| How far would you go to make a cool $3.2 million | | | | and, how much to purchase based on what they |
| dollars? A Colorado couple made that calculating | | | | planned to distribute, all lead credence to the |
| decision that will send them to prison for a long | | | | aspects of Rational Choice. Additionally, it can be |
| time. Drug manufacturing in this country is at an all | | | | considered a foregone conclusion that they knew |
| time high. Its affect crosses all social boundaries | | | | their target, the popular clubs around town known |
| causing mental, emotional and financial hardship on | | | | for those who engaged in consuming their |
| family, friends, and society as a whole. It has | | | | product. They knew how to market it and, |
| become such a problem that U.S. Senator Patrick | | | | knowing what the going street price was it can |
| Leahy addressed the issue in May of this year | | | | be safely assumed that they considered the cost |
| stating that "this legislation would reauthorize and | | | | of financial gain to be worth the risk of being |
| expand the ability of the Attorney General to | | | | caught. |
| award grants aimed at increasing the number of | | | | The bottom line in connecting Rational Choice |
| cops on the streets and in our schools" Leahy, P. | | | | Theory to the crime presented in this paper is |
| (May 2007). | | | | that every step of the process involved a, well |
| The hard question is "why do people engage in | | | | planned, calculated, informed and, intelligent |
| such destructive activity?" The answer lies within | | | | decision to engage in the criminal activity of the |
| human nature and its delicate intricacies, be they | | | | production of the illegal drug Ecstasy and to |
| by choice or inherent traits. | | | | deliver it to market. |
| "Officers hit pay dirt when they raided a | | | | The core components of most importance to the |
| suspected Ecstasy lab in a home here [Denver, | | | | Trait Theory is cognition, intelligence and, |
| Colorado]Tuesday. They found enough chemicals | | | | personality. |
| to make 50,000 to 80,000 tabs of Ecstasy with a | | | | Cognition is the individual's level of mental ability to |
| street value of up to $3.2 million," said John | | | | make decisions, process information, and ideas, |
| Cohen, special agent for the U.S. Drug | | | | problem solving and, how they perceive the world |
| Enforcement Administration. Scanlon, B. (2007) | | | | around them and its relation to them. In this |
| Rocky Mountain News | | | | respect, this element of Trait Theory also applies |
| Choice Theory advocates that behavior is central | | | | to the crime in this essay. The offender's ability to |
| to our existence and driven by, five genetically | | | | make a decision based on known information |
| driven needs, similar to those of Maslow: | | | | regarding the drug's popularity and ease of |
| • Survival (food, clothing, shelter, breathing, | | | | manufacturing is a key component to their |
| personal safety and others) | | | | decision. |
| • and four fundamental psychological needs: | | | | Their level of intelligence is such that they are able |
| • Belonging/connecting/love | | | | to process the information of chemical |
| • Power / significance | | | | compounds, and the ease of obtaining those |
| • Freedom / responsibility, and | | | | compounds. In addition, their intelligence suggests |
| • Fun / learning | | | | that they have a high level of reading |
| Behavior ("Total Behavior" in Glasser's terms) is | | | | comprehension. This would be, needed in order to |
| made up of, four of these components: acting, | | | | understand the "recipe" for their manufacturing |
| thinking, feeling and physiology. Glasser suggests | | | | endeavor. |
| that we have considerable control or choice over | | | | As for their personality traits, these could be |
| the first two of these, and little ability to, directly | | | | multiple, though not to be construed as multiple |
| choose the latter two. As these four components | | | | personality disorder. They are inventive, |
| are, closely intertwined, the choices we make in | | | | resourceful and, communicative, (needed to |
| our thinking and acting greatly affect our feeling | | | | persuade a buyer). They are risk takers, and |
| and physiology. | | | | have little or no respect for the law. These traits |
| This theory and its categories definitely fit the | | | | could be inherent genetically or, they could be |
| scenario mentioned in the crime in this essay. The | | | | acquired, through early childhood learning behavior. |
| actions of the offenders dictate that they did | | | | The next question in that parade is, if a person's |
| calculate, plan, and then proceed with the offense | | | | intelligence is increased, and along with it their |
| of manufacturing Ecstasy. This kind of, planning, | | | | cognitive abilities, will their genetic makeup |
| targeting and assumption of financial gain are the | | | | override the new learning and still condemn them |
| results of rational choice of those committing the | | | | to criminal behavior? Studies have shown this not |
| crime. | | | | to be so. |
| The decision of where to purchase the ingredients | | | | |