The American Society of Criminology (ASC)

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY
CRIMINOLOGY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Essay Plan
Introduction
 This section will focus on current street crime rate in various parts of Australia.
 Thesis Statement is- Expanding Police Forces is unlikely to reduce street crimes in
Australia.
Discussion
This section will cover 6 sections.
 Provision of public safety, new research led by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics.
 Information on study revealed by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
(BOCSAR) which will provide insights of ways in which additional police can reduce
rates of crime on streets.
 Research with statistical data, assessments of crime reduction endeavours, implication of
reduction of street crime in domain of criminology.
 Rational choice theory and relevant arguments on inefficiency of increased police forces
for reducing street crime. Deterrence theory supports that certainty of approvals uses a
reliable deterrent consequence on crime, while the strictness of penalty applies a minimal
and inconsistent impact.
 Research on street crime through the lens of rational choice theory. Rational choice
theory aligns to the degree these factors have significant values whereby a person shows
likelihood of preventing the costs of criminal acts do not value the benefits.

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 Rational choice theory aligns to the degree these factors have significant values whereby
a person shows likelihood of preventing the costs of criminal acts do not value the
benefits.
 Statements on improbability to reduce street crimes in Australia are more persuasive.
 These statements are aligned with rational choice and deterrence theory.
Conclusion
 Convince the reader by mentioning certain alternatives for controlling street crime in
Australia. Increase in financial investments can serve as a more effective strategy for
reducing criminal acts on roads rather than paying more in the increase of police forces.
 Theoretical statements align with the argument on preventing the costs of criminal acts
do not value the benefits.

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Essay
Crimes are taking place almost on regular basis. In the assessment of Sydney, the rate of
crime has radically decreased over last 15 years. While, the overall rate of crime has seen a
decline, not every category of crime has followed this particular trend. According to Braga
(2015), a shift in focus on certain criminal activities from the police as well as criminal justice
system has contributed to this decline. The crime rate in Sydney has experienced a major decline
over the last few years. While the rate of incarceration has increased to record numbers, decline
in the rate of criminal activities is not because of higher rate of incarceration but mainly
dependent on major shift in dealing with street crimes and increasing police forces on streets.
The thesis statement of the essay is “Expanding Police Forces is unlikely to reduce street crimes
in Australia”.
Provision of public safety is understood as a fundamental accountability of local
governments. Mello (2019) by drawing relevance to established models of the economics of
crime like Becker have postulated that increasing police presence tends to reduce crime by
dissuading and preventing potential criminals. At this juncture, it is vital to note that deploying
police forces on streets can be applied as a fundamental policy instrument which can be
implemented by local governments for crime prevention on the streets of Australia. Authors are
of the opinion that the causal effect of increasing police forces on crime rates is hence seen as a
parameter of major social welfare and interests for policymakers. Meanwhile, new research
conducted by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has revealed that
elevating rate of police forces tend to lessen the rate of criminal activities on the streets of

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Australia, but not essentially through the apprehension of more number of criminals
(BOCSAR.nsw.gov.au 2019).
Furthermore, as per the BOCSAR study, the effect of deploying more police forces on
rates of misconduct as well as detentions by developing an upsurge in the size of the NSW Police
Force in the top tills the 2003 NSW State Election. In recent times, the study observed no
significant change in arrest proportions after the proliferation in police forces. As per the report,
the research revealed that around 1% upsurge in the size of police figure produced around 0.8%
lessening in theft along with approximately 1.1% reduction in car theft (BOCSAR.nsw.gov.au
2019). Such a decline in crimes has indicated that police reduced street crimes like pickpocketing
as well as motor vehicle robbery chiefly through preventing criminals from getting involved in
corruption instead of through incapacitation. Braga (2015) has noted that the criminal landscape
evaluated in 2019 is very different to the rate estimated before 15 years. For example, innovation
in the domain of security expertise has made motor vehicle theft considerably more challenging
regardless of number of police deployed in the streets of NSW (Mello 2019).
Evaluations of crime reduction endeavours have been surely accepted with the
presumption which is feasible to lessen the rate of crime. Nonetheless, these similar initiatives
are further involved in influencing and regulating safety of pedestrians and homeless. Thus,
criminology requires developing an ethical debate regarding the implications of crime reduction,
similar to the way as there has developed an ethics of criminal justice (Yeong 2019). According
to Hirschi (2017), associated with biology, criminology chiefly shed light on human nature like a
progressing social animal. Its explanation thus illustrated crime as the behaviour of a defective
social being. However, an ethics of crime reduction would require focusing on which criminal
activities, which will possibly experience any kind of crime reduction and the implication of

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informed consent for involvement in crime reduction initiatives. According to Hirschi (2017), the
primary thrust of the new crime reduction programmes is not considered as a situational
prevention which will primarily aim in reducing rate of criminality.
Meanwhile, an interesting puzzle for rational choice theory considers the causes and
regulation of criminal behaviour. Criminal acts are seen as critical case for rational choice theory
to deal with. Matsueda (2013), while drawing comparison with market behaviour or corporate
criminal activities wherein institutionalized standards tend to frame decision-making in relation
to rationality, street crimes are usually considered as irrational and suboptimal. Street offenders
are usually described by the media as well as social scientists as imprudent, careless and
uneducated. Moreover, their conducts do not fall under the attainment of strict authorizations.
On the contrary, Holmes (2016) has claimed that Australia recently comprises of around
270 police majors per 100,000 people around 22% from two decades ago. As per report, around
82% of NSW residents are supporting the increase of police forces in order to handle alcohol-
fuelled criminal acts on the streets of Australia. Unfortunately, while taking into consideration
the increase of police forces, it is likely to be less as well as the knowledge of crime prevention
will necessitate a further nuanced as well as complex approach. Previous studies claim that
police assaults steadily view crime charges rise steeply chiefly in Melbourne in 1923, Liverpool
in late 1910s, and Montreal in 1969 as well as Helsinki in 1976 (Eck, Lee and Corsaro 2017).
However, the consequence of increasing police forces to an already significant police force was
considered to be insignificant. Moreover, Holmes (2016) has claimed that with no proper causal
association, it has been supposed that for the possibility of consequence of police numbers on
acquisitive forms of criminal activities, it has been expected that a 10% upsurge in officers
would decrease only 3% of misconduct.

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Additionally, in evaluation, there cannot be found any linkage between police forces and
crime which however does not usually takes into account similar cost-effective evaluation.
Meanwhile, as per Matsueda (2017), as deterrence theory has advocated that certainty of
authorizations utilizes a reliable deterrent consequence on crime, even though the strictness of
punishment applies a minimal and unreliable impact. However, aligning with rational choice
theory returns to illegal and unlawful acts mainly psychic returns like excitement as well as high
position among peers as well as costs of chances are considered as vital predictors of future
criminality (Pogarsky, Roche and Pickett 2017). On the other hand, in a broader explicitly
rational choice context, factors related to linkage to people or institutions, obligation to
conservative system of action along with connection with non-criminal acts might be considered
as interpersonal linkages and ethical considerations. Matsueda (2017) has noted that rational
choice theory aligns to the degree these factors have significant values whereby a person shows
likelihood of preventing the costs of criminal acts do not value the benefits. Nonetheless, in pure
control theory, it is expected that all individuals show competence of crime if the costs are
accurate, where the costs are explained as the product of crime interests along with the
propensity of detection. As a consequence, the pure control theory similar to standard choice
theory may be used to crime anywhere it is found in the social system as much to white-collar
similar to street crime to the extent of drug usage as to theft or burglary (Hirschi 2017).
To conclude, a more economical and effective alternative strategy for reducing rate of
street crimes in Australia rather than only focusing on increasing police forces should be on
communal investments. Additionally, initiatives to improve educational, employment level along
with behavioural and drug addiction as well as mental health problems would explicitly lessen
the causes of illegal behaviour on the streets of Australia. Furthermore, it has been noted that for

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rational choice theory returns to illegal and unlawful acts essentially psychic takings like interest
as well as high position among peers as well as costs of chances are considered as vital
predictors of future criminality. Thus, making monetary investments can serve as a more
effective strategy for reducing criminal acts on roads rather than paying more in the increase of
police forces.

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References
BOCSAR.nsw.gov.au, 2019. Hiring Additional Police Can Reduce Crime. Available from:
https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_media_releases/2019/mr-The-effect-of-police-on-
crime-and-arrests.aspx [Accessed 17 January 2020 ].
Braga, A.A., 2015. Crime and policing revisited. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice
Programs, National Institute of Justice.
ECK, J.E., LEE, Y. and CORSARO, N., 2017. Adding More Police Is Unlikely to Reduce
Crime: A Meta-Analysis of Police Agency Size and Crime Research. Translational Criminology,
p.14.
Hirschi, T., 2017. On the compatibility of rational choice and social control theories of crime.
In The reasoning criminal (pp. 105-118). Routledge.
Holmes, Z., 2016. Why More Police Won’t Reduce Crime. Available from:
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/why-more-police-wont-reduce-crime/ [Accesse
d 17 January 2020 ].
Matsueda, R.L., 2013. Rational choice research in criminology: A multi-level
framework. Handbook of rational choice social research, pp.283-321.
Matsueda, R.L., 2017. Toward an analytical criminology: The micro–macro problem, causal
mechanisms, and public policy. Criminology, 55(3), pp.493-519.
Mello, S., 2019. More COPS, less crime. Journal of Public Economics, 172, pp.174-200.
Pogarsky, G., Roche, S.P. and Pickett, J.T., 2017. Heuristics and biases, rational choice, and
sanction perceptions. Criminology, 55(1), pp.85-111.

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Yeong, S., 2019. The effect of police on crime and arrests: Are police deterring or incapacitating
criminals?. BOCSAR NSW Crime and Justice Bulletins, p.12.