Criminology - The Rational Choice Theory

In Jackson Mississippi, terce young white hands were sentenced for murdering a 47-year-old black man. The dupe James Craig Anderson was assaulted and then ran oer by a car. The hands all under 25 were charged with commission of a hate crime with integrity several(prenominal) also cladding two life sentences. The troika custody were charged for committing a hate crime afterwards they openly admitted they were away hunt club black deal to ardor. The prosecuting attorney in the baptismal font utter that the young men had attacked multitude of color on occasion before and in big groups. They would explain and choose who to attack based on, by specifically targeting individuals who they believed were intoxicated or homeless. They believed people of this background would be flimsy to contact the police. As the case was heard before a jury, the prosecutor described the commodious history of discrimination and racialism that the state of Mississippi has faced, referring to it as the inhumanity of racism. \nIn extension to the tierce young men who murdered the victim, seven new(prenominal) individuals who were apart of this gang gestate to be sentenced on charges for confederacy and hate crime charges. The rational- superior theory formed by Cesare Beccaria in the 18th century, states that an individual weighs the risk (negative outcomes) against the benefits (positive outcome) to make a rational choice in whether to commit a crime. I believe the event that took enthrone can be absolutely explained using the rational-choice theory and base it in the defendants actions. In the minds of the three individuals charged with murdering the victim, the benefit of expressing and acting out their hates towards blacks overbalanceed the risk and sight of being punished. To further rationalize this risk, the group sought out individuals that they believed would be less believably to reach out to police, and whom they believed no one would care about, so minimizing the risk factor, and making the benefits outweigh t...