Decision Making by Criminals Essay -- Rational Choice Criminology Essa

Decision Making by Criminals The issue of whether decision making by criminals is a rational process is a heated topic of discussion when one asserts that crime is the role of choice. Before the classical school of criminology, crime was thought to be the product of the paranormal occurrence of demons, witches, ghouls, and other creatures. The time prior to the classical school of criminology, called the preclassical era, is divided in two parts. Before the time of state intervention into private matters, each individual dealt with violations of their rights. This was a problem because of the continuous cycle of violence being perpetuated. Soon the State (and even the Church) took on the task of dispensing law and order to the masses of the Middle Ages. This led to a period called the Holy Inquisition which lasted from the twelfth century to the eighteenth century. During the Holy Inquisition, punishment that was harsh and capricious was the norm. Also, there was no protection against bogus allegations, meaning , the burden of proof was on the accused to prove his/her innocence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The classical school of criminology was a response to the harsh times of the Holy Inquisition. It was a product of the Enlightenment, seeking to replace the notions of the divine rights of royalty and clergy with rationalism, intellectualism, and humanitarianism. The two chief ambassadors of the classical school of criminology are Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). Beccaria is widely recognized as the father of the classical school of criminology. In his essay Dei deliti e delle pene (On Crimes and Punishment), Beccaria asserted that humans are rational, have free will, and are hedonistic. He also claimed that crime can be prevented by convincing warnings of punishments. To succeed in preventing crime, certainty, severity, and celerity of punishment must be present. Jeremy Bentham embraced the utilitarian philosophy of replacing harsh and capricious punishments with humane punishments and protection against bogus allegations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The classical school of criminology was the foundation of the modern criminal justice system in the Western world. Criminal law and criminal procedure now assume that people are rational actors, thanks to the classical school of criminology. In addition, penalties for crime became more humane and policing turned to ... ...minology: Explaining Crime and Its Context 5th ed. Cincinnati, OH: Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., 2004 Exum, M. Lyn. ?The Application and Robustness of the Rational Choice Perspective in the Study of Intoxicated and Angry Intentions to Aggress.? Criminology. Nov. 2002. Vol. 40 Issue 4, p933. Frank, Robert H. ?Commitment Problems in the Theory of Rational Choice.? Texas Law Review. Jun. 2003. Vol. 81 Issue 7, p1789. McCarthy, Bill. ?New Economics of Sociological Criminology.? Annual Review of Sociology. 2002. Vol. 28 Issue 1, p417. Mendes, Silvia M. ?Certainty, Severity, and Their Relative Deterrent Effects: Questioning the Implications of the Role of Risk in Criminal Deterrence Policy.? Policy Studies Journal. 2004. Vol. 32 Issue 1, p59. Nagin, Daniel S. and Raymond Pasternoster. ?Personal Capital and Social Control: The Deterrence Implications of a Theory of Individual Differences in Criminal Offending.? Criminology. Nov. 1994. Vol. 32, Issue 4, p. 581. Wood, Peter B. and David C. May. ?Racial Differences in Perceptions of the Severity of Sanctions: A comparison of Prison with Alternatives.? Justice Quarterly. Sep. 2003. Vol. 20, Issue 3, p. 605

Marketing Management: Why Some Companies

The growing demand for large businesses’ success in the market is now challenged by stiff competition. This particular competition then drives large organizations to find alternatives of testing the society whether they are going to accept the newly launched products or not. One particular type of such process is market testing. What is market testing? Market testing refers to the way by which the organizations try to find out if their products that is to be launched in the market be accepted and be well patronized or not. Of course, launching a product without actually knowing at least an overview of the results is much risky especially for newly established production companies. For several years, market testing has been treated by business organizations as a large disadvantage for large companies. Â   However, through years of observation, market testing has also been noted to have some certain flaws that reduce its advantage for producing companies. This particular information shall be given deeper discussion within the paragraphs that would follow. The Disadvantages There are at least three major disadvantages of market testing that makes it less-appealing to producing companies of the modern economy: Hints of product characteristics to the competitors in the industry: it could not be denied that among the people who are to be given samples of the product for the sake of testing may come from other companies who are competing with the organization. Once they get hold of the product, it is not impossible that the knowledge that they gain about it shall be used against the organization itself. Thus, the hints of the product’s strengths and weaknesses may be used by other companies to sabotage its formal launching to the market. Excess of production expenses spent for the samples: Most often than not, this is considered to be part of the production budget. As part of marketing, creating samples for the public indeed costs the company certain percentage of expenses. This is supposed to be eliminated to control the production excess. Certainly, this particular aspect of expense could be reduced if market testing is not utilized by the organization. Unsure Results from the Test: Usually, those who respond to the promotional period are not a hundred percent interested in the product. Moreover, they intend to appreciate the product at the time because of its being free. Hence, the statistical reports done after the testing is not anymore that assuring to the company. Conclusion Since there are major disadvantages in the usage of market testing methods, survey analysis are more effective at the present system of industrial and commercial advancement of business organizations. From this particular method, they are not only able to protect the entities of their new products but they are also able to take good care of their reputation and trademark as they keep it secret from their competitors in their own field of business. It is the aim of market analysis procedures to lessen the expenses of the organization from promotional activities and at the same time increase the possibility of their production success in the market. Hence, to do so, several organizations try to do away with the utilization of Market Testing and shift to its alternative of market survey analysis which is gained from ample research. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bert Vermeulen. SIMPLE MARKET TESTING. (2003).

Net Present Value and Papa Geo - 3096 Words

Papa Geo’s – Restaurant Budget Proposal For 2012 - 2017 BUSN-278 [Term] Professor[name] DeVry University ------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Section | Title | Subsection | Title | Page Number | 1.0 | Executive summary | | | | 2.0 | Sales Forecast | | | | | | 2.1 | Sales Forecast | | | | 2.2 | Methods and Assumptions | | 3.0 | Capital Expenditure Budget | | | | 4.0 | Investment Analysis | | | | | | 4.1 | Cash flows | | | | 4.2 | NPV Analysis | | | | 4.3 | Rate of Return Calculations | | | | 4.4 | Payback Period Calculations | | 5.0 | Pro Forma Financial Statements | | | | | | 5.1 | Pro Forma Income Statement | | | | 5.2 |†¦show more content†¦Also, teething problems with marketing, operations etc might not lead to optimum sales. Therefore, we will project only 60% of this figure as first year sales and use the estimated figure as the sales figure for Year 2. Over the planning period, starting from Year 2 onwards, sales are expected to grow at a rate of 3.9% every year, in line with industry estimates of the average growth of the restaurant industry in the US (Source: Mintel Internati onal, cited in section 6.0). * * 2.2 Methods and Assumptions * * According to the brief given on Papa Geo’s restaurant, there are about 10,000 families living within 15 minutes of the restaurant. Of these, between 3% and 5% are rich households (Phoenix marketing international, Wikipedia) and it is assumed that another 15% comprise of high income and upper middle class households. That leaves about 80% of the 10000 families in the area,that are the target market for the restaurant. * * According to a research paper (in restaurant.org), American families eat out about 4 times a week. However, considering that our target market comprises of mostly middle and lower income families, I’ve assumed that they eat out only about 2 times a week on an average. This means that, about 16000 families [(80%*10,000)*2] eat out in a week in that area in Ohio, Florida. * * In terms of