Essay on Criminology
In order to detect and prevent crime, it might be helpful to understand the psychology of criminals and their way of decision-making. Most frequently, offenders make short-term decisions which are very driven by emotions. The crime takes place when the perceived benefits outweigh the perceived costs. According to Bosworth & Hoyle (2011), it is possible to identify three key drivers of crimes: the offender wants to get something or to do something very desirable for him or for her, wants to restore own self-perception and image or wants to punish someone for some actions that the offender qualifies to be wrong.
An example of crime from a news website can be used to explore the motives and reasoning of offenders. On April 19, 2014 two teenagers in Santa Cruz, CA attacked an elderly woman who was 86 years old and tried to steal her purse (South Bay News, 2014). They ran at her, knocked her down and tried to take the purse from her. When they did not succeed to grab the purse quickly, the men ran away. The woman suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital.
In this case, the teenagers were clearly driven by the wish to steal the purse of the victim and it is likely that they wanted to own these money. This motive falls into the first category of motives outlined by Bosworth & Hoyle (2011). Evidently, the offenders believed that they would not be caught and found at the moment when they made a decision to commit the crime. Therefore, the perceived benefits of stealing the purse outweighed the risks of being caught for them.
This example illustrates that offenders tend to rely on short-term desires and short-term perceptions. Indeed, after a reasonable consideration one can see that there was a high probability for the offenders to be caught and the benefits of stealing a purse were quite low (unless the old woman had a large sum of money there). Most likely, the offenders’ estimates of costs and benefits were influenced by their emotions. In general, the analysis of the costs and benefits associated with the crime might be helpful for investigating and preventing crimes, but it is important to remember that offenders might often act illogically and emotionally, so any results of “rational” analysis should be perceived as one of the many possibilities. The analysis of costs and benefits is more appropriate for crimes that require long-term planning and preparation rather than for sudden or unexpected crimes.
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