Why People Obey the Law

The question of why people obey the law is a good one, and subject to different interpretations.   There are two perspectives on why people follow the law.   Some individuals may say that they obey the law out of fear of some type of punishment.   This is considered, instrumental the deterrence effect; shape behavior based on personal gains or losses, motivated by self-interest and only refrain from illegality if you feel you may get caught.   According to Gottfredson and Hirschi, characteristics of ordinary crimes include simple and immediate gratification of desires, exciting and risky acts, and few benefits for the offender, but few long-term benefits, little skill or planning, and causing pain and suffering for the victim.   The major benefit of many crimes is relief from momentary irritation.

Others might suggest that conformity to legal guidelines is advantageous to society.   This is considered, normative where people follow the laws because that’s how they feel they “should behave”.   Perhaps personal morality; belief in legitimacy of the law or religious grounds might also constitute a reason for obeying the law.   But people may still break laws, but only those one feels are “victimless”.   An example would be the individuals that are on drugs but they do not steal.   According to Gottfredson and Hirschi’s theory the nature of the individual characteristics to commit crimes can be derived directly from the nature of criminal acts. People who lack self-control commit a wide variety of criminal acts, with no strong inclination to pursue a specific criminal act or a pattern of criminal acts to the exclusion of others. Therefore, offenders tend to be impulsive, insensitive, physical, risk-taking, short-sighted, and nonverbal (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). These characteristics not only lead them to engage in a variety of ordinary crimes but also in analogous behaviors such as smoking and gambling.   Obviously, there does not seem to be one single reason why we... [continues]

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