ABSTRACT
From Felson, M. (1986). In D.B. Cornish and R.V. Clarke (Eds.), ἀ e Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives On Offending (pp. 119-128). New York: Springer-Verlag.
People make choices, but they cannot choose the choices available to them. Nor can they be sure what chain of events will follow from their choices, including choices made by others. People blunder and fail, just as they often get what they want. This chapter seeks to place rational choice theories of crime into a broader context. This context considers how the larger structure of opportunities sets the stage for criminogenic choices as well as influences whether these choices result in successes or failures for those who make them. This approach takes into account regularities in how choices become available or remote to those with criminal inclinations or to those who might, by choice or happenstance, contribute to the informal social control of criminal behavior. The focus here is upon exploitative crimes in which a victim is clearly distinguished from an offender.
