Crime Volume and Law and Order Culture

The literature on public opinion about crime and justice has neglected the exploration of macro‐ or community‐level influences on individual‐level attitudes. A key macrofactor that may be related to individual level attitudes is the volume of violent crime. High crime rates can facilitate the development of a culture of “law and order,” a response that may be a practical or instrumental attempt to control crime. The present paper tests the hypothesis that persons residing in nations marked by a high volume of crime will be more likely to adhere to elements of a law and order culture. It employs data from the International Social Science Program (N = 15,024). Controls are taken from major theoretical perspectives on public opinion about crime as well as demographic factors. The results from a hierarchical linear model support the hypothesis that individuals residing in nations with high crime rates are more likely than others to support law and order ideologies. The findings extend the support for this relationship from research based on the US alone to other industrialized societies.     

A Block-Level Analysis of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Crime in the City of Los Angeles

The liberalization of marijuana laws may have implications for neighborhood crime insofar as the distribution of marijuana through a dispensary system may provide additional opportunities for criminal behavior to take place. This project fills an important gap in the scant literature on medical marijuana dispensaries and neighborhood crime rates by integrating perspectives from environmental criminology and social organization theories in investigating the dispensary-crime nexus through interaction models and flexibly assessing dispensaries’ relationship to crime at different spatial scales. This study found the placement of a medical marijuana dispensary in the previous year to be associated with crime rate change, in both the block and the surrounding area, over and above predictor variables drawn from social organization theory. And, this study’s interaction models suggest that marijuana dispensaries may increase crime rates on socially organized blocks, with such blocks potentially experiencing a slight perturbation in their ecological continuity from a dispensary’s establishment.     

Interracial contact and fear of crime

Despite a large literature on public views about crime, the racialization of crime, and the contact hypothesis, surprisingly little is known about how interracial friendships may influence Whites’ fear of crime. At the same time, and perhaps because no counterpart stereotype to that of “Blacks as criminals” exists, there has been little exploration of how such contact may influence Blacks’ fear of crime. To address these research gaps, this study built on prior theory and research and used data from an ABC News and Washington Post poll to test competing hypotheses about the effect of interracial contact on Whites’ and Blacks’ fear of crime, respectively. The analyses revealed that close interracial friendships are associated with increased fear of crime among Whites, decreased fear of crime among lower-income Blacks, and increased fear among higher-income Blacks. The implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Applying Crime Prediction Techniques to Japan: A Comparison Between Risk Terrain Modeling and Other Methods

In recent years, the field of crime prediction has drawn increasing attention in Japan. However, predicting crime in Japan is especially challenging because the crime rate is considerably lower than that of other developed countries, making the development of a statistical model for crime prediction quite difficult. Risk terrain modeling (RTM) may be the most suitable method, as it depends mainly on the environmental factors associated with crime and does not require past crime data. In this study, we applied RTM to cases of theft from vehicles in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2014 and evaluated the predictive performance (hit rate and predictive accuracy index) in comparison to other crime prediction techniques, including KDE, ProMap, and SEPP, which use past crime occurrences to predict future crime. RTM was approximately twice as effective as the other techniques. Based on the results, we discuss the merits of and drawbacks to using RTM in Japan.     

The public salience of crime, 1960–2014: Age–period–cohort and time–series analyses†

The public salience of crime has wide-ranging political and social implications; it influences public trust in the government and citizens’ everyday routines and interactions, and it may affect policy responsiveness to punitive attitudes. Identifying the sources of crime salience is thus important. Two competing theoretical models exist: the objectivist model and the social constructionist model. According to the first, crime salience is a function of the crime rate. According to the second, crime salience is a function of media coverage and political rhetoric, and trends in crime salience differ across population subgroups as a result of differences in their responsiveness to elite initiatives. In both theories, period-level effects predominate. Variation in crime salience, however, may also reflect age and cohort effects. Using data from 422,504 respondents interviewed between 1960 and 2014, we first examine the nature of crime salience using hierarchical age–period–cohort (HAPC) models and then analyze period-level predictors using first differences. We find that 1) crime salience varies mostly at the period level; 2) crime salience trends are parallel (cointegrated) across demographic, socioeconomic, and partisan groups; and 3) crime salience trends within every population subgroup are most consistent with the constructionist model. The crime rate does not exert a significant effect in any subgroup.     

拐卖妇女儿童罪的几个问题

拐卖妇女、儿童罪是一种严重的危害社会的犯罪,其保护客体是被拐取人的人身自由和本来的生活场所的安全。构成本罪,被害妇女的同意可以阻却违法,但儿童的同意则不能阻却违法。构成本罪也不要求有场所的转移。本罪是典型的目的犯,构成犯罪既遂时,并不要求实现特定目的。本罪是继续犯,在犯罪行为的继续中,有成立共犯的余地。从犯罪本质上讲,绑架罪、拐骗儿童罪与本罪的罪质都是一样的,三者构成了对人身自由和本来的生活场所安全法益的完整的保护体系。     

CRIMINOLOGY Past and Future

Some indications as to the future of criminological theory may be gained from a study of its past as intellectual history. The changing concept of crime itself, from an act in violation of a broadly conceived moral order to the more legalistic conception of its being limited to offenses against the dictates of the state, indicates a rationalistic trend likely to continue into the future. However, the inclusion of human behavior within the scientific perspective in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries may ultimately result in the fill admission of a scientific assay of human values: and the concern with a more comprehensive definition of crime may be regained.     

应然犯罪之构成与法定犯罪之构成——兼论犯罪构成理论风格的多元发展

三要件论最重要的出发点是落实罪行法定原则 ,意在构建法定犯罪之构成 ;最重要的体系特征在于把罪状当作整体来把握 ,由此决定了它依托法律形式进行注释的、顺应司法认定思路的、局限于法定犯罪之犯罪构成的理论风格 ;四要件论是意在构建应然犯罪之构成 ,由此决定它从存在的犯罪现象出发 ,依托犯罪行为结构来揭示、把握犯罪法律因素的应然犯罪之犯罪构成的理论风格。从不同角度阐述犯罪构成 ,不仅可以并行不悖 ,而且还能相得益彰。我们既需要应然犯罪之犯罪构成论 ,也需要法定犯罪之犯罪构成论。现在的问题主要不在于如何把“四要件”论发展到完美无缺的程度 ,也不在于如何选择一个理论体系、抛弃另一个理论体系 ,而应在明确理论倾向、风格、功能的基础上 ,寻求犯罪构成理论风格的多元发展。     

影像中的有组织犯罪亚文化——以香港黑社会题材电影为例

文化是一个十分模糊的概念，但它的表现形式十分具体。研究跨国有组织犯罪的角度可以有很多，其中黑社会组织犯罪的文化形式可以是其一。作为一种传播广泛的媒体形式，电影与文化生活的互动频繁。以黑社会为题材的电影是华语电影的重要组成部分，其中属香港涉黑题材电影最为典型。电影投射出的黑社会组织犯罪有许多符号，较为突出的包括神秘、“义”、身份认同、崇尚暴力和拜金。而这些只是现实中的香港黑社会组织犯罪亚文化的抽象与简化。尽管如此，研究涉黑题材的香港电影还是能从一个侧面了解现实中的黑社会组织犯罪，回答为什么黑社会摆明了是有组犯罪的姿态却仍然让有些人加入而深陷其中的问题。     

A System��s Approach to Crime Prevention: The Case of Macao

Macao has the world’s largest casino industry and represents a unique political, social, and cultural system that differs significantly from Western societies. The overall crime rate in Macao is relatively low. Scholarly knowledge about crime and crime prevention in Macao, however, is very limited. This paper first reviews crime prevention theories, typologies, and various strategies in Western societies, followed by an introduction and discussion of crime prevention practices in Macao. Crime prevention strategies in Macao may be characterized as a tripod structure with three major supporting legs: traditional criminal justice practices, social prevention beyond the criminal justice system, and situational crime prevention measures. The paper then discusses the factors that may contribute to the low level of crime in Macao and points out the direction for future research in Macao.     

Unemployment and crime: the role of apprehension

An increase in the unemployment rate decreases the opportunity cost of crime and increases the crime rate according to standard microeconomics models. However, a large body of empirical research has shown that an increase in unemployment may increase or decrease crime. By incorporating the return to crime into standard economic models, this paper shows that an increase in unemployment, as in recessions, decreases the opportunity cost of crime and the return to crime as well. As a result, the effect of unemployment on crime is ambiguous and depends on the apprehension rate. An increase in the unemployment rate tends to decrease the crime rate at lower apprehension rates, but to increase it at higher apprehension rates. An increase in the generosity of unemployment insurance benefits does not necessarily reduce the crime rate, and the effect of more generous unemployment insurance on crime depends again on the apprehension rate.     

犯罪情境预防的理论与方法探讨

犯罪情境是一种与犯罪相关联的,可以被犯罪所利用的有利于实施犯罪的各种社会环境因素的总和。犯罪情境预防就是在了解犯罪情境内容基础上,通过研究犯罪主客观情境因素,以社会作为载体和媒介,对犯罪进行预防的理论与方法。采用理论分析和比较的研究方法,将西方“个体——情境”交互作用的理论与我国犯罪预防的实践相结合,或许可以找到适合于我国犯罪情境预防的理论和方法。     

Subprime Lending Foreclosures,Crime, and Neighborhood Disorganization: Beyond Internal Dynamics

Research and theorizing about communities and crime has largely focused on internal neighborhood dynamics, to the neglect of factors external to the community that may be important processes in shaping community crime rates. We argue that subprime lending practices and the foreclosures that result may result in higher crime rates. We utilize data from the Summit County Lending Study, the Akron Police Department, and the 2000 U.S. Census to test the hypothesis that subprime lending foreclosures increase crime in urban neighborhoods. We find that subprime lending foreclosures have substantial impact on crime counts, net of controls. We conclude that additional research and theorizing about the role of external factors in the disorganization model is required.     

论国际犯罪主体的范围与特征

由于对国际犯罪的本质、国家法律责任性质、国家犯罪标准的不同认识,学界对国际犯罪主体的范围界定不一。基于国际刑法规范及惯例中关于国际犯罪的规定、国际刑事审判实践、国际犯罪构成理论特质、国际刑法保护、国际社会共同利益的宗旨以及国际犯罪新形态等国际犯罪主体的内涵性考察,可以明确国际犯罪主体的外延应当包括个人、组织或团体(单位)、国家、国际组织,并可以概括出这四类国际犯罪主体的本质和认定特征。     

Crime trends and the effect of mandated drug treatment: Evidence from California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act

The Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA), implemented statewide in California in July 2001, mandates drug treatment rather than incarceration for certain nonviolent drug offenders. Critics of the legislation suggest that crime increased as a result of the legislation, but researchers have largely ignored this issue. Utilizing time series methodology applied across several independent data sets from Orange County, California, the effects of SACPA on crime were assessed. Results indicate that significant increases in commercial burglaries and paraphernalia arrests may have been attributed to SACPA, but the overall pattern does not support a conclusion that crime increased markedly.     

Predicting perceptions of crime seriousness among Native American Indians: a research note

Strongly held cultural values may lead to development of pro-social behaviors and subsequently values against committing crime among people belonging to targeted racial or ethnic groups. In this study, the author examines measures of Native American Indian cultural values and measures of collective efficacy to determine which set of values best predict perceptions of crime seriousness from within a population of Native American Indians. The author uses data collected from 312 Indians and 355 non-Indians during the Southern Ute Indian Community Safety Survey to determine which set of values are more closely aligned with perceptions of crime seriousness. This study found that those who held stronger Native American Indian cultural values also had stronger perceptions of crime seriousness. In the past, little scientific work has been done to associate specific cultural values to those held by cultural groups other than Euro-Americans. Findings from this work suggest that strengthening cultural values specific to a targeted group may be a promising method in the effort to reduce victimization among minority group members if said members view crime as serious and report it as such.     

The potential for the growth of organized crime in Central and Eastern Europe

Conclusions There is a clear potential for growth in organized crime in Central and Eastern Europe. The criminal justice system in most countries in the region is undergoing a crisis in morale, resources and direction, sapping its possibility to respond effectively. One of the fears in Western Europe is that organized crime will begin to cross the borders from the East. So far, this appears to have occurred only on a small scale, primarily in connection with organized theft, drug-trafficking and the illegal sale of firearms. The slow pace of this development may be due to the lack of suitable international contacts, and to the fact that sufficient profits appear to be available in the domestic market. Furthermore, operating in the West has drawbacks and dangers: it is more expensive, there may be competition from local organized crime, and the police may be more efficient.The danger posed by organized crime in Central and Eastern Europe nonetheless remains, both to the countries themselves and to the West. This has already been recognized, as shown by the growing network of bilateral and multilateral agreements, as well as by the strengthening of informal contacts among the police. Many Western European countries are providing technical assistance to Central and Eastern Europe in the form of training, consultation and the exchange of information. Sadly, organized crime control even in the West has lagged behind organized crime; both East and West have a long way to go.Director of the Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (Heuni), Turunlinnantie 8, Helsinki, Finland. Parts of this article have previously appeared inCriminal Justice International (vol. 9, no. 2, 1993, pp. 11–18).     

论盗窃虚拟财产的定性

以非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪定性盗窃虚拟财产的行为虽然符合罪刑法定原则的要求,但该罪名不能反映犯罪目的,盗窃虚拟财产的行为也没有扰乱公共秩序,虚拟财产具有价值,也可脱离受害者的控制,并能被盗窃者实际控制,符合盗窃罪的要求,盗窃者如果具有永久性剥夺受害人虚拟财产的犯罪意图的,应该以盗窃罪追究其刑事责任,域外的实践也将盗窃虚拟财产的行为定性为盗窃罪.盗窃虚拟财产的行为也可能构成盗窃罪、侵犯通信自由罪、非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪与破坏计算机信息系统罪,属想象竞合犯.     

Surveillance cameras and crime: a review of randomized and natural experiments

Research on the effectiveness of surveillance cameras in reducing crime suffers from potential threats to causal validity. This paper reviews seven studies that address some of these problems using the rigorous research designs of randomized and natural experiments. Included studies that reported changes in total crime found crime reductions ranging from 24 to 28% in public streets and urban subway stations, but no desirable effects in parking facilities or suburban subway stations. Moreover, surveillance cameras may help reduce unruly behaviour in football stadiums and theft in supermarkets/mass merchant stores. These findings indicate that video surveillance can reduce crime in several settings.     

Change and influence in popular criminology: Public attributions of crime causation

Researchers who have examined the historical development of societal responses to crime and criminals have emphasized that opinions concerning “what to do about crime” are inextricably linked to contemporary perceptions of the causes of criminality. Moreover, these causal attributions have shifted across a broad landscape over time. This article examines data from public opinion surveys conducted over the last four decades to assess the nature and extent of changes in the public's attributions of crime causation. The relationship between changing public attributions and shifts in crime control strategy is examined. Variation in causal attribution across socio-demographic characteristics of survey respondents is explored. Directions for the future in terms of crime control policy are discussed as they may be foreshadowed by historical and contemporary assessment of these public perceptions. In addition, suggestions for improvement of the methodology of further research in this ares are offered.