The rational choice hypothesis is presented as the belief that guilty criminals are interested in illegal behavior with information about the law and the plausibility of their apprehension . They weigh the pros and cons before participating in criminal behavior and if they feel that they can viably participate in illegal behaviors without getting caught, then they will make the decision to commit the crime. Within this theory is the theory of deterrence, which is based on the idea that a person will not commit a crime if they are afraid of the consequences, but this can only be effective if the punishment is swift, certain and sufficiently severe. This theory can be used to explain why there is no significant connection between crime rates and illegal immigrants in the United States. It can be assumed that these undocumented citizens do not engage in crimes for fear of certain expulsion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayBefore the beginning of the classical school of thought, those who studied crime believed that demonic possessions and witchcraft were the reasons for crime and deviant behavior. Punishments inflicted on those accused of demonic possession or witchcraft were followed by trials. They would be asked to publicly prove their innocence by participating in a harmful act and expecting God to intervene if they are indeed innocent. If God did not intervene, they would be considered guilty and punished with death. They believed that they had to resort to these forms of punishment for the good of their society. However, after the introduction of classical criminology, the ideas that crime was fueled by demonic and satanic beings died out and free will and rational thought began to become the primary explanations for crime. The defenders of the classical school of thought in criminology were Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. Beccaria believed that the use of punishment was acceptable in the justice system if it had a deterrent effect; Bentham believed that if punishment was swift, certain, and severe enough, it would deter people from committing crimes. These thoughts constitute rational choice theory. Rational choice theory is described as the belief that wrongdoers participate in wrongdoing by knowing the law and having the opportunity to take disciplinary action. They weigh the pros and cons before engaging in criminal behavior. If they feel that they can actually participate in wrongdoing without getting caught, then they will make the choice to commit the crime. Within rational theory is deterrence theory. Deterrence theory is based on the idea that applying strong discipline or knowing that arrest is very likely will deter crime. For deterrence to be effective, the criminal must be punished quickly after being arrested and he must be certain that this punishment will be carried out. If the punishment is not severe enough, it will not deter criminals, but punishments that are too severe, such as those previously described in the Middle Ages, are unreasonable; there must be a happy medium (Hobbes). The classical theorist moved away from torture as a punishment for crime or as a means of extracting a confession, but believed that the death penalty was acceptable for serious crimes and had a deterrent effect (Hobbes). There are two types of deterrence, called. 233-236.