Topic > The Classical School of Criminology - 1670

There has been much literature on the topic of free will in a number of disciplines, including criminology, and theories of rationality are still useful in part for explaining why some people commit crime . Eventually classical theory and the notion of free will in criminology developed into rational choice theory, which can be broken down into four categories needed for someone to commit a crime, including mood, opportunity, knowledge, and experience. For example, for the crime of burglary, the offender must be in the right mood or mindset to choose to commit burglary in the first place, and there must also be a favorable opportunity that convinces him to go forward with the plan, such as the homeowners are on vacation. The offender must also have the necessary knowledge to carry out the act and break in, as well as experience, which convinces him that he will not be caught. This description falls under rational choice theory, however the fundamental principles are that humans are rational actors and people choose their behavior based on these rational calculations, which fall into the category of compliant and deviant. Furthermore, offenders are generally willing to substitute one particular crime for another, given that the other crime provides greater reward and less or equal risk, and their skill allows them to carry out the act successfully. Proponents of rational choice theory claim that this approach to current crime problems is the most efficient and cost-effective compared to other typical approaches (Hayward,