Introduction to Criminology– Week #4 Lecture Rational Choice Theory, Trait Theory, and Development Theories Rational Choice Theory states that crime is a decision that criminals make a decision to violate a law based on a number of reasons, including greed, revenge, need, anger, lust, jealousy, thrill-seeking, or vanity. The choice is made to commit a crime after weighing both the consequences and the rewards, and determining that the reward is worth the risk of the consequences. Crime can be either offensespecific, or offender-specific. Offense-specific crimes are those where the offenders react selectively to the characteristics of particular offenses, where offender-specific crimes are those where an offender determines if they have the particular skills and needs to commit the crime successfully. Rational choice theory’s principles date back to the early middle ages, where crimes were punished severely. Cesare Beccaria called for fair punishment of crimes to act as a deterrent, since he surmised that people had choices in committing crime, and that swift, just punishment would lead to a reduction in crime. Beccaria’s writings formed the basis for eliminating torture and severe punishments, and paved the way for most contemporary theories. Criminals turn to crime for a number of personal reasons (criminality), including economic opportunity, learning and experience, and the knowledge of criminal techniques. Criminals structure the crime itself by rationally choose the type of crime they will commit, the time and place they will commit the crime, and the victim or target of the crime. Trait theory was formed as a result of criminologists and sociologists attempting to use scientific methods to determine if criminals were “born criminal” and had inherited criminality. Trait theory was furthered by Cesare Lombroso, who believed, along with his successors, that criminals felt less pain than non-criminals, and should not be held personally or morally responsible for things that are beyond their control (being born a criminal). Biosocial Theory states that physical, environmental, and social conditions all work together to produce human behavior. Biochemical conditions that influence criminality include diet, smoking and drinking, exposure to chemicals, hypoglycemia, hormonal influences, PMS, allergies, environmental contaminants, lead poisoning, neurophysiological conditions, ADHD, tumors, and legions. As a part of this, arousal theory states that some people’s brains function differently in response to environmental stimuli, causing them to be anxious and stressed out if there is too much stimulation, or bored and weary with too little stimulation. Genetics and crime have been studied a number of ways, attempting to determine if genetics is a factor in a person’s criminality. Some of these studies have been studies on parental deviance affecting offspring’s deviance levels, similarities among siblings, twin studies, and studies to determine if having an extra Y chromosome (genetic research) leads to higher rates of crime, and adoption studies. Springing from these studies came several different psychological trait studies and theories. Behavioral Theory states that human actions are developed through learning experiences, not genetics. Social learning theory is the most influential in modern criminology and more specifically states that people model their behavior based on the responses that behavior receives. Cognitive Theory explores how a person’s mental processes (how people perceive and mentally represent the world around them and solve problems). Moral development, as well as a persons’ self-awareness play key roles in cognitive theory. It used to be a common thought that most criminals had lower IQs. This, however, may not be the truth. This upholds what the middle class believes, and could have been potentially biased since the measurement of IQ is varied and may have flaws. The developmental theory of criminality looks at the start, the continuation of, and the termination of a criminal career. This theory was developed and furthered by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, who identified a number of personal and social factors related to persistent offending. Life course theory suggests the development of one’s criminal career is always changing. It states that any disruption in life’s major transitions can be destructive to a person and promote criminality. Latent trait theory (also called propensity theory) states that a stable feature, characteristic, propensity, or condition (such as low IQ), can make a person prone to criminality over time. In the general theory of crime, Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi argue that the propensity to commit crime is tied directly to a person’s self-control. Trajectory theory states that career criminals may take more than one path, engaging in multiple criminal acts. Some criminals begin early is life, where others start later, and everyone has different levels of committing crimes. Different influences throughout life can lead criminals forward on the path of crime, or may lead them off of the path and into a law-abiding lifestyle. References Siegel, L. J. (2015). Criminology: The core, (5th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning. https://content.grantham.edu/academics/GU_CJ102/chapter4.pdf https://content.grantham.edu/academics/GU_CJ102/chapter5.pdf https://content.grantham.edu/academics/GU_CJ102/chapter9.pdf 
Purchase answer to see full attachment