Street justice: Some micro-moral reservations: Comment on sykes

Research on the use of incapacitation strategies to reduce crime has increased rapidly in the last decade. Estimates of the crime reduction potential are numerous and variable, reflecting different assumptions by researchers. This paper reviews and synthesizes studies of collective and selective incapacitation. Sentencing practices in the 1970s and early 1980s prevented an estimated 10 to 30 percent of potential crimes through collective incapacitation strategies. Greater use of incarceration, such as through mandatory minimum sentences, would prevent additional crimes, but prison populations would increase substantially. Selective incapacitation strategies target a small group of convicted offenders, those who are predicted to commit serious crimes at high rates, for incarceration. These high-rate serious offenders, however, are difficult to identify accurately with information currently available in official criminal history records. Preliminary research, assuming moderate accuracy, suggests that selective incapacitation may prevent some crimes, such as 5 to 10 percent of robberies by adults, but increases in prison populations would result. The future of selective incapacitation is discussed in light of current research and knowledge about serious criminal activity.     

利用网络进行毒品犯罪案件中的电子证据研究

近年来,毒品犯罪向互联网络渗透的趋势越发明显,利用网络进行毒品犯罪的案件逐年增多。文章归纳了目前我国利用网络进行毒品的主要形式,并对利用网络进行毒品犯罪案件中的电子证据进行了分类,有助于侦查机关有针对性的发现和提取相关证据。     

重庆市毒品犯罪态势分析及对策研究

近年来,重庆市毒品犯罪案件总数有下降趋势,但大要案件突出,犯罪特点及犯罪人员出现一些新的变化。重庆特殊的地缘因素、庞大的毒品消费市场以及打击毒品犯罪的难度较大使禁毒的形势更加严峻。要通过构筑毒品流入流出防线,斩断毒品流通网络,迫使毒品消费市场萎缩,有效遏制重庆市毒品犯罪态势的恶化。     

新疆毒品犯罪现状及其防治对策探讨

目前,毒品犯罪在全世界范围内猖獗,已成为人类共同的敌人。在我国,境外毒品多头入境,走私、贩卖、运输、制造毒品的犯罪活动愈演愈烈,毒品犯罪案件持续增长,毒品犯罪群体和贩销网络形成,吸毒问题日趋严重。由于受国际毒潮的侵袭、渗透和国内毒情的辐射、互动以及社会、经济、地理、人文环境等因素的作用,新疆地区的毒品犯罪活动也迅速蔓延、愈益严重,已成为我国毒品犯罪的重灾区之一。为了严厉打击新疆地区的毒品犯罪,有效遏制毒品的蔓延,必须运用多元化的手段来进行全面、持久的综合治理。     

Having a Bad Month: General Versus Specific Effects of Stress on Crime

We examine whether particular types of stress are related to particular types of crime or whether all types of stress are related to all types of crime. Our estimates are based on analyses of within-individual change over a 36 month period among recently incarcerated offenders. We find that assault is most strongly related to family stress, suggesting that conflicts between family members lead to assault. Economic crimes (property crimes and selling illicit drugs) are most clearly related to financial stress, suggesting that these crimes often reflect attempts to resolve financial problems. On the other hand, crime is generally unrelated to stress from illness/injury, death, and work. The results support the idea that criminal behavior is a focused response to specific types of problems rather than a general response to stress. They are more consistent with explanations that focus on perceived rewards and costs (e.g., the rational-choice approach) than with explanations that portray negative affect as a generalized impetus toward violence or crime (e.g., frustration aggression approaches).     

索债型非法拘禁罪若干问题研究

索债型非法拘禁罪是非法拘禁罪的一种特例,该罪在主体、客体、主观方面、客观方面既不同于一般的非法拘禁罪,也有别于绑架罪、抢劫罪。在索债型非法拘禁罪的既遂与未遂的认定标准上应该采用单一行为说,该罪的共同犯罪形态有不同表现形式。区分此罪与绑架罪、抢劫罪时应紧扣债务的性质和行为目的,在实践中还存在着该罪与其他罪行的转化、竞合情形。     

Measuring the crime displacement and diffusion of benefit effects of open-street CCTV in South Korea

Crime prevention strategies are implemented to reduce the damage caused by crimes with CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) being broadly accepted as one of the main strategies. However, along with CCTV's perceived high expectations as crime deterrent, there is also a growing controversy over CCTV's potentially unexpected limitations. For example, the crime displacement (the presence of CCTV will change the locations of crime and its total number will not change) and the diffusion effects of crime control benefits (the crime prevention effect of CCTV may filter through to neighboring areas) are the representative controversial issues. In this study, we aimed to verify the crime displacement and the diffusion of benefit of open-street CCTV by analyzing the crime tendencies empirically.Gwang Myeong City in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea was chosen to analyze the crime displacement using the WDQ (Weighted Displacement Quotient) which compares the crime tendency of a location with that of its neighboring areas. The results showed that the crime prevention effect of the CCTV was significant. The number of robberies and thefts in the areas with CCTV installed reduced by 47.4%, while the areas without CCTV showed practically no change in the number of crimes. The crime displacement caused by the CCTV was not either found or inconsequential, and the crime rates in the neighboring areas also decreased slightly. Of major cause for concern was the fact that CCTV was marginally effective in deterring violence and as such, there should be a more detailed scientific analysis of the pattern and type of crimes committed in an area where CCTV's are being installed.     

The Scope of Serious Crime and Preventive Justice

I first offer an account of serious crime that goes beyond victimizing crimes committed by individuals against other individuals. This approach extends the well-known framework offered by von Hirsch and Jareborg to include crimes undermining welfare-producing institutions. I then consider how the seriousness of crime justifies preventive measures, including the criminalization of acts preparatory to the commission of serious crime. I shall defend preventive measures, including highly intrusive ones, for the most serious crimes, such as terrorism in the form of mass killing, but I shall take issue with very expansive conceptions of serious crime that include what are intuitively much less serious offenses than terrorism or murder. In England and Wales, the Serious Crime Act (2007) lists relevant types of serious crime in its Schedule 1. This and other pieces of serious crime legislation in the UK are discussed critically.     

THE IMPACT OF ENHANCED PRISON TERMS FOR FELONIES COMMITTED WITH GUNS*

Legislation mandating minimum sentences or additions to sentences for crimes committed with guns is a frequent response to gun problems. We compiled these state laws and estimated their impact on state prison populations, prison admissions, UCR crime rates, and gun use in homicides, assaults and robberies. We employed a multiple time series research design, with data for nearly all states over the past 16 to 24 years, such that for any one state the remaining states operated as controls. Several small-scale studies have suggested that the laws might reduce some types of gun crime. We found that the laws produced such an impact in no more than a few states and that there is little evidence that the laws generally reduce crime or increase prison populations.     

Behavioural case linkage with solved and unsolved crimes

Offender behaviour is used to distinguish between crimes committed by the same person (linked crimes) and crimes committed by different people (unlinked crimes) through behavioural case linkage. There is growing evidence to support the use of behavioural case linkage by investigative organisations such as the police, but this research is typically limited to samples of solved crime that do not reflect how this procedure is used in real life. The current paper extends previous research by testing the potential for behavioural case linkage in a sample containing both solved and unsolved crimes. Discrimination accuracy is examined across crime categories (e.g. a crime pair containing a car theft and a residential burglary), across crime types (e.g. a crime pair containing a residential burglary and a commercial burglary), and within crime types (e.g. a crime pair containing two residential burglaries) using the number of kilometres (intercrime distance) and the number of days (temporal proximity) between offences to distinguish between linked and unlinked crimes. The intercrime distance and/or the temporal proximity were able to achieve statistically significant levels of discrimination accuracy across crime categories, across crime types, and within crime types as measured by Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. This suggests that behavioural case linkage can be used to assist the investigation, detection and prosecution of prolific and versatile serial offenders.     

The Relationship Between Mental Disorders and Types of Crime in Inmates in a Brazilian Prison

This cross‐sectional study conducted in prisons in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, investigated the association between the presence of psychiatric disorders in 462 prisoners and the types of crimes committed by them. Psychiatric diagnosis was obtained by means of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Mini‐International Neuropsychiatric Interview. A statistically significant association was found between some psychiatric disorders and specific groups of crime: lifelong substance addiction with sex crimes and homicide; antisocial personality disorder with robbery and with kidnapping and extortion; borderline personality disorder with sex crimes; and lifelong alcohol addiction with fraud and conspiracy and with armed robbery and murder. It was concluded that the mental disorders considered more severe (psychosis and bipolar disorder) were not associated with violent crimes, suggesting that the severity of the psychotic disorder may be the factor that has caused psychosis to be associated with violent crimes in previous studies.     

Self-Reported Violent Offending Among Subjects with Genius-Level IQ Scores

While research indicates offenders have IQ scores approximately eight points below the population average of 100, very little is known about the crimes of individuals with above-average IQ scores. The current research is not limited to acts of family violence, but it describes the self-reported offending of 465 high-IQ subjects for eight violent crimes: robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, making a serious threat, serious assault, homicide, constructing an explosive device, kidnapping, and attempting suicide. Rates of prevalence and incidence are reported and compared to the rates from a control group of 756 individuals with average IQ scores. High-IQ subjects reported higher rates of prevalence, incidence, and arrest, but lower levels of conviction, than controls. A significant positive correlation exists for offenders between IQ score and lifetime incidence rate for robbery, homicide, and kidnapping, and a significant negative correlation exists between IQ score and incidence of attempted suicide.     

绑架罪若干问题探讨

绑架罪是严重侵害公民人身权利和财产权利的犯罪,但此罪侵犯的客体更主要的应该是人身权利;不应将以勒索财物为目的作为绑架罪的主观构成要件;绑架罪应为行为犯,其犯罪手段应包括暴力、胁迫及麻醉方法以外的其他方法;绑架罪的法定刑的规定不甚合理,应当调整。     

Are DNA data a valid source to study the spatial behavior of unknown offenders?

Studying the spatial behaviour of unknown offenders (i.e. undetected offenders) is difficult, because police recorded crime data do not contain information about these offenders. Recently, forensic DNA data has been used to study unknown offenders. However, DNA data are only a subset of the crimes committed by unknown offenders stored in police recorded crime data. To establish the suitability of DNA data for studying the spatial offending behaviour of unknown offenders, we examine the concentration and spatial similarity of detected but unsolved crimes in police recorded crime data (N?=?181,483) and DNA data (N?=?1913) over 27 Belgian judicial districts for four crime types. We established spatial similarity for certain crime types (in some districts). This offers opportunities for DNA data to be used to study unknown offenders' spatial offending behaviour. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

略论反恐多边条约的国内实施

国际恐怖(主义)犯罪是目前日炽的一种国际犯罪,国际社会非常重视对恐怖(主义)犯罪的惩治、预防和打击,缔结了一系列反恐多边条约。反恐多边条约的实施主要是缔约国的实施(即国内层面上的实施),可以分为直接实施和间接实施两种模式。反恐多边条约的国内实施于惩治和预防国际恐怖主义犯罪发挥了重要作用。反恐多边条约在我国得到了很好的实施,但在实施过程中仍存在某些弊端或不足,亟须完善,关键是要尽快制定一部专门的反恐特别法。     

中国与东盟经济自由贸易区跨国经济犯罪及其控制策略研究

在中国与东盟经济自由贸易区的合作与发展不断深化和加强的进程中,制度的差异、发展的不平衡、特殊的地理环境等因素让竞争中出现了不法手段乃至犯罪手段,跨国经济犯罪即是其表现之一。跨国经济犯罪是跨国犯罪中最为常见且最为严峻的犯罪,是经济全球化最明显的负面影响。通过对跨国经济犯罪、中国与东盟成员国间跨国经济犯罪现状与原因的分析,进而探求中国与东盟成员国间控制跨国经济犯罪的有效策略。     

Perceived arrest risk,psychic rewards,and offense specialization: A partial test of rational choice theory†

In prior tests of Beckerian rational choice theory, the notion that individuals are responsive to the (dis)incentives associated with crime has been supported. Much of this research has comprised composite scores of perceived rewards and risks of multiple, often disparate, crime types that are then used to predict “general” offending behavior. Although the results of such prior tests are informative, we believe that this tendency has resulted in two shortcomings. First, a central component of mathematical rational choice theory is overlooked, namely, that responsivity to incentives will be crime specific. That is, offenders should prefer crime types that subjectively offer greater rewards and fewer risks relative to other crimes. Second, individual differences in offending specialization are not addressed, of which Clarke and Cornish (1985) and Shover (1996) argued rational choice theories are well suited to explain. Using a sample of serious offenders, we find that in a given time period, individuals are more likely to engage in crime types they viewed as more intrinsically rewarding and less risky compared with other crimes. Furthermore, individuals displayed greater specialization in violence to the extent they view violence as more rewarding and less risky than property offenses     

Citizenship Status and Arrest Patterns for Violent and Narcotic-Related Offenses in Federal Judicial Districts along the U.S./Mexico Border

Media reports routinely reference the drug-related violence in Mexico, linking crime in communities along the Southwest U.S. Border to illegal immigrants. The primary purpose of the current research is to examine whether the media assertions can be supported. Logistic regression models were run to determine the impact of citizenship on the likelihood of disproportionate arrest for federal drug and violent crimes, along the U.S./Mexico border. In arrests for homicide, assault, robbery, and weapons offenses, U.S. citizens were disproportionately more likely than non-citizens to be arrested. The only federal crime where non-citizens were disproportionately more likely to be arrested than were U.S. citizens was for marijuana offenses. Results of the current study challenge the myth of the criminal immigrant.     

国际刑事法院《罗马规约》犯罪构成要件刍议——以危害人类罪作为样本

尽管世界各国对于犯罪的规定各不相同,但其犯罪规定中所涵盖的成立犯罪的要件(犯罪要素)却大体相当.这种认识对象与内容的相通,正是国际犯罪概念和国际刑事司法审判活动及其机构产生的基础.国际刑事法院管辖的是整个国际社会关注的最严重犯罪,具体包括四类:灭绝种族罪、危害人类罪、战争罪和侵略罪.《罗马规约》对于犯罪构成要件的规定采用规约规定与《犯罪要件》细释相结合的方式,为在国际刑法领域实现法治化作出了有益的创新,开辟了国际刑事司法的新纪元.     

A Failure to Find Empirical Support for the Homology Assumption in Criminal Profiling

A fundamental assumption in criminal profiling is that criminals who exhibit similar crime scene actions have similar background characteristics. We tested this so-called homology assumption by first classifying, with pre-existing typologies, a sample of arsons (N = 87) and robberies (N = 177) into different crime types and then comparing the background characteristics of criminals who committed the various crime types. Results showed that using pre-existing typologies to classify the crimes into mutually exclusive types was not easily accomplished. Notwithstanding classification difficulties, the homology assumption was violated in 56% of the comparisons of background characteristics between the different arson types and in 67% of the comparisons of background characteristics between the different robbery types. Overall, 73% of the effect sizes for the associations between crime type and background characteristics were low to moderate (V < .3; d < .2). The implications of these findings for profiling practices are discussed.