Rational Choice Perspective Origins

Origins of the Rational Perspective

Roots in Classical Approaches

  • The rational choice perspective has its origins in classical approaches to explaining crime, dating back to the 18th century.
  • These approaches assume that individuals are rational beings who make choices about their behavior and are accountable for those choices.

Key Principles of Classicism

  • Free Will: People possess free will.
  • Hedonism: People are pleasure-seeking (hedonistic), aiming to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
  • Rational Choice: People make rational choices based on their understanding of pleasure and pain.
  • Social Contract: There's a social contract between citizens and the state, where citizens give up some freedoms in exchange for state protection of individual rights.

Key Theorists

  • Cesare Beccaria
  • Jeremy Bentham
  • David Hume
  • These individuals were philosophers and criminal justice advocates who championed these ideas.
  • Jeremy Bentham wrote "The Principles of Morals of Legislation" in 1781.
  • Bentham's central idea was that people seek to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
  • Criminal justice should aim for the pain of punishment to outweigh the pleasure of the crime.
  • Bentham argued that punishment should be proportionate to the crime.

Criticisms of the Classical School

  • Rationality: Critics argue that not all individuals have the same capacity for rationality.
    • What about people with cognitive impairments?
    • What about people who cannot offset long-term rewards for short-term gain?
    • The maturation of rational thought varies and changes over time.
  • Social Inequalities: The classical approach doesn't account for social inequalities, such as poverty or unfair circumstances.
    • It sees human behavior as divorced from the social context.
  • Focus on the State: Some argue it's more a theory of the state than of the criminal.
    • Focuses on why people commit crime and what the state can do, rather than understanding the individual's circumstances.

Impact of Classical Thinking

  • Modern criminal justice systems are founded on classical ideas.
  • Established the prison as a primary means of punishment (preferable to harsher historical punishments).

Neoclassicism

  • Theoretical Successor: Neoclassicism is the theoretical successor to classicism.
  • Restraints on Decision Making: Recognizes environmental and biological restraints on decision-making.
  • Imperfect Rationality: Acknowledges that people have imperfect knowledge when making rational decisions.
  • Scientific Approach: Takes a more scientific approach than its predecessor.
  • Operationalization: Concepts are operationalized and measured more concretely.
  • Restraints on Free Will: Recognizes restraints on free will and rationality.