Appendix 1: What drivers influence an individual’s decision to offend?

This figure outlines four drivers that influence an individual’s decision to offend. The figure has an outline of a person at the top, followed by four headings in orange text with a plus sign (+) between each heading and a light blue box outlining more detail under each heading.

The first heading is “Perception of offence” with the following text:

How individuals perceive the act they are considering committing:

• Perceived harm to victims and how they view this;
• Other moral beliefs about the act they are considering;
• Perceived benefits to themselves or justifications for the offence;
• How easy it is to commit offence;
• How frequently they are exposed to the opportunity to offend (e.g., driving everyday vs. one-time opportunities to offend).

The second heading is “Perception of punishment” with the following text:

How individuals assess potential consequences for their actions:

• Awareness: How aware they are of the details of their punishment;
• Perceived fairness: What they perceive as fair punishment;
• Likelihood of being caught (certainty); Size of punishment (severity);
• The time it will take to be punished (celerity).

The third heading is: “Environmental factors” with the following text:

How social and environmental factors influence an individual’s decision to offend:

• Perceived risk of social condemnation/judgement (stigma);
• Group identity and social influences (exposure to deviant behaviour).

The last heading is “Individual factors” which has the following text:

How personal characteristics and experiences influence propensity to offend:

• Socio-economic factors, or pressures to offend;
• Previous experiences or history of offending;
• Personality traits such as risk tolerance or impulse control;
• Personal values such as desire to abide by the law;
• Demographic variables like age, gender, and education level.

Under the four light blue boxes is a darker blue box that spans underneath the first two light blue boxes with the following text: + Cost-benefit analysis – Benefit of committing the offence (e.g., money gain, losses averted) vs. perceived certainty of being caught x severity of penalty.

At the very bottom of the figure is the following note: Note: We have developed this list of drivers based on findings from the literature and relevance to the project context – it may not be fully comprehensive.