Pros And Cons Of Economics Of Crime

Focusing on economics of a crime and discuss about the pros and cons of a decision to commit an offense, Wilson uses the classical model of human choice to assume that criminals have enough intelligence to calculate the cost and benefits of committing a criminal act. His example of a male robbing an old lady, has a situational factor preceding the male considering committing the offense. Before the potential offender weighs any pros and cons of potential offense, he has gone through a process of thinking and there are factors that impact on this person’s decision making process. Instead of robbing the subject, there may be unofficial social controls, i.e. he was raised to respect elderly, in place that impact the person’s behavior. He might …show more content…
They took in practice a mandatory minimum sentencing. The policy change found “no evidence that the law had reduced the availability of heroin on the streets of New York City or reduced the kinds of property crime often committed by drug users.” The findings were that probability of imprisonment for an arrested dope dealer did not change and the ones sentenced received more prison time to serve. Pre law 3% of offenders received three (3) or more years and during the law the number was 22% of offenders. Wilson himself suggests the theory was not properly tested in this context. Should “deterrence” change people’s criminal behavior, it did not have that impact in this case. Pertaining to Wilson’s case about Rockefeller law, it is obvious the method was not scientifically reliable, there was no consideration for other factors to impact the drug market such as the economics of demand and supply. The argumentation of deterrence is highly irrelevant when there is no further information of the offenders, their background and personality. One may have been gambling to make one sale to feed a family and one may have suffered from severe mental disease i.e. depression, to even comprehend potential consequences of his/her …show more content…
This gives a false impression to people uneducated in this topic and drives them to believe there is violent crime all over the country. What media does not focus on is the true reasons of the crime. A potential offender had to go through a process involving up-bringing, informal social norms, self-growth, development of mind and the ability to relate to other people, environment and situations, and so much more, before a crime ever happens. There can be a multitude of social, socio-economic, mental health, environmental and other issues that steer a person into path of crime. The issues is not if we are tough enough on crime, because that we can handle. The issue before crime is different and a response to all above mentioned issues, therefore Wilson’s focus on deterrence is a prime example of being a Monday-morning-quarterback, when to causes to crime are elsewhere. We address those issues with social programs and education, we end up deterring crime