The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Sexual Crime ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Human Decision

How offenders make decisions that lead to criminal conduct is a core element of virtually every discussion about crime and law enforcement. What type of information can deter a potential offender? For whom is the prospect of a sanction effective? How can emotions facilitate or impede crime? How does the availability of guns affect behavior in violent conflicts? Do offenders learn to commit crime from the experiences of others? Is crime perpetrated by juveniles always the result of impulsive decisions? How do offenders choose crime targets and locations? The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making covers and integrates contemporary theoretical, methodological, and empirical knowledge about the role of human decision making as it relates to criminal behavior. It provides state-of-the art reviews of the main paradigms in offender decision making, such as rational choice theory and deterrence, but also includes recent approaches such as dual-process models of decision making. It contains up-to-date reviews of empirical research on a wide range of decision types, from criminal initiation and desistance to choice of location, time, target, victim, and modus operandi. It also contains reviews of decision making regarding specific types of crime, including homicide, sexual crime, burglary, and white-collar and organized crime. In addition, it includes comprehensive in-depth treatments of the principal research methods used to study offender decision making, such as experimental designs, observation studies, surveys, offender interviews, and simulations.

Complexity, Bounded Rationality and Heuristic Search

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Bentley MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Heuristic Search ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Heuristic Function ◽  
Heuristic Search Algorithms ◽  
Human Decision

Abstract This paper explores the use of heuristic search algorithms for modeling human decision making. It is shown that this algorithm is consistent with many observed behavioral regularities, and may help explain deviations from rational choice. The main insight is that the heuristic function can be viewed as formal implementation of one aspect of emotion as discussed in Descarte's Error by Antonio Damasio. Consistent with Damasio's observations, it is shown that the quality of decision making is very sensitive to the nature of the heuristic ("emotion"), and hence this may help us better understand the role of emotion in rational choice theory.

Models of Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Pleskac ◽  
Adele Diederich ◽  
Thomas S. Wallsten
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Risk And Uncertainty ◽  
Decision Making Under Risk ◽  
Decision Field Theory ◽  
Actual Choice ◽  
Human Decision

Formal models have a long and important history in the study of human decision-making. They have served as normative standards against which to compare real choices, as well as precise descriptions of actual choice behavior. This chapter begins with an overview of the historical development of decision theory and rational choice theory and then reviews how models have been used in their normative and descriptive capacities. Models covered include prospect theory, rank- and sign-dependent utility theories and their descendants, as well as cognitive models of human decision-making like Decision Field Theory and the Leaky Competing Accumulator Model, which are based on basic psychological principles rather than assumptions of rationality.

Cognitive Biases in Decision Making in Post-Bureaucratic Organizations

2017 ◽  
pp. 358-382
Author(s):  
Marie-Therese Claes ◽  
Thibault Jacquemin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Bureaucratic Organization ◽  
System 2 ◽  
System 1

In today's post-bureaucratic organization, where decision-making is decentralized, most managers are confronted with highly complex situations where time-constraint and availability of information makes the decision-making process essential. Studies show that a great amount of decisions are not taken after a rational decision-making process but rather rely on instinct, emotion or quickly processed information. After briefly describing the journey of thoughts from Rational Choice Theory to the emergence of Behavioral Economics, this chapter will elaborate on the mechanisms that are at play in decision-making in an attempt to understand the root causes of cognitive biases, using the theory of Kahneman's (2011) System 1 and System 2. It will discuss the linkage between the complexity of decision-making and post-bureaucratic organization.

Crime Witnesses' Non-Cooperation in Police Investigations

2019 ◽  
pp. 150-157
Author(s):  
Usman Adekunle Ojedokun
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Police Investigations ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Crime Investigation

The importance of crime witnesses in policing and crime control cannot be overemphasized. In Nigeria, a constant impediment in the effective operation of the criminal justice system machineries is the non-cooperation of crime witnesses with personnel of the Nigeria Police Force. Against this background, this paper examines the causes and consequences of crime witnesses' non-cooperation in police investigations in Nigeria. Rational choice theory was employed for its theoretical anchorage. A wide range of socio-cultural factors were identified as sustaining the traditional communication gap between the Police and crime witnesses that possess vital information which can aid their crime investigation. The Nigeria Police Force is urged to develop a holistic road-map through which the level of public confidence in its operation can be boosted.

The Power of Sequence

2021 ◽  
pp. 309-326
Author(s):  
Christopher Brett Jaeger ◽  
Jennifer S. Trueblood
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Criminal Case ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Intellectual Origins ◽  
Rational Decisions

Researchers have documented numerous cognitive biases that are difficult to reconcile with rational choice theory. But is there a more general set of decision-making rules that might account for these cognitive biases and ‘rational’ decisions alike? Psychologists in search of such rules have developed a theory of quantum decision making. This chapter introduces quantum decision making to a legal audience, explains its intellectual origins, and identifies some contexts in which it provides useful tools for legal theorists. Using the example of a juror evaluating a criminal case, the chapter illustrates how quantum decision making explains and predicts phenomena that are difficult to reconcile with other theories of choice. More generally, quantum decision making highlights the importance of sequence in shaping judgments and decisions—and thus, its importance in law’s choice architecture.

Behavioral Studies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Zamir ◽  
Doron Teichman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Law And Economics ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Behavioral Ethics ◽  
Behavioral Studies

Against the background of rational choice theory, this chapter provides an overview of the behavioral sub-disciplines informing behavioral law and economics—including judgment and decision-making studies, parts of social psychology, moral psychology, experimental game theory, and behavioral ethics. The chapter discusses deviations from cognitive and motivational rationality, including studies of people’s moral judgments. It begins with probability assessments and related issues. It critically describes phenomena related to prospect theory, phenomena associated with motivated reasoning and egocentrism, and those related to reference-dependence. It also summarizes studies of bounded willpower. Some attention is given to studies that show that most people do not share the consequentialist outlook that prioritizes the maximization of human welfare over all other values. Finally, the chapter discusses several issues that cut across various phenomena: individual differences in judgment and decision-making; the significance of professional training, experience, and expertise; deciding for others; group decision-making; cultural differences; and debiasing.

Reconciling Emotion and Rational Choice: Negativistic Auto Theft, Consequence Irrelevance, and the Seduction of Destruction

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 783-815
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Jacobs ◽  
Michael Cherbonneau
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Auto Theft ◽  
Choice Decision ◽  
Decision Making Models ◽  
Depth Interviews

Objectives: We explore negativism in the context of auto theft and examine its broader phenomenological significance for Rational Choice Theory. Methods: Data were drawn from qualitative, in-depth interviews with 35 active auto thieves operating out of a large Midwestern U.S. city. Results: Negativistic offending is malicious, spiteful, and/or destructive conduct whose purpose is typically more hedonic (i.e., short-term gratification) than instrumental (i.e., resource-generating) or normative (i.e., moralistic). It is made possible by the notion of ownership without responsibility: Offenders controlled a vehicle that was not theirs, promoting consequence irrelevance which in turn unleashed reckless conduct. Conclusions: Consequence irrelevance clarifies negativism’s logic and permits linkage between affect-based and rational choice decision-making models.

Development of Judgment, Decision Making, and Rationality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Toplak ◽  
Jala Rizeq
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Systematic Errors ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Heuristics And Biases ◽  
Research Traditions ◽  
Dual Process Models ◽  
Gradual Onset

There is a long tradition of studying children’s reasoning and thinking in cognitive development and education. The initial studies in the cognitive development of reasoning were motivated by Piagetian models, and developmental age was thought to bring the gradual onset of logical thinking. The introduction of heuristics and biases tasks in adults and dual process models have provided new perspectives for understanding the development of reasoning, judgment, and decision-making skills. These heuristics and biases tasks provided a way to operationalize the systematic errors that people make in their judgments. Dual process models have advanced our understanding of the basic processes implicated in both optimal and non-optimal responders on several types of paradigms, including heuristics and biases tasks and classic reasoning paradigms. Importantly, these skills and competencies are generally separable from the types of higher cognition assessed on measures of intelligence and executive function task performance. Given the history of the study of reasoning in cognitive development, there is a need to integrate our understanding across these somewhat separate literatures. This is especially true given the opposite predictions that seem to be suggested in these different research traditions. Specifically, there is a focus on increasing logical development in the classic cognitive developmental literature and alternatively, there has been a focus on systematic errors in judgment and decision-making in the study of reasoning in adults. This article provides an integration of the two aforementioned perspectives that are rooted in different empirical and historical traditions. These considerations are addressed by drawing upon their research traditions and by summarizing more recent developmental work that has investigated these paradigms.

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