A configurative synthesis of evidence for fear in the criminal decision-making process
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A configurative synthesis of evidence for fear in the criminal decision‑making process Paul Gill1 · Lisa Tompson1 · Zoe Marchment1 · Florian Hetzel1 · Sanaz Zolghadriha1 · Aiden Sidebottom1
© Springer Nature Limited 2019
Abstract This paper reviews what previous research has found on the role of fear and other associated feelings in the criminal decision-making process, and the techniques that might plausibly amplify such emotions so as to reduce or disrupt intent. To this aim, we conduct a systematic review of the offender decision-making literature (23 studies), incorporating a qualitative synthesis of the role of fear in the criminal decisionmaking process. The results section is formed of six parts based on dominant themes identified in our eligible studies, namely evidence of fear in offender decision-making, the presumed sources of fear, variation in levels and/or the effect of fear across offenders, the specific role of fear across aspects of the crime process (before, during, after), the results of fear and offender fear management processes. We conclude with a discussion of the implication for crime prevention policies. Keywords Offender decision-making · Fear · Systematic review · Configurative synthesis · Fear management
Introduction There is now a considerable body of theoretical and empirical research concerned with offender decision-making (see Bernasco et al. 2017). Research has focused on a variety of offender decisions—whether to commit crime or not, where, when, how—as well as documenting those factors reliably found to affect criminal choices. The rational choice perspective has emerged as the dominant model of offender decision-making (Cornish and Clarke 2008). It holds that crime is a choice, and that individuals are more likely to commit crime if the anticipated rewards exceed the perceived risks and effort.
* Paul Gill [email protected] 1
Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London, London, UK Vol.:(0123456789)
P. Gill et al.
The first incarnation of the rational choice perspective deemphasised the role (and source) of offender motivation. It assumed a state of readiness on the part of the offender and focused instead on situational contingencies that might make a motivated offender more or less likely to engage in crime. Later elaborations paid greater attention to the relationship between motivation and the immediate environment, most notably the work of Wortley (2008) on situational precipitators—emotional (situational) triggers that serve to initiate or intensify motivation to commit crime that otherwise would not have been considered absent such situational factors. More recent research, informed by developments across the behavioural sciences, has investigated the role of emotion in offender decision-making, asking how emotion affects interpretations of risk, effort and reward, and what this means for the practical task of formulating measures designed to influence the choices of prospective offenders (for e.g. see van Gelder et al. 2013). The pu
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