The judicial response to crime and the criminal: A utilitarian perspective

This paper examines the hypothesis that the sentencing decision of the criminal court is consistent with utilitarian principles and that the judiciary uses the length of incarceration as an instrument for the maximization of societal well-being. A theoretical model is developed, whose principal arguments are offender and offense attributes, resource costs, the availability of alternative sanctions, and the general crime rate. Four questions are considered: (i) How does a utilitarian court respond to a general increase in crime? (ii) How does the availability of alternative sanctions affect the length of incarceration ? (iii) How does a utilitarian court respond to offenders who are more likely to recidivate? (iv) How does the court respond to offenders who commit more serious offenses? The model is empirically evaluated, using cross-sectional data for the state of Georgia for individuals sentenced to prison in 1978 for a UCR index offense. The theoretical model provides few specific behavioral rules for the court to follow. Answers to the foregoing four questions are shown to depend upon both the efficacy of sanctions and the cost of the administration of those sanctions. It is not possible to predict, for example, how a utilitarian court should respond to a rise in crime or how it should respond to offenders who are likely to commit more serious offenses. The empirical analysis shows that, in fact, the sentence length varied inversely with the general offense rate, with the likelihood of imprisonment, and with the length of postprison probation. The evidence also indicates that sentences vary with the individual's original record but not with the offender's age or race. With the exception of possible gender bias, the court's sentencing behavior was consistent with utilitarian principles.     

The Moving Home Effect: A Quasi Experiment Assessing Effect of Home Location on the Offence Location

Objectives

This study aims to test whether the home location has a causal effect on the crime location. To accomplish this the study capitalizes on the natural experiment that occurs when offender??s move, and uses a unique metric, the distance between sequential offenses, to determine if when an offender moves the offense location changes.

Methods

Using a sample of over 40,000 custodial arrests from Syracuse, NY between 2003 and 2008, this quasi-experimental design uses t test??s of mean differences, and fixed effects regression modeling to determine if moving has a significant effect on the distance between sequential offenses.

Results

This study finds that when offenders move they tend to commit crimes in locations farther away from past offences than would be expected without moving. The effect is rather small though, both in absolute terms (an elasticity coefficient of 0.02), and in relation to the effect of other independent variables (such as the time in between offenses).

Conclusions

This finding suggests that the home has an impact on where an offender will choose to commit a crime, independent of offence, neighborhood, or offender characteristics. The effect is small though, suggesting other factors may play a larger role in influencing where offenders choose to commit crime.     

BITING ONCE,TWICE: THE INFLUENCE OF PRIOR ON SUBSEQUENT CRIME LOCATION CHOICE

Properties, victims, and locations previously targeted by offenders have an increased risk of being targeted again within a short time period. It has been suggested that often the same offenders are involved in these repeated events and, thus, that offenders’ prior crime location choices influence their subsequent crime location choices. This article examines repeated crime location choices, testing the hypothesis that offenders are more likely to commit a crime in an area they previously targeted than in areas they did not target before. Unique data from four different data sources are used to study the crime location choices of 3,666 offenders who committed 12,639 offenses. The results indicate that prior crime locations strongly influence subsequent crime location choices. The effects of prior crime locations are larger if the crimes are frequent, if they are recent, if they are nearby, and if they are the same type of crime.     

Mens Rea and Criminal Attempt

Intent to commit a crime has in recent times been used as a basis for assigning fault and making appropriate correctional decisions. The author defines attempt to commit a crime as "engaging in conduct with the specific intention to produce forbidden consequences while aware of the possibility that the circumstances that render such consequences criminal may exist." The author develops and defends the thesis that inchoate crime is more than merely anticipatory guilt. Mens rea in inchoate offenses is not merely a condition of fault-it is a component of the danger of criminal harm that determines the need for forceful intervention.     

想像竞合犯的理论探究

想像竞合犯,是指行为人实施一个事实行为,而同时触犯两个以上罪名的犯罪形态。其基本特征为:想像的犯罪竞合,实质的、裁判的一罪;基于单一或复合罪过的一个事实行为;同时触犯数个不同罪名的具体犯罪。想像竞合犯不同于规范竞合与结果加重犯。想像竞合犯一个事实行为的重复性,强调的是事实行为在数罪评价中的整体重复,包括准整体重复。打击错误原则上可以视为想像竞合犯的情形。对于想像竞合犯从一重处断。     

Desert,retribution, and corporate criminality

The role of commensurate deserts in the punishment of corporations and their agents has received little attention to date. Those who have written on desert and corporate crime dismiss it on the grounds that retributive rationales, which incorporate notions of desert, are not applicable to corporate offenses and because desert, with its focus on the moral opprobrium attached to criminal conduct, is not fitting for offenses which are regulatory and thus “morally neutral.” This essay argues that although retribution is a viable justification for corporate punishments, it need not be the only or even the primary justification for punishment for desert to be applicable in the distribution of corporate sanctions. It also questions the position of moral neutrality, citing empirical evidence of the public's perceptions of the seriousness of corporate criminal activity.     

Violent Street Crime Versus Harmful White-Collar Crime: A Comparison of Perceived Seriousness and Punitiveness

Recent studies have challenged traditional wisdom regarding public apathy about white-collar crime by revealing equal or greater perceived seriousness of these offenses among respondents relative to traditional crime. Nevertheless, subjects in those studies were generally asked to contrast white-collar crime scenarios with a non-violent street crime baseline vignette. Perhaps a violent street crime would have invited lower perceived seriousness for the white-collar offenses. Participants in the present study were asked to (1) read vignettes describing violent street crimes and physically harmful white-collar crimes, (2) compare their seriousness, and (3) determine appropriate sanctions. Subjects perceived the violent crime scenarios presented to them to be more serious than the harmful white-collar crime vignettes. Further, they were less punitive toward white-collar offenders compared with street criminals. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

器官移植涉及的刑法问题

医生为移植而摘取活人的器官,不构成故意伤害罪的根本理由是有供者的承诺。任何人不能为移植而摘取无承诺能力的未成年人的器官,也不能以紧急避险为由,强行摘取不同意捐献器官者的器官,否则,就有可能构成故意伤害罪。医生为移植而摘取尸体器官,一般不构成盗窃、侮辱尸体罪,但如果无死者生前的承诺,也未经死者近亲属同意,又无其他法定的特殊事由,则是非法行为,应受民事或行政处罚。器官移植诱发了买卖人体器官、非法摘取人体器官以及进行人体试验等新型犯罪。我国应尽快立法,增设这些新的罪名及其处罚规定。     

A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY TO CRIME: EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL HISTORY ON CRIME LOCATION CHOICE*

Many offenses take place close to where the offender lives. Anecdotal evidence suggests that offenders also might commit crimes near their former homes. Building on crime pattern theory and combining information from police records and other sources, this study confirms that offenders who commit robberies, residential burglaries, thefts from vehicles, and assaults are more likely to target their current and former residential areas than similar areas they never lived in. In support of the argument that spatial awareness mediates the effects of past and current residence, it also is shown that areas of past and present residence are more likely to be targeted if the offender lived in the area for a long time instead of briefly and if the offender has moved away from the area only recently rather than a long time ago. The theoretical implications of these findings and their use for investigative purposes are discussed, and suggestions for future inquiry are made.     

Risk assessment vs real prediction: The prediction problem and public trust

Confusing risk assessment and the prediction of individual behavior has led to false claims which, if translated into juvenile court or adult sentencing policies (selective incapacitation, for example), may lead to further erosion in public confidence in the justice system. Considerable emphasis has been placed on the consequences of false positives in the literature and in this paper. The false negative has different but equally damaging effects because the impression may be given that increasing the severity of sanctions for selected serious offenders is the solution to juvenile delinquency and adult crime. Analysis of official police records for three birth cohorts from Racine, Wisconsin, reveals that, although high-risk groups produce a disproportionate share of the delinquent and criminal behavior recorded in police reports and juveniles in high-risk groups continue into adult crime disproportionately to others, serious juvenile offenders still account for only a portion of the serious offenses that will ultimately be committed by adults. Therefore, selective incapacitation of early offenders may take only a small bite out of crime. When referrals rather than police contacts were utilized as the predictor variable, there was little difference in predictive efficiency.     

Sanctions, Perceptions, and Crime: Implications for Criminal Deterrence

Objectives

A survey of empirical research concerning the determinants of an individual’s perceptions of the risk of formal sanctions as a consequence of criminal behavior. The specific questions considered are: (1) How accurate is people’s knowledge about criminal sanctions? (2) How do people acquire and modify their subjective probabilities of punishment risk? (3) How do individuals act on their risk perceptions in specific criminal contexts?

Methods

Three broad classes of extant studies are reviewed. The first is the relationship between objective sanctions, sanction enforcement, and risk perceptions—research that includes calibration studies and correlational studies. The second is the relationship between punishment experiences (personal and vicarious) and change in risk perceptions, in particular, research that relies on formal models of Bayesian learning. The third is the responsiveness of would-be offenders to immediate environmental cues—a varied empirical tradition that encompasses vignette research, offender interviews, process tracing, and laboratory studies.

Results

First, research concerning the accuracy of risk perceptions suggests that the average citizen does a reasonable job of knowing what criminal penalties are statutorily allowed, but does a quite poor job of estimating the probability and magnitude of the penalties. On the other hand, studies which inquire about more common offenses (alcohol and marijuana use) from more crime-prone populations (young people, offenders) reveal that perceptions are consistently better calibrated to actual punishments. Second, research on perceptual updating indicates that personal experiences and, to a lesser degree, vicarious experiences with crime and punishment are salient determinants of changes in risk perceptions. Specifically, individuals who commit crime and successfully avoid arrest tend to lower their subjective probability of apprehension. Third, research on the situational context of crime decision making reveals that risk perceptions are highly malleable to proximal influences which include, but are not limited to, objective sanction risk. Situational risk perceptions appear to be particularly strongly influenced by substance use, peer presence, and arousal level.

Conclusions

The perceptual deterrence tradition is theoretically rich, and has been renewed in the last decade by creative empirical tests from a variety of social scientific disciplines. Many knowledge gaps and limitations remain, and ensuing research should assign high priority to such considerations as sampling strategies and the measurement of risk perceptions.     

Deterrence and tax treatment of monetary sanctions and litigation costs

The tax treatment of monetary sanctions and litigation expenditures varies across legal jurisdictions and time. The effects of these different tax regimes – particularly, on crime deterrence – have not been fully explored. Instead, legal intuitions in court decisions and legislative reforms are found. This paper explores the effects of these tax regimes. It shows that our common intuitions are sometimes misguided, since we tend to ignore cross-effects between crime and litigation. For example, contrary to commonly held views, it is shown that non-deductibility of monetary sanctions may increase the level of crime, if litigation expenses are deductible. In addition, if deductibility of legal expenses depends only on a successful trial outcome, this may also increase amounts spent on litigation and time allocated to crime. As this paper shows, however, a complete deductibility regime, under which both monetary sanctions and litigation expenditures are deductible, maintains the pre-tax levels of crime and litigation expenditures for risk-neutral offenders. The paper further explores the effects of different tax reforms.     

“受过行政处罚入罪”规定之证成

2013年以来我国刑事司法解释有一明显趋势,即将行为人曾经受过行政处罚的事实作为定罪情节,纳入犯罪成立与否的考量之中。对这一现象,我国刑法学界多从刑事犯罪行为与行政违法行为"质"的差异,或者客观主义刑法观的角度出发予以否定。但是,在我国"定性+定量"的刑事立法模式下,刑事犯罪行为与行政违法行为以"量"的差异为主、质的差异为辅,行政违法性"量的累加"可以产生刑事违法性。"受过行政处罚入罪"的规定综合考虑了行为的客观危害程度和行为人的主观可谴责性程度,不仅不违反罪刑法定原则、禁止重复评价原则和责任主义原则等定罪时应坚持的一些基本原则,还有利于弥补劳动教养废除后的制度空白,调整我国"结果本位"的刑法结构,实现行政处罚与刑事处罚的有效衔接。     

Economic Conditions, Deterrence and Juvenile Crime: Evidence from Micro Data

This article investigates the determinants of criminal activityamong juveniles in the United States. It uses a survey of U.S.high school students conducted in 1995, which provides detailedinformation on offenses; personal, family, and neighborhoodcharacteristics; as well as deterrence measures. The determinantsof selling drugs and committing assault, robbery, burglary,and theft are analyzed separately for males and females. Theresults provide some evidence that juveniles respond to incentivesand sanctions. Employment opportunities and policies designedto increase the probability of arrest may be effective toolsfor reducing juvenile crime.     

The Seriousness of Crime Cross-Culturally:

This study examines the perceptions of the seriousness of offenses: first, by examining perceptions of a wide range of offenses for respondents from two very divergent cultures, the United States and the Middle East, second, by assessing the perceived severity of some 17 sanctions for respondents from these two cultures and finally, by assessing the impact of religiosity on the perceived seriousness of Crime. In addition, both the magnitude estimation and category techniques for measuring the seriousness of crime are utilized and the results from using these two techniques are compared.     

关于中止行为构成他罪问题的处断探析

刑法理论界对于犯罪中止行为本身又构成犯罪这一问题并没有进行深入的研究，对于如何进行处理更没有明确。本文基于这一背景，对中止行为构成犯罪的情形进行了认定。并且对于这一情形如何处理进行了明确认定。在这一过程中，将成立紧急避险的可能性予以排除，并且在处罚原则上排除了适用牵连犯和想象竞合犯的处罚原则，而认为应当进行数罪并罚。     

Juvenile-Perpetrated Sex Crimes: Patterns of Offending and Predictors of Violence

Criminal record reviews were conducted on 126 juveniles arrested for sex offenses against children (n = 62) or peers and adults (n = 64). Peer/adult offenders were found more consistently to offend against females who were strangers or acquaintances, more frequently to commit their crimes in a public area, and more often to act in a group with other offenders. Peer/adult offenders were also more likely to commit the sex crime in association with other criminal activity, and they evidenced higher overall levels of aggression and violence. In general, the aggression of child molesters tended to intimidation rather than physical force, whereas the aggression of peer/adult offenders was more injurious, and perhaps gratuitous. Violence in peer/adult offenders, but not of child molesters, was predicted by the interactive influence of the victim's gender, age, and level of resistance.     

论我国刑法中的聚众犯罪

聚众犯罪是指我国《刑法》明文规定以聚集特定或不特定多人进行违法犯罪活动为构成要件的犯罪。我国《刑法》共用11个条文规定了14个聚众犯罪,其中大多数聚众危害社会是构成犯罪的必要条件,少数是该罪的选择行为要件。聚众犯罪的主要特征有法定性、聚众进行、实施的是复数行为等。从犯罪形态上看,聚众为着手,实施具体违法犯罪活动为既遂。它与煽动犯罪、教唆犯、组织犯、首要分子既有联系又有区别,与组织犯部分交叉重合。聚众犯罪的一罪数罪标准在于行为个数、数行为之间是否牵连、牵连时定一罪是否能体现罪刑相适应。     

论独立教唆犯之犯罪预备性——以我国刑法第29条第2款的规定为视角

独立教唆犯是预备犯,这是因为,从教唆行为的本质上看,教唆行为是教唆者所教唆之罪的犯罪预备行为,且这种犯罪预备行为的本身在法律上不具有正当性。为了尽早阻断教唆行为对法益的破坏作用,有的国家在刑法总则中对独立教唆犯予以原则性地处罚规定,采取的是非独立预备犯的立法模式,将犯罪构成要件的可罚性前置化。采取独立预备犯立法技术的国家,在刑法分则中为一些独立教唆行为规定了特定的犯罪构成要件,使一些教唆行为成为其相应的犯罪构成要件的实行行为,但不是教唆者所教唆之罪的犯罪实行行为。     

"亲亲相隐"与尊重人权:我国刑事政策之理性抉择

根据刑法第310条的规定,窝藏、包庇罪,是指明知是犯罪的人而为其提供隐藏处所、财物,帮助其逃匿的行为,或者作虚假证明予以包庇的行为.不管窝藏、包庇者与犯罪人之间是什么关系,只要实施窝藏、包庇行为的,都要受到刑事制裁.实际上,这样的法律就是对人提出了这样的要求:当你的亲属犯罪的时候,你为了维护法的权威和尊严,必须要牺牲亲情.这种规定的合理性需要探讨.本文根据古今中外关于"亲亲相隐"制度的规定,结合我国因否认此制度而给现实社会带来的危害,分析了现阶段确立"亲亲相隐"制度的合理性,最后提出"亲亲相隐"原则刑事立法化的具体建议.