Criminology Theory Application: Rational Choice Theory

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the best theory that describes crime in Ontario and Canada overall. The rational choice theory is the ideology that, criminality is the result of conscious choice and individuals choose to commit crime when the benefits outweigh the costs of disobeying the law. The rational choice theory is the most common theory used to describe criminal incidents such as: property crime, drug use, violent crime, sexual assault and white-collar offences. With the most common types of crime occurring throughout 2016 being crimes such as, robbery, fraud and sexual assault, it is easily stated that these crimes revolve around seeking pleasure, gaining profit/valuables, are often well thought out and committed with previously planning. With this being said, the rational choice theory best describes the crime statistics during 2016, because the rational choice theory notions the fact that the offender thought out the costs and benefits of the crime before committing it. For example, with crimes such as robbery or fraud, the offender usually has to create a plan to successfully see the crime through, meaning they had to look at all the possibilities and options they have, previous to committing the crime.To further analyze crime statistics and look at crime through the rational choice theory, police and law enforcement institutions should pay more attention to: the type of people who have gained a lot of new valuables, or money in a short period of time, without having a high paying job or a source of high income.

A majority of the data presented on the Statistics Canada website, in regards to the various CSI’s, talked mainly about location and types of crime. With the information given, it was difficult to further analyze and make assumptions on what theory best suits the data presented, due to the fact that the website did not give much detail in relation to the majority gender of the offenders and the age. If the CSI included what gender and the age range for various crimes, the data could be analyzed through various theories and not just the rational choice theory. The data that was given, such as: many of the various locations that were listed throughout the document, the specific type and severity of the crime committed, made the process of analyzation easier since a lot of the information pertaining to the crimes were readily available, but having the extra and other crime statistics, overall would have helped better grasp and justification for some of the conclusions made. The only spot that age had been referenced was within violent crimes, discussing how sexual assault to children had increased between 2015 and 2016 by 30%, which also did help to further make relations to the rational choice theory. To have further information of the age and gender of the offenders would have been much more useful within an analyzation for the Statistics Canada: Police-reported crime.

Overall, the rational choice theory is the best theory to use when analyzing and describing crime in Canada. With further information, there could have been a better understanding and analyzation of the crime statistics for Canada, but with the given information, the rational choice theory best suited the most common types of crime that occurred in Canada throughout 2016. According to Crime Statistics Canada, the slight increase of the CSI between 2015 and 2016, was primarily caused due to an increase in fraud, but there was also an increase in the rates of justice offences, sexual violations against children and child pornography. With the most common types of crime occurring throughout 2016, in Canada, being crimes such as, robbery, fraud and sexual assault, it is easily stated that these crimes revolve around seeking pleasure, gaining profit/valuables, are often well thought out and committed with previously planning. With this being said, the rational choice theory best describes the crime statistics during 2016, because the rational choice theory notions the fact that the offender thought out the costs and benefits of the crime before committing

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