12/12/2012
Criminal Acts and Choice response
The term choice theories better yet known as rational choice theories were developed by DR William Glasser in 1995. In Doctor Glasser’s theories he explains human desire to satisfy their genetic needs one has in order to survive. These desires cause humans to make conscious choices and act upon them in any way they decide to ensure the needed desires are satisfied. These theories relate to criminal activity because criminals feel that crime is their only way of fulfilling these desires. The need to survive is a primal instinct shared by all humans. When a person breaks a law, their offense becomes criminal and this affects society through costly trials, the need for more corrections, and housing; thus impacting the economy in a negative way.
Not everyone develops negative ways to survive, however everyone makes conscious decisions to ensure their own and family survival. What sets the criminal apart from good people is that they will commit crimes such as theft to finance their survival while law abiders chose to work for it. Out of the basic desires described by Doctor Glasser, I would say that connecting and belonging go hand-in-hand. When one connects, is means for one to associate with someone in a personal, professional, and emotional way. The feeling of belonging with another person or group is what comes after the connection is made. It is a popular belief that criminals commit crime because of the people they connect with.
Crime is an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law or the criminal justice system. Common models for society are when people or groups determine which acts are criminal and are observing the evidence in a crime and listening to a laid out plan of how the incident happened. The two most common models of society determining which acts are criminal are concsensus, and conflict model.
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