A constitutional moment: How we might reimagine platform governance

We are at a constitutional moment for the future of the internet. Nation states around the world are launching major new initiatives to regulate the internet, both directly against users and by regulating the companies that provide access to telecommunications infrastructure and content services. The giant technology companies that control the bulk of the commercial internet are themselves under unprecedented scrutiny for the policies they set, the decisions they make, and the choices that go into designing their architecture. In my new book, Lawless, I argue that in this moment of change there is a major opportunity for us all to rethink how the internet should be governed, how power is held to account, and whose values prevail.¹     

The Role of Self-Control in College Student’s Perceived Risk and Fear of Online Victimization

College student use of the internet for online social networking purposes is increasing in popularity. Facebook is a social networking website used by college students, with estimates of over 7.5 million users spanning over 2,000 colleges and universities. Unfortunately, Facebook users can encounter some detrimental consequences, including fear of victimization. The purpose of the present study is to examine the correlates and structure of potential fear from using Facebook. Using self-report data from 224 college students at a southeastern university during the spring 2007 semester, we examine the link that low self-control has with perceived risk and with fear of online victimization among Facebook users. The results of the present study are discussed in the context of policy implications.     

Structural Density and Criminal Victimization

This study examines the relationship between neighborhood structural density and rates of robbery and assault victimization. A theoretical framework linking defensible-space theory with an opportunity model of predatory criminal victimization suggests that structural density has a positive relationship with victimization, independent of victim characteristics. This perspective is compared to recent empirical and theoretical works that argue that denisty has either no relationship or an inverse relationship to crime. Hypotheses are tested with National Crime Survey victimization data for the years 1973 to 1978. The results support the major hypothesis and s h that structural density is positively related to rates of robbery and assault victimization, controlling for age, race, and sex of victim, and for extent of urbanization. Surprisingly, the positive relationship between structural density and victimization is stronger in rural areas than in urban areas.     

Politics, culture, and political crime: Covariates of abortion clinic attacks in the United States

This study examined crime and violence against abortion clinics, testing elements of several theories that may help explain the variation of such attacks. The study theoretically and methodologically improved upon the prior research on abortion-related crime and violence. Theoretically, it investigated previously unexamined hypotheses from the social movement literature that may be relevant to this type of behavior. Methodologically, it used more careful measures for several variables, employed unique and heretofore ignored data bases, and examined hundreds of criminal acts across several types of crime (e.g., violence, vandalism, and harassment) directed at abortion clinics. Employing robust logistic regression and correcting for clustering of clinics by state, the study investigated the cross-sectional effects of state-level cultural and structural characteristics on anti-abortion crimes against clinics and staff. Results indicated that some crimes against clinics are more likely in areas where female empowerment is weaker, female victimization is more tolerated, and the anti-abortion movement has failed to reduce abortions.     

LIFESTYLE,RATIONAL CHOICE,AND ADOLESCENT FEAR: A TEST OF A RISK‐ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK*

Criminological research on fear of crime primarily has been based on, and supportive of, an opportunity framework. The current research tests an expanded risk‐assessment model of fear, which is rooted in an opportunity framework, by incorporating a measure of delinquent lifestyle, which is a known risk factor for victimization, using a sample of youth aged 10–16 years. The findings from longitudinal structural equation models do not support the applicability of a risk‐assessment model of fear in adolescence. Namely, although increased involvement in a delinquent lifestyle is associated strongly with an increase in victimization over time, no such association exists with the perceived risk of victimization. Most importantly, as adolescents become more involved in a delinquent lifestyle and are victimized at a higher rate than nondelinquent youth, their fear of victimization actually decreases at a significantly higher rate than more prosocial youth.     

Opportunities for property victimization: Fixed and random effects models in a cross-national scope

Cross-national research on victimization often does not consider the cultural effects on opportunities leading to victimization. The current study uses a routine activities/lifestyles theoretical framework to examine the opportunities leading to two types of property victimization across forty-five countries. I employ fixed effect and random effect models in efforts to find the best explanation of theft and burglary victimization. The results indicate going out in the evening for leisure activities is an important source of opportunity for both types of property victimization. While a fixed effect model offers the most appropriate explanation for burglary victimization, theft is best explained by a random effects model. For theft victimization, variation in whether or not respondents work or go to school is explained, in part, by the level of development of the country. The findings provide evidence that there are different explanations of opportunity for burglary and theft victimization in a cross-national scope.     

Making Sense out of Nonsense: The Deconstruction of State-Level Sex Offender Residence Restrictions

Releasing a sex offender from prison or placing the offender on community-based sanctions, only to have the offender commit a new sex crime, is a policy-maker’s worst nightmare. Fueled by misperceptions and public fear, sex offender laws have developed piecemeal and without rigorous empirical insight and testing. While policies and practices are well-intended, they are unlikely to resolve the very real social problem of sexual violence and may inadvertently increase victimization. Such is the possibility with residence restrictions. This type of law is among the newest in an ever-growing barrage of legislation designed specifically for sexual criminals yet what little research that exists suggests there is no correlation between residence and sexual recidivism. This article identifies 30 states with state-level residence restrictions and conducts a content analysis of each state’s legislation. Geographical and other assessments are also conducted.     

The Time Course of Repeat Intimate Partner Violence

This study examines the time course of repeat victimization by assessing whether the opportunity for victim/offender contact influences the time lapse between successive incidents of intimate partner violence. Several measures of opportunity for victim/offender contact are used, including cohabitation, co-parenting, restraining order status, and victim unemployment. The study finds that some victims (i.e., those who live with the offender) are at risk of repeat victimization in a shorter period of time than other victims. However, the study yields conflicting findings about the relationship between other opportunity variables (i.e., co-parenting and victim unemployment) and the time lapse between successive incidents of intimate partner violence. Policy implications are discussed and suggestions are offered for future research on repeat intimate partner violence.     

Opportunity and Self-Control: Do they Predict Multiple Forms of Online Victimization?

This study investigates the predictors of four types of cybercrime victimization/experiences: online harassment, hacking, identity theft, and receiving nude photos or explicit content. The effects of victimization opportunity and low self-control are examined as the primary independent variables in logistic regression analyses of data collected from a large sample of undergraduates enrolled at two universities in the United States. Results suggest that opportunity is positively related to each of the four types of online victimization, and that low self-control is associated with person-based, but not computer-based, forms of cybercrime. These findings speak to the utility, and also the limitations, of these perspectives in understanding cybercrime victimization risk among college students, and to the potentially criminogenic nature of the Internet.

     

A two southern state comparison of the relationship between UCR crime rates and the anticipation of victimization

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between UCR crime rates and a surveyed population’s anticipation of victimization within the next year. Separate surveys were conducted within the states of Tennessee and Texas. In both surveys, self-reported questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 2,000 individuals drawn from the population of persons holding valid driver’s licenses within that state. A comparison was made between six Part I (rape, robbery, assualt, burglary, theft, and vehicle theft) UCR crime rates of the two states and the expectation of imminent victimization, as shown by the statewide surveys. Several past studies have suggested that there is little relationship between the official incidence of crime and the perceived likelihood of victimization. However, this study presents evidence in support of a positive relationship between UCR crime rates and the anticipation of victimization. In addition, it was found that the greater the anticipation of victimization level the more likely the respondents were to utilize defensive security devices (target hardening).     

Adolescent school-based sexual victimization: Exploring the role of opportunity in a gender-specific multilevel analysis

Purpose

Most research on school-based adolescent sexual victimization has lacked an explicit theoretical focus. This study examined whether an opportunity framework is appropriate for understanding adolescent school-based sexual harassment and sexual assault victimization using gender-specific multilevel analysis.

Methods

Using a sample of middle and high school adolescents, we examined the effects of individual-level indicators of opportunity on school-based sexual harassment and sexual assault victimization. In addition, we explored the relative influence of school factors on student sexual victimization, including the potential moderating influence the school environment may have on the effects of individual-level indicators of opportunity. Finally, we examined the potential differences in the correlates of sexual victimization across male and female adolescents.

Results

Several individual-level indicators of opportunity were associated with school-based sexual harassment and sexual assault for both males and females, though several important gender differences were observed. In addition, school factors directly and indirectly influenced sexual victimization.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that an opportunity framework is appropriate for understanding school-based sexual harassment and sexual assault victimization, and that important gender differences do exist. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Policy-makers’ perceptions on their sex offender laws: the good,the bad,and the ugly

The views and attitudes that lawmakers have about sexual offenders and sexual victimization can be influential in criminal lawmaking. And given the popularity of sex offender laws, policy-makers are central players in how state justice systems respond to sex crimes. Therefore, state-level policy-makers from across the country, who sponsored and passed at least one sex offender law in their state, (n?=?61) were interviewed about sex offenders and sex crimes. Policy-makers believe sex offender laws are too broad. The laws extend to nonviolent offenses, low-risk offenders, and thus dilute the law enforcement potency of sex offender registries. Policy-makers view existing sex offender laws as necessary to enhance public safety and as proof that lawmakers are responding to the needs and concerns of the public. Sex offender laws were also discussed as a source of political capital; a way to help ensure reelection. The sexual victimization of children and the media’s coverage of sex crimes were instrumental in these state-level policy-makers’ decisions to sponsor sex offender laws. Policy and research recommendations are offered.     

The relationship between socio-economic characteristics, victimization and CPTED principles: evidence from the MIMIC model

This study seeks to explore how different house type, socio-economic variables in the neighborhood (length of residence and household income) and residents’ victimization experience influence Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and its respective principles: natural surveillance, access control, territoriality and maintenance. The study focuses on a sample of 164 inhabitants from a typical neighborhood in the city of Penang, Malaysia. An observation checklist was used to measure all the four principles of CPTED. A Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause (MIMIC) analysis using AMOS 16.0 was employed to analyze the data at the level of individual property. Each latent factor and the relationships among them were modeled in a priori MIMIC hypothesized model. Prior to the MIMIC analysis, the study employed first and second-order confirmatory factor analysis on CPTED to determine the best indicators for the CPTED construct. The findings confirmed that CPTED is best measured by four principles. The results further indicate that CPTED is associated with a reduced risk of burglary victimization, while household income is positively associated with CPTED. The model shows that territoriality has a negative direct relationship with victimization. There are direct and positive influences of house type on natural surveillance and territoriality, while the length of residence only affects access control.     

I have a Facebook account,therefore I am – authentication with social networks

ABSTRACT

Social login is the use of a social network account to get access to other services. Since the internet in its architecture does not have the possibility to identify the internet user, for many services, social logins are the solution to authenticate users without the need to set up individual identity management systems. Social logins are not useful for all types of services, however, and the potential lock-in and lock-out of users needs to be considered.     

Disentangling the Effects of Bounding and Mobility on Reports of Criminal Victimization

Replacement respondents who move into NCVS households after the initial bounding interview can introduce measurement error since their reports of victimization may be influenced by their mobility (actual experiences) and by their unbounded interview status (response error). Which of these factors affects reporting is unknown and is the focus of this research. The availability of incoming respondent data from the NCVS School Crime Supplement and mobility status from the NCVS provides a unique opportunity to study these effects separately. Both bounding and mobility were found to influence reporting; however, this influence was not consistent. Unlike findings from past research, bounding only had significant effects on reports of property victimization. Conversely, moving only significantly affected reports of violent victimization. As this study is the first to disentangle the effect of unbounded interview status from mobility on reports of victimization, the findings emphasize the need for further research to better understand these issues.     

Unemployment,poverty and arrests in the Georgia black belt

Although Blacks have made economic progress since 1960, these gains have been overshadowed by soaring crime rates. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of unemployment and economic deprivation on Black arrests using data from 50 predominantly rural counties in Georgia where Blacks comprise 40 percent of the population. The study concludes that Black arrests in the 50 counties forming Georgia’s Black Belt may be linked to the economic and structural conditions associated with Black unemployment, economic deprivation, and the occupational segregation of Blacks to secondary, low-paying jobs. The findings lend plausibility to the notion that the low socioeconomic status of Blacks, coupled with their lack of access to the macrostructural opportunity system creates conditions favoring normative violations. The findings therefore furnish tentative support for opportunity-structure theory of crime that asserts that the lack of access to opportunity plays a salient role in understanding the causal nexus of Black involvement in crime.     

Problematic Alcohol and Drug Use and the Risk of Partner Violence Victimization among Male and Female College Students

The current study expands previous research by examining the relationship between problematic alcohol and drug use and partner violence among a large sample of male and female college students and by partitioning out severe victimization for separate analysis. Data came from the International Dating Violence Study and included 4162 students from 19 colleges in the U.S. (69.1% women, 30.9% men). Victimization was measured using the revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2). There was no significant main effect for alcohol use, but analysis of the interaction with gender found that problematic alcohol use was associated with victimization of men. Problematic drug use was associated with physical victimization, injury, severe physical victimization, severe psychological victimization, and severe injury for the overall sample in multivariate models. Interaction effects showed that elevated odds of severe injuries were associated high drug scores for women. Dating violence programs addressing dating violence on campuses are urged to include discussions on drug use and victimization of men.     

THE EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL TURNOVER ON HOUSEHOLD VICTIMIZATION*

Americans move frequently, and moving alters their risks of victimization. This study uses unique longitudinal, multilevel data from the 1980–1985 National Crime Survey to examine the effects of residential turnover on household victimization. The two major findings of the study are as follows: First, housing turnover is a transition that independently increases the risk that a dwelling will experience a crime. This finding is true even controlling for persistent differences in crime vulnerability between dwellings. Second, changes in the composition and routine activities of households also alter the risks of victimization. These findings provide support for social disorganization and crime opportunity theories.     

Race,economy and punishment: inequity and racial disparity in imprisonment, 1972–2002

Guided by the Rusche and Kirchheimer thesis, this study examines variation in incarceration rates across states. Time-series regression analysis is applied to 30?years of state-level data to examine how economic factors interact with aggregate measures of race/ethnicity in predicting rates of incarceration. The analysis indicates that income inequality, not unemployment, is the most salient predictor of incarceration rates. That is, state-level measures of income inequality exert a strong, positive effect on state-level incarceration rates, and this effect is particularly salient in the presence of higher percentages of African-Americans.     

Organizational convenience for white-collar crime: opportunity expansion by offender behavior

The theory of convenience suggests that the extent of white-collar crime is dependent on financial motive, organizational opportunity, and willingness for deviant behavior. Organizational opportunity is at the core of convenience theory, where privileged and powerful offenders have legitimate access to resources in their professions to commit and conceal financial crime. This article introduces a dynamic perspective of organizational opportunity where a white-collar offender can cause opportunity expansion over time. Based on agency theory, social disorganization theory, and blame game theory, a case study is presented. The case study is concerned with a chief financial officer (CFO) who applied several opportunity expansion techniques before he conveniently was able to commit and conceal embezzlement in the business where he was employed.