Description:
Bringing together leading experts from psychology, criminology, sociology and economics, this book asks whether the rational choice approach exceeded its usefulness in crime prevention and considers alternative possibilities for future research.
Review Quotes:
"Hurray! This is the book my students and I have been awaiting: a systematic rational discussion of the problems, advantages, and future directions of offender choice perspectives. Danielle Reynald and Benoit Leclerc have produced an essential book probing the foundations of scientific and practical crime prevention. Only irrational criminologists will ignore it."
- John E. Eck, Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, USA
"The idea that offending involves rational decision-making has been extremely important in criminology and has had significant practical implications for situational crime prevention. This book presents many insightful findings on these topics, including the influence of emotional factors as well as the subjective costs and benefits of offending, and the importance of interactions between types of people and types of situations. It should be of great interest to all criminologists, especially in advancing the understanding of offender decision-making and its implications for crime prevention."
- David P. Farrington, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK"A closer look at Jeremy Bentham's original work shows that he had a very nuanced and diversified view of what pleasures and punishments people consider when they make decisions. Bentham was not fortunate enough to have the data or the accumulated research now available. In the current volume the contributors apply more modern knowledge to evaluate how offenders make choices, the nuances affecting their choices, and how this extra information helps us design lower crime rates."
- Marcus Felson, Professor in the School of Criminal Justice, Texas State University, USA