Writing assignmentDuring the 1980s, Colombia was awash in corruption and cronyism, mostly driven by drug trafficking mafias who with money from drug trafficking were involved in the systems political and social issues of the country. As a result, Colombians found themselves immersed in a period of violence and insecurity; Many public leaders who opposed drug cartels and suggested an extradition treaty with the United States were threatened, blackmailed, and even murdered. In the summer of 1989, the Liberal Party, wanting to put a definitive end to this situation, announced Luis Carlos Galan as its candidate for the 1990 elections. Galan, “has been explicit in his criticism of the drug trafficking gangs in Colombia, and has posed as main priorities for his presidency are the initiation of an extradition treaty with the United States and the total repression of organized crime” (Corbett). Galan organized demonstrations across the country, always highlighting his administration's priorities, and quickly became not only the leading contender in the polls, but the face of hope for millions of Colombians. On the evening of August 18, 1989, in the city of Soacha, seconds before his speech, Galan “was machine-gunned by an assassin in the crowd as he took the stage in a crime witnessed by approximately 10,000 people” ( Corbett) .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In a matter of seconds, the aspirations and expectations of millions of people in Colombia collapsed. Trying to imagine a bright future for the country wasn't easy, and now that the person who had inspired millions of them and convinced them that the war on drugs would soon be over was no longer there, it was mission impossible. Deciphering an answer to why someone would commit such a crime and lead an entire nation into one of its bloodiest and most violent times has been a very difficult task, but perhaps a couple of criminological theories could aid this process. Rational choice theory and the subculture of violence are two of many individual-level theories of crime, which could help the world understand the reasons behind Galan's murder. During the Enlightenment, as a reaction to the old supernatural theories and harsh punishments used by the criminal justice system of the 1700s, Cesare Beccaria and other classical theorists provided the first scientific explanation of crime, known as classical theory. This theory states that “people act rationally, choosing those actions that cause the greatest pleasure and the least pain [and that] people will be deterred from crime if the pain associated with the punishment exceeds the pleasure associated with the crime” (Cornish and Clarke 20 ). Since the classical theory accepts the idea that all people are equally motivated to commit crimes and all are equally rational, Ronald V. Clarke and Derek B. Cornish elaborate an updated version of this theory recognized as rational choice theory.Choice theory rational recognizes that offenders benefit from criminal activity through their own choices and decisions, but specifies that this decision-making is influenced by "a measure of rationality, albeit constrained by time constraints and the availability of relevant information" (Cornish and Clarke 410) . In other words, the theory recognizes that not everyone is equally rational and that people measure the costs and benefits of involvement in criminal acts differently. Rational choice theory also adopts a specific focus on crime, meaning that Cornish and Clarke are aware that situations andDifferent choices lead to different crimes and they argue that “ignoring these differences could mean reducing one's ability to identify fruitful points for intervention” (Cornish and Clarke 422). Finally, “rational choice theorists argue that a complete explanation of crime must distinguish between “criminal involvement” and “criminal events” where the former is deciding whether or not to commit a crime and the latter refers to when the crime occurs. (Cornish and Clarke 411). On the other hand, subculture theories suggest that there is something different about the cultures of some communities that could help explain why people engage in criminal activity. American criminal theorists of the first half of the 20th century helped “develop the concept of criminal subculture and link it to social problems such as poverty and inequality” (Services and Rashmee). These early subcultural theories were influenced primarily by the economic prosperity of the middle class experienced in the post-war era, thus questioning oppositional or negativistic views, as well as values ​​that embraced crime. It was not until the late 1960s that Marvin E. Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti developed a thesis on the subculture of violence in which they discussed the idea that populations of lower socioeconomic classes had higher rates of violence. In this thesis, Wolfgang and Ferracuti stated that these higher levels of violence rates could be due to pro-violent values ​​that emerge within a group of people with a mindset likely to be contrary to the larger dominant culture to which they belong. , along with its values ​​and norms. According to the report, these subcultures use violence as a response to threats to their reputation and honor. It is used as a social control mechanism for protection and survival where all members of the subculture are expected to engage in violence. As might be expected, offenders within a violent subculture participate in violence very frequently, with few problems and almost no guilt (Wolfgang and Ferracuti). Wolfgang and Ferracuti conclude that this specific tension in violence “is a collective phenomenon, a normal experience for poor, non-white men” (Services and Rashmee) who are part of this particular divide. Furthermore, Elijah Anderson supports the statements of Wolfgang and Ferracuti. In his work Code of the Street, Anderson explains how the provenance of subcultures is directly related to their content and suggests a set of informal rules known as the “code of the streets”. The code encourages people to engage in violence and crime to maintain their honor and defend their reputation (Anderson). As is evident, both of these theories, rational choice and the subculture of violence, provide explanations for crime at the individual level and take into account the importance of the situations in which people find themselves and how these influence the decisions they make. they take. According to rational choice theory, there are constraints that force individuals to act accordingly and a number of factors that also influence their evaluations of the costs and benefits of crime such as their “level of self-control, moral beliefs, tensions, emotional state and association with delinquent peers” (Cornish and Clarke). Being part of a violent subculture will definitely impact the choices an individual makes. Belonging to one involves adopting specific values ​​and sharing moral beliefs, which are examples of these characteristics influencing a person's estimate of the costs and benefits of engaging in a".