal behaviour 5. Psychological tests 6. Employment records Burke: Central attributes of classical and neoclassical that are FOUNDATON OF RATIONAL ACTOR MODEL - Answer- 1. Focus on law and definition of crime 2. Punishment should fit crime