Parental Kidnapping: A Survey of Left-Behind Parents

Parental kidnapping is examined through a survey instrument developed by Rosemary Farley Janvier. The survey was tested and mailed to 283 left-behind parent victims nationwide; 65 parents elected to participate (a 23% return rate). The survey results yielded a statistical profile of parental kidnappings, with distinct differences between domestic and international cases. The differences were both in gender of the perpetrator and the victims, marital, and custodial status. The circumstances surrounding the kidnappings, use and effectiveness of existing legal remedies as preventive measures, law enforcement, attorneys, and the court?s responses, both pre-kidnapping and post-kidnapping and the emotional and financial costs to the parent victims were assessed. Recommendations by the left-behind parents for prevention of parental kidnappings are offered for legislative changes and procedural changes for the law enforcement community, attorneys, and the judiciary in decisions to be made to ultimately protect children from this trauma through prevention. Special recognition to the staff of the Ocean County Advisory Commission on the Status of Women, Ann Finnegan, Project Coordinator, and Lynn Ross, clerical support.     

Kidnapping in Taiwan: the significance of geographic proximity, improvisation, and fluidity

Kidnapping had been rare in Taiwan until recently. Several high-profile cases in the late 1990s, victimizing both Taiwanese citizens and foreigners, startled the island state. This study is the first systematic examination of the social dynamics involved in kidnapping. Data came from court cases, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews from incarcerated inmates. Results showed that kidnappers' financial crises and friendships with ringleaders were two primary motives. Most kidnapping cases involved a small number of offenders who form an ad hoc kidnapping group. Victims were not randomly chosen and share a geographic tie with the offenders. The process of kidnapping is idiosyncratic in nature, as most kidnappers improvised their plans. The negotiation phase in kidnapping is done hastily, and the amount of ransom is often a compromised result of offenders' needs, victim's family's financial status, timing, and the offenders' perception of risks. Ways to prevent kidnapping are also discussed in this article.     

绑架罪基本要件问题探讨

绑架罪侵犯的客体是单一客体.绑架罪的实行行为是单一行为而不是复合行为.已满14周岁不满16周岁的人实施绑架行为并故意杀害被绑架人的,应以故意杀人罪论处.     

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。     

The unintended consequences of kingpin strategies: kidnap rates and the Arellano-Félix Organization

Kingpin strategies— the targeting of the top-levels of terrorist or drug trafficking organization hierarchies— has become a centerpiece of US and Mexican efforts to combat drug trafficking. This study addresses the unintended consequences of these strategies by assessing the impact of the arrest or deaths of Arellano Felix Organization leaders on kidnap and homicide levels from the late 1990’s to 2011. Based on the study, the arrest of important AFO “lieutenants” increased kidnap rates. Arrests or the deaths of organization “kingpins” did not result in increased homicides or kidnappings, if respected successors were ready to fill leadership vacuums. When leadership succession was in question, the arrest of “kingpins” did result in internecine conflict and thus increased homicide and kidnapping rates. Following internecine conflict, kidnap and homicide rates dropped, but not to pre-conflict levels. This is likely attributable to the use of kidnapping and homicide as a dispute resolution mechanism in the growing Tijuana consumer drug market.     

Sex differences in the likelihood of arrest

Using data from the new National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), this study analyzed the impact of a criminal offender's sex on the likelihood of arrest for 555,752 incidents of kidnapping, forcible rape, forcible fondling, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, and intimidation in nineteen states and the District of Columbia during 2000. The data used in this study advanced the literature by enabling the authors to determine the likelihood of arrest for males and females based on sex-specific offending as reported by crime victims. Controlling for offense seriousness and a variety of other factors, logistic regression results showed that the probability of arrest for females was 28 percent lower for kidnapping, 48 percent lower for forcible fondling, 9 percent lower for simple assault, and 27 percent lower for intimidation than for males. A supplemental analysis also revealed that Black females had a higher probability of arrest than did White females for aggravated and simple assault. No discernable impact of an offender's sex on the prospect of arrest was noted for the crimes of forcible rape and robbery. Overall, these findings suggest that the lower arrest rate for females is partly the result of leniency shown women by law enforcement personnel.     

不能犯未遂构成特征新论

不能犯研究的重心是确立不能犯未遂的成立条件与不可罚的不能犯相区别。传统的刑法理论关于不能犯未遂的研究存在误区。对于不能犯未遂的成立条件应从以下几点来分析:客观上行为具有法益侵害的相称性;主观上具有犯罪故意及犯意指向的明确性;不完全具备《刑法分则》规定的全部构成要件;行为人对事实存在认识错误。     

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。     

Affairs of the Heart: Hate Crime and the Politics of Crime Control

Various scholars have noted the priority given to law in the politics of hate violence; violence is the problem and law, more specifically the criminal law, the solution at the ‘heart’ of society. This article seeks to explore some of the gaps and silences in the existing literature and politics that mobilize these ideas and associations. It is the gap sand silences associated with demands for and expectations of criminal justice that will be the particular concern of this article. The demand for law is examined by way of David Garland's recent work on the culture of crime control. His work offers an analysis of the contemporary place of crime control in Anglo-American liberal democracies. A distinctive feature of his analysis is to be found in the way it maps an important paradox of contemporary crime control; its political centrality and an increasing recognition of its limitations. Garland's ‘criminology of the self’ and the ‘criminology of the other’ raise some important challenges for those who advocate resort to crime control. My particular concern is to consider the significance of Garland's work for a contemporary sexual politics that puts violence and criminal justice at the heart of that politics. Feminist, gay and lesbian scholarship first on criminal justice and second, on violence and law will be used to develop a critical dialogue with Garland's analysis and to reflect upon the challenges raised by his insights into contemporary crime control. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Assessing Substitution and Complementary Effects Amongst Crime Typologies

This paper aims at assessing how offenders allocate their effort amongst several types of crime. Specifically, complementary and substitution effects are investigated amongst the number of recorded homicides, robberies, extortions and kidnapping, receiving stolen goods, falsity and drug-related crimes. Furthermore, the extent to which crime is detrimental for economic growth is also analysed. The case-study country is Italy, and the time span under analysis is from the first quarter of 1981 to the fourth quarter of 2004. A Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) is employed after having assessed the integration and cointegration status of the variables under investigation. Empirical findings show that, in the long run, an increase in the overall welfare has a negative impact on the most serious crimes. In addition, the long-run elasticities reveal symmetric results in terms of positive and negative relationships amongst types of crime. In the short run, the cross-deterrence elasticities highlight a complementary effect between more serious crimes (i.e. robberies, extortions and kidnapping) and milder crimes (i.e. drug-related crimes and falsity) and a substitution effect amongst all other types of offences. Policy implications are drawn.     

Using Dasymetric Mapping for Spatially Aggregated Crime Data

With availability of crime data to the public via sources such as the Uniform Crime Reports, and increasing geographic information system (GIS) capabilities for mapping crime, macro-level studies of crime have advanced knowledge of how crime is distributed over large areas. Choropleth mapping, commonly used in macro-level studies, visually displays data by assigning the number of crimes or crime rate to the corresponding spatial unit and using different shades or textures for each value or classified values creating a thematic map. However, crime incidents or crime rates are not dispersed evenly within spatial units, and choropleth mapping masks the underlying nuances of the distribution. Artificial boundaries, along with variations in the size of the unit of analysis, can further distort the true distribution of crime. Dasymetric mapping provides a methodology for refining the distribution of crime within a spatial unit. It does so by using additional data, such as land use and census data, to provide a realistic estimate of how crime may be distributed within the units of analysis. Dasymetric mapping is also useful in creating density maps to reveal clusters of crime normally masked with choropleth maps. This paper will show how dasymetric mapping can estimate the spatial distribution of aggregate level residential burglary within political boundaries in Massachusetts based on land use and housing data.     

论绑架罪特殊中止犯的设立——由“善良绑匪”案引发的刑法思考

绑架罪的既遂以绑架行为实际控制人质，将人质置于行为人实际支配之下为标准。因此，根据我国中止犯的一般理论，行为人绑架犯罪既遂以后又释放人质的不能构成中止犯，属于犯罪既遂后的悔罪表现。为了保障人质的生命、身体安全，鼓励犯罪人及时放弃犯罪，防止社会危害性扩大，对于绑架犯罪既遂后释放人质的情形，国外刑法和我国台湾地区刑法已经将其作为特殊中止犯加以规定。从刑事政策及中止犯的立法宗旨考虑，我国刑法也有必要将绑架犯罪既遂后释放人质的情形增设为特殊中止犯。     

非法拘禁罪若干问题研究

成立非法拘禁罪,不要求被害人认识到自己被剥夺自由的状态.非法拘禁罪是一种典型的继续犯,其行为应在一定时间内处于持续状态.对于非法限制他人人身自由的行为,必要时可以按照非法拘禁罪论处.非法拘禁罪与绑架罪界限的关键区别在于主观目的的不同.     

Tackling Somali piracy

The last couple of years has seen a revival of maritime piracy. It spread from the coast of Somalia to nearby waters and further. Somali pirates captured dozens of ships and their crew and demanded large sums of ransom. This in turn has triggered the international community to send an international fleet of marine flotillas to protect the international shipping trade. Furthermore, international shipping companies took target hardening measures through barricading ships and giving the crew access to weapons. Still, piracy attacks are escalating even as we speak. Since stepping up repressive measures does not seem to have solved the problem, the question arises of what other options are available to prevent piracy. Situational crime prevention might not seem the most obvious tool in this case, but it is worth considering. By using the vocabulary of situational crime prevention, a neutral analysis of the situation can be applied and may help to identify possible ways to counter piracy. E.g., we are not interested in the motives of the pirates, but ways to make it unattractive for them to attack passing ships. When we consider that the Somali government is absent because of internal chaos, it becomes obvious that other forms of guardianship must be introduced.     

An Examination of the Assumption that Adult Businesses Are Associated with Crime in Surrounding Areas: A Secondary Effects Study in Charlotte, North Carolina

Recent Supreme Court decisions have signaled the need for sound empirical studies of the secondary effects of adult businesses on the surrounding areas for use in conjunction with local zoning restrictions. This study seeks to determine whether a relationship exists between adult erotic dance clubs and negative secondary effects in the form of increased numbers of crimes reported in the areas surrounding the adult businesses, in Charlotte, North Carolina. For each of 20 businesses, a control site (matched on the basis of demographic characteristics related to crime risk) is compared for crime events over the period of three years (1998–2000) using data on crime incidents reported to the police. We find that the presence of an adult nightclub does not increase the number of crime incidents reported in localized areas surrounding the club (defined by circular areas of 500- and 1,000-foot radii) as compared to the number of crime incidents reported in comparable localized areas that do not contain such an adult business. Indeed, the analyses imply the opposite, namely, that the nearby areas surrounding the adult business sites have smaller numbers of reported crime incidents than do corresponding areas surrounding the three control sites studied. These findings are interpreted in terms of the business mandates of profitability and continuity of existence of the businesses.     

PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN FROM SEX OFFENDERS: HAVE WE GONE TOO FAR?

On July 27, 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. This federal statute was created to serve as a tougher, more modern improvement of its predecessor in the ongoing effort to protect children from dangerous sexual predators. However, the Act did not amend the controversial federal mandate that all 50 states include the crimes of kidnapping and false imprisonment against a minor, committed by a nonparent, and without any sexual motivation or misconduct, as a crime requiring a wrongdoer to register as a sex offender. This Note demonstrates how the kidnapping and false imprisonment requirements of the Adam Walsh Act have led to a misuse of state sex offender registries to the detriment of the children they claim to protect. The solution that this Note proposes will provide each individual state with the freedom to decide how, if at all, these contentious offenses will fit into its sex offender registry, taking into consideration the state's unique statutory language, available child protective resources, and constitutional limitations. As a result, petty criminals who do not pose any real or specific threat to children will no longer be grouped with the most dangerous and violent sexual predators, child protective funds will be better utilized, and the public's attention will be refocused on the real threats to children, thereby satisfying the spirit and purpose of the Adam Walsh Act.     

Traditional Organized Crime in Chicago

For 78 years the Chicago Outfit or Mob has been the focus of the Chicago Crime Commission's1 efforts to combat organized crime. Indeed, the perception of organized crime in Chicago, as well as much of the city's reputation, stems from the notorious, and often inappropriately glamorized, activities of the Outfit from Al Capone in the 1930s through John DiFronzo in the 1990s. While the Outfit is most certainly still alive, much of the organized criminal activity presently targeting Chicago and its suburbs is perpetrated by new and emerging criminal enterprises. These groups range from local burglary rings to highly sophisticated international criminal organizations headquartered in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and South America, involved in corporate kidnapping and extortion, murder-for-hire, high-tech crime and drug trafficking. All require public attention and relentless law enforcement scrutiny. This paper deals with traditional organized crime in Chicago. Emerging Organized Crime will be dealt with in a forthcoming paper.     

论利益归属对犯罪参与类型界分的影响 以财产性犯罪为中心

中外司法实务在区分核心和次要的犯罪参与类型时,惯常地考虑参与人的利益归属情况。特别是对于财产性犯罪,直接突破了以构成要件为中心的区分模式,格外侧重于参与人对经济利益的归属。对此,学界尚未进行充分的理论诠释。在肯定利益归属影响论的基础上,将利益归属作为综合区分标准的影响因子之一的做法,不具有体系理性;将利益归属作为认定参与行为发挥的客观作用的间接事实,未体现关联性;将利益归属作为认定参与人主观意思的情状证据,不具有明确性。犯罪参与类型的区分标准具有递进序列的主客观层次,在确认参与人具有实施构成要件的具体行为能力的基础上,利益归属是推定参与人是否具有实施构成要件的行为意志的间接事实。财产性犯罪具有强烈的追求利益的经济性格,以利益归属推定参与人实施构成要件的行为意志,在财产性犯罪中具有更可靠的推定效果。