NCJ Number
79814
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1981) Pages: 275-286
Date Published
1981
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Delinquency is viewed as a purposeful behavior that is the result of a rational decision in which the pros and cons are weighed and the act that promises the greatest potential gain is performed.
Abstract
As a first step in evaluating this view, an experiment was run using 45 male juvenile offenders as subjects and the Subjective Expected Utility (SEU) model from decision theory as the model of the decision process. Results showed that the SEU model correctly predicted 62.7% of the subjects' decisions, and that the proportion of decisions favoring committing an offense increased as a function of the degree to which the SEU favored such a decision. (Publisher abstract)