How might rationality play a role in the types of crimes that are committed? When thinking about different crimes, explain what factors might be considered that may, or may not, support rational choice.

 

Description: 

After watching Dan Ariely's video (https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions), Ariely discusses his opinion that writing academic papers is boring. Because writing academic papers is boring, he decides to write something easier, something that is fun such as writing a cookbook. After realizing that he is unable to write his cookbook, he reluctantly writes a book on research. To his surprise, he really enjoys the project, has fun, and learns a lot along the way. Ariely's theory is that many of our everyday decisions are illusions. We think we are making rational choices, however, there are outside factors, that we may not even recognize, that dictate our actual decisions. Perhaps this same theory of decision illusion can be considered with the types of crimes that are committed.

In example, if you have a drug dealer who is selling marijuana to a recipient, then he is simply selling drugs illegally. However, if the drug dealer unknowingly sells marijuana laced with fentanyl, he is likely to cause the death of another human being. Their decision to sell marijuana is not the same as what they are selling. The drug dealer believes their drug is harmless, and they are trying to make extra money. But let's consider if a person dies because of ingesting this fentanyl laced marijuana. Should the drug dealer be punished more harshly because they should have known the harmful consequence in selling drugs illegally or was their intent less harmful and therefore, their punishment should be minimal?