The accuracy of crime statistics: assessing the impact of police data bias on geographic crime analysis

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Police-recorded crimes are used by police forces to document community differences in crime and design spatially targeted strategies. Nevertheless, crimes...     

DNA Databases as Alternative Data Sources for Criminological Research

DNA traces found at crime scenes and DNA records held in databases have already helped the police to solve numerous investigations into specific crimes. The police clearly benefit from the use of forensic science at an operational (i.e. case) level. This paper focuses on the use of forensic DNA at a strategic level: its use in the study of patterns of criminal behaviour. The usual sources of information for this type of research are recorded crime data, self-report studies and victimization surveys. However, as our review will show, these data sources cannot provide a complete picture of crime. We therefore propose an alternative approach to criminological research that takes into account DNA databases and has the potential to augment current methods and extend the existing knowledge beyond known offenders. The use of DNA databases has an important advantage for criminological research: it is possible to link offences committed by the same individual, whether the offender’s identity is known or not. By making a one-on-one comparison of police data with the corresponding DNA data, not only can co-offenders be studied, but a larger network of offenders connected to each other can also be analysed, even if their identity is unknown to the police.     

对转型期犯罪预防中警察角色的理性思考

犯罪是一种极其复杂的社会现象,现代警察的产生无疑是与犯罪预防联系在一起的。中国社会目前正处于转型的关键时 期,社会转型对犯罪预防提出了新的挑战。在犯罪预防中,警察的作用既是重要的,又是有限的。仅凭警察自身的力量不可能从根本上 解决犯罪问题,也不可能彻底完成对犯罪的预防。这种角色定位,有助于我们更理智地去分析研究犯罪产生的根源和原因,寻求犯罪 发生的规律,从而采取有效措施以减少和预防犯罪。     

浅析提高公安机关战斗力的因素

提高公安机关战斗力，才能有效地打击犯罪和预防犯罪，促进我国体制改革的顺利进行，增加公安机关的人力因素，理顺公安机关的管理体制因素，加强公安机关硬件建设因素和良好群众关系因素，对提高公安机关战斗力都有直接的作用。     

Unreported crimes,public dissatisfaction of police,and observed police misconduct in the Volgograd region,Russia: A research note

The paper examines the issue of widespread underreporting of crimes in the Volgograd region of Russia. The factors of public satisfaction with police, prior observed police misconduct, type of crime, and victim’s demographics are used to explain a victim’s decision to report crimes to the police. The research is based on a representative sample of Russian citizens conducted over a 9 year period in the Volgograd region (1998–2007) with a sample size of 1332 cases. The study concludes that prior observed police misconduct, especially the falsification of documents, is the strongest predictor of victims’ decisions to report crimes. The research holds critical implications for the ongoing reform of Russian police.     

The effect of police on crime,disorder and victim precaution. Evidence from a Dutch victimization survey

Using individual data from a large-scale Dutch crime victimization survey, we are able to expand the analysis of the effect of police on crime to crimes types that do not easily find their way into police statistics, and to public disorder and victim precaution. To address heterogeneity and simultaneity in the relation between police and crime, we model the police funding formula – used to distribute police resources across municipalities – to identify the endogenous variation in police levels. We use the remaining variation in police levels to identify the effect of police. We find significantly negative effects of higher police levels on property and violent crime, public disorder, and victim precaution. The effect on victim precaution is a hitherto largely ignored benefit of higher police levels not reflected in lower rates of crime and public disorder.     

To protect and collect: a nationwide study of profit-motivated police crime

This study is part of a larger research project on police crime in the United States. Police crimes are those criminal offenses committed by sworn law enforcement officers who have the general powers of arrest. Profit-motivated police crime involves officers who use their authority of position to engage in crime for personal gain. This study reports the findings on 1,591 cases where a law enforcement officer was arrested for one or more profit-motivated crimes during the seven-year period 2005–2011. The profit-motivated arrest cases involved 1,396 individual officers employed by 782 state, local, special, constable, and tribal law enforcement agencies located in 531 counties and independent cities in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Our data is the first systematic study of profit-motivated police crime. The study describes the nature of this form of police misconduct in terms of several dimensions, including the characteristics of police who perpetrate these crimes, where it occurs, the specific criminal charges, and the contexts within which profit-motivated police crime is punished through police agencies and the criminal courts.     

The Murder Mystery: Police Effectiveness and Homicide

Objective

Previous aggregate analyses of the effect of police on crime show that increases in police staffing are especially effective at preventing homicide. This conflicts with evidence that suggests standard police methods should be more effective at preventing robbery, auto theft, and other property crimes. My objective is to reconcile the two.

Methods

Regression of crime rates on uniformed police staffing and other economic and demographic covariates, for a panel of 59 US cities for the period 1970–2013.

Results

Lagged crime rates are strong and statistically significant predictors of both policing staffing and crime rates, particularly homicide. When lags are included in the specification, the apparent effect of police on homicide drops by more than 70 %; there is little change in the effect of police on other crimes. Findings are robust with respect to specification and method.

Conclusions

Previous studies omitted lags and overstated the effectiveness of police on homicide. Because murder accounts for almost 40 % of all costs of crime in US cities, it is no longer clear whether increasing police force size is a cost-effective way to cut crime. Improving police tactics is more likely to work and less expensive.

     

Reporting to the police in western nations: A theoretical analysis of the effects of social context

One of the most consistent findings in empirical studies using victimization data is that the decision to report victimization to the police is determined in large part by the seriousness of the crime. The police will be notified more often of crimes that involve more serious injury or greater monetary loss. These findings, however, may be due to the fact that most studies on reporting have been conducted using victimization surveys that devote a great deal of attention to the crime event and victim characteristics and much less to the social context of that event. As a result, influences on reporting operating at the neighborhood, jurisdiction, or nation level have been neglected. The aim of this paper is to bring social context into the discourse on reporting to the police by presenting a much more inclusive model of crime reporting. In addition, the influence of four aspects of macro-level social context on reporting are tested—the perceived competence of the police, institutionalization of insurance business, norm of conformity, and level of individualism—by merging incident-level data from the International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) for 16 Western industrialized countries with nation-level data from various sources. Hierarchical logistic modeling is used to analyze the nested data. The perceived competence of the police has a positive effect on whether property crimes are reported.     

浅谈公安民警射击技能训练的构思

维护社会治安,保障公共安全,预防控制犯罪,打击敌对势力和各种犯罪活动是公安队伍的基本职能。多年来,许多公安民警在打击和制止各种犯罪行为的斗争中流血牺牲,充分体现了他们对党和人民的忠诚和无私无畏的精神。同时,我们也应该认识到,有些伤亡原本是可以避免的。     

监狱警察职务犯罪针对性预防机制探究

尽管理论及实务界已就预防监狱警察职务犯罪提出诸多的建议机制,但监狱警察职务犯罪现象仍此起彼伏,究其原因是因为没有结合监狱警察职务犯罪的独特特点而提出针对性的预防机制;相比较于其他司法行政系统工作人员的职务犯罪,监狱警察职务犯罪具有身份特殊、犯罪主体明确等特点;监狱警察职务犯罪的发生原因也与监狱这一特殊工作环境以及监狱警察职权范围特殊密切相关;应该构建监狱警察权力监控机制以及检察院、监狱之间的联席会议等针对性预防机制,以防范监狱警察职务犯罪现象的发生。     

Police Officers in Schools: Effects on School Crime and the Processing of Offending Behaviors

The use of police in schools has increased dramatically in the past 12 years, largely due to increases in US Department of Justice funding. This study used data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety to assess the extent to which the addition of police in schools is associated with changes in levels of school crime and schools responses to crime. We found that as schools increase their use of police, they record more crimes involving weapon and drugs and report a higher percentage of their non-serious violent crimes to law enforcement. The possibility that placement of police officers in schools increases referrals to law enforcement for crimes of a less serious nature and increases recording of weapon and drug offenses requires that more rigorous research be carried out to assess more carefully the school climate and school safety outcomes related to this popular and costly practice.     

A Survey of Reasons for the Under Reporting of Cheque Fraud: Examples from Australia

Fraud is generally defined as the practice of obtaining credit and property from another by means of deception. When the object of deception used is a valueless cheque, then the conduct is called ‘cheque fraud.’ Cheque fraud is a crime; but unlike other types of crime, such as crimes involving force, cheque fraud is under reported to the police. The reasons for the under reporting are diverse and mean that only about 15% of all offences come to the attention of the police. An Australian study conducted to survey reasons for this under reporting revealed that a major factor affecting victims' reactions to cheque fraud was their ignorance of police functions and an uncertainty whether the passing of valueless cheques could constitute a crime. The results of this study are reported herein.     

Assessing the Direct and Indirect Effects of Legitimacy on Public Empowerment of Police: A Study of Public Support for Police Militarization in America

The process‐based model dominates contemporary American research on police‐community relations and perceptions of police. A sizable literature has examined the linkages between procedural justice, legitimacy, compliance with the law, and cooperation with police. Less examined is the relationship between legitimacy and public empowerment of police. This study examines this relationship, focusing on police militarization. We first examine the direct effect of legitimacy on public willingness to allow police to become more militarized. Drawing from cognitive psychology and rational choice theories, we then consider indirect paths between legitimacy and empowerment, concentrating on two anticipated consequences of militarization—an increase in police effectiveness and possible harm to civil liberties. Using a national sample of over 700 American adults, and structural equation modeling, results indicate legitimacy has both direct and indirect effects on police empowerment, in part by shaping assessments of the possible consequences of empowerment. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.     

Guidelines for police undercover work: New questions about accreditation and the emphasis of procedure over authorization

A survey of the 100 largest police departments in the United States was conducted to document the experience of police undercover operations and the existence of agency guidelines. Eighty-nine agencies responded, revealing that all 89 conduct undercover activities but only 64 have guidelines for such operations. Types of crimes investigated by police undercover operations, reasons for having or not having guidelines, and regional analyses are offered. One finding is that police undercover guidelines emphasize either procedure or authorization in undercover police work. Of the departments that have guidelines, more emphasize procedure (“how to”) than authorization (“when to”). Questions about this dichotomy and the impact of national accreditation standards are raised for future research.     

Stop and Risk: Policing,Data, and the Digital Age of Discrimination

Predictive policing is the newest innovation in the field of law enforcement. Predictive policing programs use algorithms to analyze existing crime data in an attempt to make predictions about future crimes: What crimes are likely to be committed, where crimes are likely to be committed, and a list of potential victims and offenders. Proponents of predictive policing champion the practice as an effective, proactive form of law enforcement that is free from bias due to its data-driven nature. However, as a matter of justice policy, predictive policing is just as discriminatory as traditional police practices, such as stop and frisk: Both are relatively ineffective; both have the potential to disproportionately target minorities; both are challenging forms of surveillance that create several important ethical and legal issues; and both are presented as objective, impartial, and equitable. This article has three primary goals: Highlight the potential and problematic similarities between stop and frisk and predictive policing; present the problems associated with predictive policing, including its questionable effectiveness, biased foundation, and faulty legal and ethical footing; and discuss the ways in which discriminatory criminal justice programs, such as stop and frisk and predictive policing, are presented to the public as objective, non-discriminatory policies.

     

侦诉协作机制的价值分析与制度构建

建立侦诉协作机制,增强侦诉合力,形成"大控方"的追诉格局,对于保证刑事诉讼活动的顺利进行,具有重大的价值和意义。目前,司法实务部门对侦诉协作机制所进行的积极探索,为该机制的立法构建提供了有益的实践经验。在《刑事诉讼法》再修改时应当通过程序设计对侦诉协作机制作出明确规定,并完善相应的配套制度,推动该机制良好地运行。     

Analyzing the Influence of Micro-Level Factors on CCTV Camera Effect

Objectives

Despite the popularity of closed circuit television (CCTV), evidence of its crime prevention capabilities is inconclusive. Research has largely reported CCTV effect as “mixed” without explaining this variance. The current study contributes to the literature by testing the influence of several micro-level factors on changes in crime levels within CCTV areas of Newark, NJ.

Methods

Viewsheds, denoting the line-of-sight of CCTV cameras, were units of analysis (N = 117). Location quotients, controlling for viewshed size and control-area crime incidence, measured changes in the levels of six crime categories, from the pre-installation period to the post-installation period. Ordinary least squares regression models tested the influence of specific micro-level factors—environmental features, camera line-of-sight, enforcement activity, and camera design—on each crime category.

Results

First, the influence of environmental features differed across crime categories, with specific environs being related to the reduction of certain crimes and the increase of others. Second, CCTV-generated enforcement was related to the reduction of overall crime, violent crime and theft-from-auto. Third, obstructions to CCTV line-of-sight caused by immovable objects were related to increased levels of auto theft and decreased levels of violent crime, theft from auto and robbery.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that CCTV operations should be designed in a manner that heightens their deterrent effect. Specifically, police should account for the presence of crime generators/attractors and ground-level obstructions when selecting camera sites, and design the operational strategy in a manner that generates maximum levels of enforcement.     

湛江市农村地区社会稳定和治安问题研究

湛江市位于我国大陆的最南端,农村面积大,农业人口多,农村的社会秩序和治安状况对全市治安稳定至关重要。湛江农村最为突出的问题是黑恶势力犯罪、涉枪案件、涉毒涉赌、征地拆迁补偿、土地权属纠纷和修路以及民风民俗活动引发的群体性事件、精神病人作案和交通事故引发的事件等7方面。影响湛江市农村地区社会稳定和治安秩序问题的成因主要有：经济社会发展失衡;基层政权组织软弱涣散;一些历史遗留问题积重难返;黑恶势力坐大成势,打击难度大;农村派出所力量薄弱和精神文明建设滞后,群众素质低等。解决湛江农村地区的社会稳定和治安问题,根本出路在于不断深化经济社会改革,推进农村精神文明建设和物质文明建设。而当务之急,必须明确维护稳定和治安秩序的责任制,加强基层政府和群众自治性组织建设,大力开展整治活动,不断提高农村社会管理能力和水平,这样才能使湛江农村地区逐步走向有序。