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Confounding Factors and Decision Enhancers

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Exploring the Criminal Decision Process

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society ((PSRCS))

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Abstract

This chapter begins to relate the findings from the stories and experiences of participants back to the Rational Choice Perspective. It begins to examine how useful this approach is to understand the thinking of someone committing a crime. It certainly appears that the costs that are weighed up are not equivalent to the costs most people would assume, and that even where formal sanctions are considered, they are not as impactful on the criminal decision as one may think. This chapter also revisits ideas around planning and expertise to consider these ideas in light of the research findings, and looks at how the evidence suggests we consider the effects of drugs and alcohol on thinking. The chapter begins to explore the range of motivations (and rationality) behind even very similar offences, and the drawbacks of making assumptions about what motivates offending.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Justice Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Rachael Steele

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  1. Rachael Steele
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Correspondence to Rachael Steele .

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Steele, R. (2023). Confounding Factors and Decision Enhancers. In: Exploring the Criminal Decision Process. Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46231-3_11

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