Process Tracing the Criminal Decision-Making Process

• In Event: Understanding Crime Through the Lens of Situational Action Theory: Empirical Findings and Methodological Advancements

Abstract

Advanced theories of criminal action go beyond identifying which person and setting factors influence the decision to engage in crime, by spelling out the cognitive processes that link predictor variables to the behaviours they cause. Whereas researchers have been able to test predictions about the influence of person and setting characteristics on rule breaking and rule abidance, criminology currently lacks an accepted methodological framework to acquire data pertaining to the decision process. This paper argues that process-oriented theories require not only data capturing the inputs (person and setting characteristics and their interactions) and outputs of a decision process (intention/action), but also data that characterises the decision process itself. It further provides a novel methodological framework referred to as the virtual reality process tracing approach (VRPTA). This approach utilises real-time decision making on behalf of study participants who are immersed in experimentally manipulated virtual reality environments and process tracing techniques that will allow researchers to open the black box of decision making. To make the contribution as tangible as possible, this paper discusses the novel methodological approach by reference to a test of Situational Action Theory’s perception choice process. However, with some modification it may be used for a range of other process-oriented theories in criminology and beyond.

Author

• Christoph Herrmann, University of Cambridge