ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an empirical study of shoplifting, using experienced and novice shoplifters who described their thoughts during consideration of actual crime opportunities in retail stores. It argues that our growing knowledge of human reasoning suggests that the rationality of crime perceptions will be limited, in contrast to the economic or normative rationality underlying our existing theories of deterrence. The chapter also argues that the study of crime perceptions demands methods that allow the collection of appropriate observations, specifically, individual judgments of realistic crime opportunities. Economists view crime as a rational act resulting when individuals evaluate the expected utility of both criminal and noncriminal activities and then choose the alternative with the highest net payoff. From a theoretical perspective, the highly influential views of information-processing psychology argue that human rationality is seriously limited by biological constraints. The chapter begins with the issue of rationality in judgments of crime opportunities.
