Resignifications and subversive transformations: Judith Butler’s queer theory and women who kill

This article provides an empirical study of a number of cases dealing with women who kill their abusive partners and the construction of the battered woman syndrome in order to identity the possibilities for transformation within the legal system. Drawing upon the work of Judith Butler, the article will argue that the unstable nature of social terms and the nature of social power provides the potential for resignifying and subversively transforming the gender identities constructed and perpetuated by the law. In addition to outlining the defences for murder and engaging in a close examination of the cases, the article will also provide a critical analysis of Judith Butler’s approach to subject formation. Dr Anna Carline LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD. Law Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University.     

命案侦查中警察的心理调适

2004年年初开展的全国公安机关“侦破命案专项行动”使各地公安机关都将“命案必破”作为公安工作的首要任务,面对比以前更加高标准、严要求,公安机关面临更多的压力和更高的工作强度。在命案侦破中,警察将面对巨大的压力;警察在命案侦破中要调节自己的心理状况,以适应工作的要求。     

A CROSS‐NATIONAL TEST OF BONGER'S THEORY OF CRIMINALITY AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS*

Using international data for 100 countries, we test two hypotheses derived from Bonger's Marxian theory of crime. The analyses support the hypothesis that the degree of capitalism significantly predicts homicide rates, but they fail to confirm that the de‐moralization of the population (loss of moral feelings for others) mediates the relationship between capitalism and homicide. Although capitalism is not the best predictor among those considered, overall, the results underline the importance of Bonger's ideas because both capitalism and corruption (our indicator of de‐moralization) show reasonably strong relationships with homicide rates and compete with other variables commonly used as predictors of international homicide rates. The results confirm the usefulness of attempting to subject Marxian ideas to positivist, quantitative tests, with an eye to integrating Marxian theories with other mainstream theories, such as institutional anomie theory.     

NO COMMUNITY IS AN ISLAND: THE EFFECTS OF RESOURCE DEPRIVATION ON URBAN VIOLENCE IN SPATIALLY AND SOCIALLY PROXIMATE COMMUNITIES*

The link between resource deprivation and urban violence has long been explored in criminological research. Studies, however, have largely ignored the potential for resource deprivation in particular communities to affect rates of violence in others. The relative inattention is notable because of the strong theoretical grounds to anticipate influences that extend both to geographically contiguous areas and to those that, though not contiguous, share similar social characteristics. We argue that such influences—what we term spatial and social proximity effects, respectively—constitute a central feature of community dynamics. To support this argument, we develop and test theoretically derived hypotheses about spatial and social proximity effects of resource deprivation on aggregated and disaggregated homicide counts. Our analyses indicate that local area resource deprivation contributes to violence in socially proximate communities, an effect that, in the case of instrumental homicides, is stronger when such communities are spatially proximate. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theories focused on community‐level social processes and violence, and for policies aimed at reducing crime in disadvantaged areas.     

17例杀亲案件的回顾性分析

目的总结杀亲案件的特点,为此类案件的分析、预防提供参考。方法调查溧阳地区2004—2014年破获的17例杀亲案件,对原始登记信息、现场勘验笔录、尸体检验鉴定书、破案情况进行统计分析。结果 17例杀亲案件中受害人以女性居多,嫌疑人以男性居多,杀人动机以配偶不忠或怀疑配偶不忠占较高比例。杀亲案件中有精神病患者杀人、伪装杀人,嫌疑人杀人后自杀占有一定比例。结论杀亲案件多与婚外性行为、精神病患者杀人等家庭因素有关,部分为杀人旋即自杀,致伤工具具有简单随意、易于获取的特点。     

Murder in Mexico: are journalists victims of general violence or targeted political violence?

Journalists in Mexico face hundreds of attacks each year, ranging from online harassment and physical intimidation to outright murder. The official narrative typically claims that murdered journalists are the victims of general criminal violence. This article finds that despite the rampant violence in Mexico, the murder of journalists cannot be attributed to the country’s general criminal violence problem alone. Instead, the evidence points to the targeting, and even political targeting of journalists. First, journalists are at a much higher risk of being murdered than the general population. Second, the divergence between homicide rates among the general population and among journalists varies considerably between Mexican states. While recent scholarship has shown that subnational governments can successfully remain authoritarian despite democratization at the central or federal level, this literature has largely ignored the use of political killings in subnational undemocratic regimes. This article attempts to understand the murder of journalists not just as a problem of criminal violence, but also of political violence, and thereby connects the findings to the existing scholarship on subnational authoritarianism.     

A Qualitative Assessment of Stress Perceptions Among Members of a Homicide Unit

Existing research on stress among police assumes the presence of uniform stressors across job roles and borrows upon generic stress instruments to tap stress types and levels. The present study draws upon interviews with 26 members of a metropolitan homicide unit to provide an inductive vantage point on stress perceptions within a specialized area of policing. We provide evidence that the occupational and organizational forms of stress detailed by these officers are shaped largely by the unique nature of homicide work. Among the unique task-related stressors observed include the complexities of homicide crime scenes, time pressures, cases assignment factors, paperwork demands, and long-term ownership over individual case files. A series of structural issues from both within and outside the police agency are identified as organizational stressors unique to homicide work. We conclude with a proposed theory of homicide investigator stress and implications for future research.     

预防“涉警命案”的探讨

“涉警命案”包括两个方面的内容 :一是指公安民警因违法行为造成的命案 ,二是指公安民警被犯罪分子杀害造成的命案。公安民警因违法行为造成的命案主要有刑讯逼供致人死亡、滥用枪支警械致人死亡、玩忽职守致人死亡、非法拘禁致人死亡等 ,其主要原因是民警法制观念淡薄、人权意识不强、综合素质不高以及管理工作软弱。民警被犯罪分子杀害造成的命案的重要原因是自我保护意识不强、警事技能低下、武器装备落后等。     

犯罪经济学视野中的命案侦破

命案的边际社会成本明显高于其他案件,其数量应控制在比其他案件更低的水平。降低命案发案率有两条途径:一是加大惩罚力度,二是加大作案者被逮捕与定罪的概率。但命案自身的特性决定了后者的效果优于前者。犯罪经济学分析表明,在一定的约束边界内“,命案必破”是必然和正确的选择。     

Examining Space–Time Interaction in City-Level Homicide Data: Crack Markets and the Diffusion of Guns Among Youth

This paper examines the linkage between crack market activity and gunhomicide suggested by Blumstein (1995), who argues that the arrival ofcrack stimulated an increased availability of guns among juveniles. Thisgreater availability of guns, the argument continues, is responsible for thesharp upswing in juvenile homicide experienced in the United States in themid-1980s. Using city-level data on crack arrests and gun-related juvenilehomicide, we fit a change-point version of the Bass (1969) model ofinnovation diffusion. We find that, in most large American cities, thediffusion process for crack cocaine experienced an onset of dramatic growththat was followed by a similar, slightly slower growth in gun homicidescommitted by juveniles. We further use cluster analysis to find that thespatial patterning of the two processes is similar, starting on the East andWest Coasts and working their way toward other regions of the nation. Gunuse in homicide among slightly older offenders (ages 18–24) alsoexperienced a change at roughly the same time as the juveniles, but the rateof diffusion was considerably milder than for the younger group; offendersages 25 or older generally show no growth in gun-related homicide whatsoever. In addition, there is no detectable surge in juvenile nongun homicide activity. Based on these findings, we conclude that the crack cocaine markets–gun availability linkage is highly plausible, and we suggest directions for future research in clarifying the dynamics of the late-1980s surge in juvenile homicide.