A growing number of researchers in rural criminology adopt a rational choice perspective to tackle problems relevant to people in rural areas. Rational choice provides a theoretical framework for other situational theoretical references used in rural criminology such as routine activity, situational crime prevention and other related approaches (such as crime pattern theory and crime prevention through environmental design). Rational choice assumes that crime is a result of individual decision-making processes.

As pointed out by Cornish and Clarke, a person’s decision to commit a criminal act depends on the expected benefits that are weighed against the risk of being detected. The rational choice perspective assumes that individuals try to choose the best means available to achieve these goals even if they are risky. Such a decision is, according to Cornish and Clarke, a deliberate act, committed with the intention of benefiting the offender. This theoretical approach also suggests that criminal behaviour unfolds in a sequence of stages and decisions and that criminal decision-making is crime-specific because rewards and risks differ from case to case. Therefore, the factors that offenders consider before committing a crime differ with the nature of the offence, leading to the conclusion that crime prevention should also be crime-specific.

According to the rational choice perspective, criminal choices are expected to fall into two broad groups: ‘involvement decisions’ and ‘event decisions’. Whereas involvement decisions concern an offender’s criminal career as well as initiation, habituation and desistance, event decisions are crime-centered and concentrate on crime commission and concern choices and decisions made when preparing for, carrying out and concluding the commission of a specific type of crime.

Rational choice has been criticized because offenders may not always act rationally; they act within a bounded rationality. Critics postulate that rational choice fails to contextualize offending and its meanings within the background of individuals’ lives and lifestyles. Cornish and Clarke note that the perspective has focused too much on opportunity structures, disregarding the interaction between types of individuals and types of environments for crime commission or that rational choice works better to explain the commission of instrumental crimes, such as theft or drinking and driving, rather than expressive crimes, such as assault or manslaughter.