Lawton 1

Jeffrey Lawton

Mr. Drenner

17 January 2018

Criminology Explained

All actions that humans take in life are followed by consequences. Whether one chooses

to perform actions that lead to positive or negative consequences is a choice that we must make

on a daily basis. You would assume, however, that all humans would chose to partake in actions

that only lead to positive benefits. After all, who enjoys enduring negative consequences? Even

so, people frequently put themselves into situations that could potentially lead them to

unfavorable results. With this being said, one may wonder why people would commit such

crimes knowing that negative consequences can result.

To further analyze the relationship between human decision making and consequential

results, we must first paint a broader picture of what types of situations prompt humans to make

decisions that could result in consequences. This could include scenarios as serious as a heinous

murder or robbery, as in Raskolnikov’s case. On the other hand, this topic can be overlooked

with things as simple as stealing a candy bar from a store or copying answers off of somebody

else's test. Although Raskolnikov’s case seems to be an extreme, we can all relate to his thought

process when he committed the crime. Almost everybody commits minor offenses knowing that

there are potential consequences--take speeding for example--which requires thinking in a

consequential manner just like Raskolnikov did.

Humans continue to commit crimes while they are aware of the possible punishments

because the risks of committing crimes often outweigh the risks of getting caught. The fact that
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humanity commits crimes for obvious reasons such as gaining wealth or affluence is not up for

debate. Looking deeper into corrupt actions, it is difficult to understand why people choose to

disregard potential punishments. The dominant reason is that people feel as if what they gain

from the crime outweighs potential retribution. A survey completed by over 30 high school

students exemplifies how the human mind works to put benefits over costs. Although these

students are obviously not criminals, they have committed actions that require the same line of

thinking as serious crime. Actions include speeding while driving, cheating in school, or

shoplifting minor items. The majority of students acknowledged the laws or rules and said that

they somewhat cared about them. With this taken into consideration, the results determined that

in each case, the reward from the crime was worth the chance of being caught. When speeding,

for example, drivers know that they could be pulled over. However, they continue to speed for

reasons such as being in a hurry to get somewhere or having little patience. Thus, the benefits of

speeding meet their needs and outweigh the risk of a speeding ticket. The same results can be

analyzed when considering academic dishonesty or simply lying in general. Most respondents

said that they cheat in order to save them time, reasoning that there is no need for them to do the

work if someone else can put it in front of them. A large percentage of those that do cheat agreed

that their chances of being caught are slim. Combining these two rationales together is proof that

the benefits of cheating outweigh the possible consequences, thus explaining why students cheat.

People lie in general to protect themselves and because they think that they can get away with it,

which is better than facing the costs of telling the truth (in other words, better than not

committing the crime). Besides risk, the factor of sheer desperation comes into effect. According

to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, “low socioeconomic status individuals are more
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likely to become involved in crime”. Most people that commit crimes are in desperate situations

such as poverty. They absolutely need to commit the crime to survive, feed their families, etc.

This forces them to commit crimes no matter what possible consequences exist. Funk and

Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia stated that “persons who are unable to provide adequately

for themselves and their families through normal legal channels are frequently driven to theft,

burglary, prostitution, or other offenses”. On the emotional spectrum, the survey found that most

criminals recognize the physiological effects that gruesome acts can have on their minds. They

reasoned, however, that most people can successfully lie about their actions in order to protect

themselves. This does not mean that the majority does not feel guilty, it just means that the fruits

of the crimes are worth suffering emotionally by lying. In fact, the majority of respondents did

not even underlook the guilt that they would later feel, the knew exactly what was coming. The

reason they still carried out the murder was because the end result of the crime was worth the

guilt that would eat away at the victims’ brains in the wake of crime. In other words, a stressed

mind is better than starving in the streets with no money. One final factor that can be attributed

to many criminals is laziness. People often reason “why should I do more work when I have

easier solutions available?” Lazy people are willing to take this shortcut, even if it means

breaking the laws. People can go back to school or find a steady job instead of committing

crimes to get by, yet they choose laziness which forces them to turn to things such as robbery.

They feel that being lazy is worth taking their chances of getting caught up in the law. Thus,

laziness can be blamed for many crimes even when the convicts are aware of their possible

consequences (Trueman 5).

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One may say that the reason humans commit crimes knowing that there are consequences

is that they have no respect for the laws and believe that they should not exist. This, however, is

not the case. The majority of people that commit criminal like acts still believe that laws should

exist, even policing the very offenses that they commit. Without such laws, people reason that

the world that currently protects them would not be safe and that they must have trust in

“institutions” (Easton 1). People believe that the laws that they break should still be in place for

protection; they just break them because they feel as if they can do so safely. This proves that the

majority of people do not commit crimes because they have no respect or belief in the laws.

When considering the nature of the human mind and its tendency to commit crimes, it is

evident that the brain outweighs any possible punishments for the profit of the crime. After all,

why would anyone in their right mind want to commit a crime that did not have greater benefits

than being in jail? All people are born into the same world, as clueless as susceptible to change

as any other infant. From that point, everyone's mind is developed and influenced differently,

some of which lead to crime more than others. These factors mainly include poverty, laziness,

and judgement of worth. If one is to stop and think about why the are committing a crime the

next time they do so, they may find them answering themselves: because there is a small that i'll

get caught and the fruits of this crime are greater than the consequences.
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Works Cited

“Criminology.” ​Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia [EBSCO],​ 2014,

web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=7ae86f43-858f-4b74-b8f8-838e8c478844%
40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=CR242500&db=funk.

Weatherburn, Don. “Crime and Justice.” ​What Causes Crime?,​ Bureau of Crime Statistics and
Research, Feb. 2001, ​www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/CJB/cjb54.pdf​.

“Why Do People Commit Crime?” ​History Learning Site​,

www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sociology/crime-and-deviance/why-do-people-commit-crime/​.

Easton, Mark. “Why People Obey the Law.” ​BBC News​, BBC, 3 Nov. 2011,
www.bbc.com/news/uk-15574189​.

Lawton, Jeffrey. ​Criminology Survey​. 12 Jan. 2018,

docs.google.com/forms/d/15EzmZdayIzZrGGD5ReNZOXlRLAW8HzfBFi5B4E3GU4I/edit#res
ponses​.