The Reasoning Criminal ─ Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending

First published in 1986, this volume brings a rational choice theoretic perspective to the study of criminology through assessment of the rational and adaptive aspects of offending and their implications for policy, including the implication that greater attention must be paid to the criminal event itself and the situational factors that influence its commission, rather than just focusing on the criminal. Following the original introduction sketching out the broad approach of rational choice to crime, chapters discuss shoplifters' perceptions of crime opportunities, victim selection procedures among economic criminals, robbers as decision-makers, the decision to give up crime, a decision-making approach to opioid addiction, the compatibility of rational choice and social control theories of crime, models of criminal decision making under uncertainty, an information processing analysis of the decision to commit a crime, offense specialization, criminal incapacitation effects considered in an adaptive choice framework, and a jurisprudential approach to practical reasoning and criminal responsibility. The material has not been updated or revised, with the exception of a new introduction discussing the development of rational choice criminology since the first publication of the collection. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)