Rational Choice Theory Paper

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Rational Choice Theory Applied to Burglary The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Rational Choice theory and Burglary work together. Burglary will be thoroughly discussed, then Rational Choice theory will be discussed and it will provide evidence as to why the crime and the theory work together. “Burglary is the common-law offense of breaking and entering another’s dwelling at night with the intent to commit a felony”. (Black’s Law Dictionary pp. 91) What is thought of when burglary is mentioned? When burglary is mentioned the first thought that comes to mind is “force” However, “The use of force to gain entry is not required to classify an offense as burglary.” (Baker, T. pp. 156) There are various burglar typologies, known as…show more content…
Two of the factors that cause for an individual to commit burglaries are Psychological and Drug Factors. Burglary and drugs go hand in hand. “Generally, offenders are addicted to drugs or have used illegal drugs in their recent past.” (Baker, T. pp. 162). Drugs may be consumed to reduce the fear prior to burglarizing. Drugs are consumed to decrease the nervousness and allow the burglar to be in their zone. In one California study, crime analysts found that 80% of offenders studied had a prior arrest record, this particular study also had a 58% population of prior arrest for burglary and 47% had drug arrest. (Baker T. pp. 162) Drugs and burglars go hand and hand, that is one of the main reasons that burglaries occur, to obtain materialistic items to sell quickly and obtain cash to be able to access…show more content…
All participants completed the study individually with the same author in an interview room in the prison. Each participant viewed one of twenty photos that were selected at random and decided whether the photo that they saw was unoccupied or occupied at the time the photo was captured. The participants viewed the same photos again and were asked open ended questions to determine any number of aspects that believed that allowed them to make the decision they made. Finally, the participants rated the importance of the eight cues in determining their occupancy decisions. The point scale ranged from 1= not very important to 7= very important. The study found that each participant made accurate predictions was calculated. The mean predictive accuracy across participants over all decisions was 63% (SD 9.32). One sample t= test revealed that the burglar’s ability to predict occupancy was significantly greater than chance. The findings were that the Burglars accuracy in predicting occupancy was a great turn out. Burglars utilized photographs and were not present when the photos were taken. Just by seeing certain cues in the photos allowed for them to make the determination of occupied or unoccupied. (Snook, B., Dhami, M.K., & Kavanagh, J.

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