Deck 12: Rational Choice Theories

Question 1

Which of the following was not a major influence on the rational choice theories?

A) The expected utility principle
B) The hedonistic calculus
C) Urban planning studies
D) Social ecology
E) The frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Which of the following is true of the rational choice theorists?

A) They support increasing rehabilitation and treatment in prisons.
B) They are informed by the work of Karl Marx.
C) They attempt to explain the rise in crime rates after World War I.
D) They assume that people are naturally selfish and seek to maximize their own pleasure.
E) None of the above.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Bounded rationality:

A) suggests that attachments to other people influence how criminals make decisions.
B) refers to a form of decision making that is not affected by outside factors.
C) is a type of limited rationality that attempts to account for external factors that might influence decision making.
D) assumes that offenders make decisions with great care and plan out their crimes carefully.
E) explains an offender's motivation to commit crime.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Rational choice theories cannot explain:

A) changes in crime rates over time.
B) the underlying motivation to commit crime.
C) the dynamics of criminal acts.
D) criminal decision making.
E) offender search patterns.

Question 5

According to Cohen and Felson's routine activities theory, crimes cannot occur without:

A) presence of victims, absence of law enforcement personnel, and criminals.
B) valuable property, space, time, and bad acts.
C) targets of victimization, police, and law breakers.
D) suitable targets, absence of capable guardians, and motivated offenders.
E) public fear, apathetic law enforcement, and career criminals.

Question 6

Which of the following is false with regard to Brantingham and Brantingham's environmental criminology and pattern theory?

A) They shed light on how criminals select their targets.
B) They clarify how criminals learn from their crimes and form mental templates for future crimes.
C) They explain why some neighborhoods attract more crime than others.
D) They were influenced by routine activities and rational choice theory.
E) They make an effort to understand how the dynamics of politics shape national crime patterns.

Question 7

Which of the following concepts is not used to map micro-spatial offending patterns?

A) Nodes
B) Paths
C) Activity space
D) Alleys
E) Awareness space

Question 8

A key practical ramification of the rational choice theories includes:

A) diversion programs.
B) anger management programs.
C) drug courts.
D) restorative justice.
E) target hardening.

Question 9

Rational choice theories adhere to classical school logic and were influenced by economics theories.

Question 10

The expected utility principle is an idea that originated in social learning theory and was used by rational choice theorists to explain why some people offend more than others.

Question 11

Broken windows theory argues that crime results from public disorder and can be managed through community policing and increases to social programs for the poor.

Question 12

According to routine activities theory, changes in technology and the structure of the population can greatly impact crime rates.

Question 13

Clarke and Cornish's rational choice theory focuses more on offender decision making than societal levels of crime.

Question 14

Crime generators are places that emit cues indicating that crime is tolerated in the area and therefore tend to draw criminals.

Question 15

Virtually all research in criminology has supported broken windows theory.

Question 16

Hot-spot policing has been found to have little empirical support.

Question 17

There is little evidence that increases to the severity of punishment lead to lower crime rates.

Question 18

What are the differences between classical, neoclassical, and postclassical perspectives and the assumptions they make about human nature?

Question 19

Why do rational choice theories explain criminal acts and crimes rather than criminality, criminal motivation, or criminal behavior?

Question 20

Explain what the expected utility principle is and how it has been applied in criminological theories

Question 21

Provide some examples of the practical application of rational choice theories in criminology. Why have these theories been so popular?

Question 22

List three critiques leveled against rational-choice theories.