Summary of a 13 Chapter of Criminological Theory - Context and Consequences - Book Report/Review Example

Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences; Chapter 13 Summary Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences; Chapter 13 Summary Entitled Choosing Crime in Everyday life: Routine Activity and Rational Choice Theories, chapter 13 begins by acknowledging the fact that some criminological theories are often interested in examining why some people resort to committing crimes, while others do not. It is acknowledged that whereas the criminological theories have varied perspectives, they are both guided by the fact that criminality is something that develops over time as individuals grow (pp 329).

In this regard, a lot of focus is often directed at the conditions that create an enabling environment the criminality element to thrive, including ineffective parenting, frustrating schooling environment and lengthy incarcerations. In this sense, the criminality is perceived as inevitable and even justified based on the intervening circumstances. The chapter proceeds to present the theories that are interested in crimes, as opposed to the root-cause of crimes; those that do not concern themselves with the past, but the present occurrences of the crimes.

The theories are guided by the assumption that the present condition of crime is what matters because it has an implication on the ramification measures to be adopted, and that criminals are not mechanical but people who are capable of reasoning rationally. One of the theories that are examined is the routine activity theory, which focuses on the crime and opportunity relationship. This theory suggests that crimes do not just happen, unless they are presented with the opportunities. The opportunities work as incentives of motivation agents for people to engage in crimes.

For example, robbers will be motivated to turn to the bank to steal because they know there are opportunities to get money and because they are often convinced that they can outflank the security. However, questions have been raised to the extent that the opportunities play role in aggravating the commitment of the crimes and the eventuality has been a heated debate. Some additional points that have been generated are that there can be no appropriate way of addressing crimes other than checking to limit the opportunities that aggravate the commitment of the crimes.

The second theory that has been explored is the rational choice theory (Lily, Francis, Cullen, & Richard 2011; 341), which draws a relationship between the rational choices that people make and the crimes that follow the actions. The theory asserts that criminals are human in the sense that they are rational. Criminals are often about the implications that follow their actions and act to safeguard their interests and fulfill their motives, just like other people. Criminal do not engage in the criminal activities mechanically but consciously.

Rational decisions, in this case, are attributes of various factors such as family upbringing, neighborhood, styles of cognition and intelligence, so on. The third and last theory examined is the perceptual deterrence theory, which draws on the association between deterrence and crime commitment (pp 346). This theory posits that people engage in crimes because they perceive limited deterrence. Conversely, the only reason why people desist from crimes is because they think are deterred. There are various dimensions of deterrence.

These include the far-reaching legal implications, ethical implications as fostered by the nature and nurture or limited incentives that are attached to the crimes. In other words, the perceptual deterrence theory suggests that people will engage in crimes based on the rewards that are attached to the actions. If the implications of committing crimes are associated with severe crimes, deterrence would work better. Thus, this theory asserts that there is the potential of addressing crimes effectively by meting penalties on criminal acts.

Reference Lily, Robert J., Francis T. Cullen, & Richard A. Ball. (2011). Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences. Sage Publishing: Los Angeles, C.A.