Criminological Theories

Criminological Theories Name Grand Canyon University: PSY-310 Date Criminological Theories Criminological theories play an important role in helping the criminal justice system understand criminal activities and develop solutions to address them. As models that explain the behavior of criminals and how societies function, criminological theories can help forensic psychologists gain important insights into crimes. In essence, by understanding these theories, a forensic psychologist is well-positioned to assess criminals and participate in crime prevention activities. The rational choice theory, labeling theory, and social learning theory can offer forensic psychologists important insights into how criminal activities occur. Theory 1 - Rational Choice Theory Rational choice theory was developed in 1986 by Derek B. Cornish and Ronald V. Clarke who postulated that offenders consider the costs, opportunities, and benefits of engaging in crime (Hagan & Daigle, 2019). According to this theory, individual traits, social factors, and attitudes toward crime may constrain one’s choice to engage in crime. From this perspective, criminals weigh the rewards of committing a crime and therefore, they know what they are doing (Hagan & Daigle, 2019). But what is the role of the criminal justice system as per this theory? According to Hagan and Daigle (2019), the criminal justice system makes crime less rewarding. In other words, it increases the cost of committing the crime. While the theory is significant in explaining crime, Hagan and Daigle (2019) indicate that many offenders act impulsively and fail to consider costs. Application of Rational Choice Theory The theory is quite useful for a forensic psychologist because it can help them examine the motivations behind a crime and consequently develop effective deterrence measures. As mentioned before, the role of the criminal justice system is to increase the costs of committing crimes. In this sense, having understood the motivations behind particular types of crimes, a forensic psychologist can work with other players in the criminal justice system to increase the costs of committing the crime. A forensic psychologist can propose actions such as surveillance and access control to increase costs of crime. A key role of a forensic psychologist is to provide insights into the motivations of criminal behavior (Wang, 2023). Therefore, rational ch...