2.5 Economic School

Crime as choice under incentive: rational choice (the offence's cost–benefit — offender as planner) and routine activity theory (Cohen & Felson: a crime needs a likely offender, a suitable target and the absence of a capable guardian — "chemistry for crime"). Economics of crime (Becker's market model by name): deterrence as pricing; unemployment, inequality and wages as offence-supply shifters; white-collar and organised crime as profit enterprises. Policy face: situational prevention (guardianship, target-hardening — the design against opportunity), and the economics of imprisonment (the deterrent yield vs cost). Nepal's fit: theft and burglary patterns around festivals and urban night-hours; cargo and border smuggling's risk-reward calculus; the gold and currency smuggling economy as organised, priced enterprise.