Construction of the problem of Latin gangs in Spain and response of the law enforcement system

Recently, since their official recognition as criminal organizations by Spanish law enforcement authorities, stricter prosecution of Latin street gangs has been observed. The toughening of legal regulations, new models of police conduct and the increasingly active role of prosecutors have contributed to greater punitive pressure on the gangs. This article has two main objectives: first, to describe changes in Spanish criminal policies for the treatment of Latin American street gangs; second, to analyse to what extent these changes are in consonance with empirical findings on criminal involvement and the organizational nature of these groups. The results show that despite the recent increase in criminal activity these groups cannot be viewed as the only parties to blame for local street crime. The opinion of the law enforcement authorities that Latin American street gangs are a form of organized crime is far from reality. These groups do not have the required combination of characteristics inherent to criminal organizations, and their purposes are not always exclusively criminal.     

析犯罪组织黑社会化的动因

犯罪组织黑社会化,是指一般的犯罪组织与社会规范背道而驰、恶性发展成黑社会组织的过程。犯罪组织成员欲获取更大利益(尤其是经济利益)的心理需求,转变为犯罪组织的意识,推动犯罪组织去牟取最大的经济利益,即推动了犯罪组织的黑社会化,这是犯罪组织黑社会化的个体动力。犯罪组织为了生存和发展,为了满足组织成员的需要,必然追求最大的经济利益,从而推动犯罪组织的黑社会化,这是犯罪组织黑社会化的组织动力。因此,获取最大的经济利益,是犯罪组织黑社会化的根本动因。     

Criminal Behavior: A Real Option Approach With an Application to Restricting Illegal Insider Trading

Traditionally, criminal behavior is analyzed within an expected utility framework. This paper offers an alternative model to analyze criminal behavior based on real option models. It is shown that all criminal decisions can be analyzed as real options, in a sense that they confer the possibility but not the obligation to commit a crime in the future. The criminal option model is a richer model compared to conventional economic models of crime, because it takes into account four additional variables. As such, the conventional economic analysis of crime is a special case of criminal option models. The criminal option model is then applied to the enforcement of illegal insider trading. Based on the six value-drivers of criminal options, an active management strategy can be developed for the criminal as well as for the legislator.     

Gangs as contractors: the social organization of American Taiwanese youth gangs in Southern California

This paper examines the organizational structure and operations of Taiwanese organized crime and youth gangs in Southern California. In-depth interviews were used as the principle method of research. In contrast to transnational criminal conspiracy claims and the La Cosa Nostra model of vertically integrated organizations, our findings suggest that these criminal groups consist of discrete local Taiwanese youth gangs which operate as largely independent economic units that show no substantive and operational ties to criminal organizations in Taiwan. The formation of Taiwanese criminal organizations and gangs in Southern California is primarily governed by the availability of financial opportunities. Furthermore, both the inter-gang relations and intra-gang structures exhibit a distinct form of contractor arrangement which consists of market-like weak ties that are simultaneously circumscribed by the criminal embeddedness. We argue that that these economic weak ties, which seem to render conventionally understood criminal organizational boundaries administratively less meaningful, still function as an operationally significant governance mechanism of the organizational structures of American Taiwanese youth gangs. In addition, the paper discusses the implications that the embeddedness has on the somewhat paradoxical and incoherent organizational structure.     

Relative prestige of criminal justice doctoral programs

Organizational sets are made up of organizations with interchangeable personnel, important activity common to members, and a prestige order. The prestige order in other academic disciplines has been identified, and the survey reported here was an attempt to provide some preliminary information on the prestige order among criminal justice doctoral programs. A survey of a sample of Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences members and other criminal justice educators revealed several programs consistently receiving high ratings. These programs are likely to have a substantial influence on the development of criminal justice graduate education by providing models for graduate programs, personnel to staff criminal justice programs, and establishing the standards by which quality education will be defined. In addition, the importance of a list of characteristics pertaining to quality education was examined, and library resources and several faculty attributes emerged as those perceived as most important for quality doctoral education in criminal justice.     

中国大陆黑社会(性质)犯罪的演变过程、规律及其发展趋势

新中国成立后彻底肃清了中国大陆的黑社会势力。改革开放以后 ,黑社会 (性质 )犯罪重新出现 ,大体上每 1 0年为一个阶段。第一个阶段是从改革开放初期到 80年代末。其特点是 ,在大量犯罪团伙出现和不断增加的同时 ,有相当一部分犯罪团伙转化为黑社会性质的组织。第二个阶段是从 1 990年到 2 0 0 0年 ,其特点是 ,团伙犯罪向黑社会性质犯罪急速转化以及黑社会性质的组织加速了自身的成熟化和向黑社会组织转化 ,出现了个别的黑社会组织。 2 0 0 0年以后的 1 0年 ,是黑社会 (性质 )犯罪发展的第三阶段。笔者认为 ,黑社会性质的组织不断成熟并向黑社会组织转化 ,是该阶段的特征。与此同时 ,犯罪团伙将继续大量出现 ,犯罪团伙也将继续向黑社会性质组织转变。出现了犯罪团伙、黑社会性质组织和黑社会组织三者并存和同时向高一级转化的局面     

Maturity in Adolescent and Young Adult Offenders: The Role of Cognitive Control

This study examined the role of cognitive control in explaining the psychosocial maturity of adolescent (n = 43) and young adult male (n = 40) offenders. We separated psychosocial maturity into prosocial and criminal components, which were statistically unrelated and were explained by different variables. Individuals with higher levels of prosocial maturity were older, had better proactive cognitive control, and had better short-term memory than those with lower levels of prosocial maturity. Individuals with higher levels of criminal maturity were older and had better reactive cognitive control than those with lower levels of criminal maturity. We discuss the implications of these findings with regard to juvenile justice policy and practice.     

Criminal organizations and resilience

Criminal organizations inhabit dynamic environments where the pressures of competition and state opposition constantly challenge their existence. To survive and prosper, they must be resilient. Little has been written about the concept of resilience in the context of illicit organizations. This article explores possible sources of resilience for criminal organizations, focusing on institutionalised gangs. Drawing on ecological and organizational literature, resilience is defined as the capacity to absorb and withstand disruption and to adapt to change when necessary. For gangs and other criminal organizations, sources of resilience may include environmental factors and individual organizational features such as network characteristics. Resilience is not just a concept that enables criminologists to better understand the longevity of some criminal organizations; it also has implications for the strategic and operational aspects of policing such organizations, including intelligence gathering, the design of interventions and assessment of their potential unintended consequences.     

Criminal network security: An agent‐based approach to evaluating network resilience*

Criminal networks are frequently at risk of disruption through arrest and interorganizational violence. Difficulties in designing empirical studies of criminal network recovery, however, have problematized research into network responses to disruption. In this study, we evaluate criminal network resilience by examining network recovery from disruption in an array of different criminal networks and across different disruption strategies. We use an agent‐based model to evaluate how criminal networks recover from disruption. Our results reveal the vulnerabilities and time to recovery of numerous criminal organizations, and through them, we identify which disruption strategies are most effective at damaging various criminal networks.     

刑法典修订以来若干重要理论问题新探索(上)──《刑法教科书》(2000年版)的新发展

刑法法典化和刑法法典成熟化是刑事立法现代化的一种趋势;对犯罪概念应坚持形式定义与实质定义的结合与统一;刑法上主要有两种犯罪分类方法,一是根据犯罪的性质,一是根据犯罪的严重程度;犯罪构成可以分为法定的犯罪构成与现实的犯罪构成;事业单位、机关、团体、民办非企业单位作为法人犯罪主体时,应当对其内涵予以正确界定;犯罪客体是犯罪主体的犯罪行为所侵害的、为我国刑法所保护的社会利益,它既是犯罪的组成部分,又是犯罪构成的组成部分;应在刑法上规定罪过的概念并坚持“无罪过不为罪,也不受刑罚”的罪过原则,罪过不仅指故意与过失,而且还包括其他因素,罪过不仅有存在与否的区别,还有程度的差别;“持有”作为犯罪行为的形式,通常表现为作为,但有时也表现为不作为,甚至表现为两者的交叉,因此把它视为犯罪行为的第三种形式亦未尝不可;国家对犯罪人及其犯罪行为的评价和判断,属于刑事责任的内容;犯罪和犯罪构成的质变,由组成要素的性质、数量、结合方式三个因素决定,研究犯罪和犯罪构成的质变与部分质变,可以以此来构建刑法分则理论新体系。     

Criminalizing Organizations: Towards Deliberative Lawmaking

With threats from diverse criminal organizations on the increase and current state approaches being of variable effectiveness, legislatures now need to take a more systematic and deliberative approach to framing policy and legal responses to criminal groups. This article proposes a typology of legislative approaches to the whole spectrum of criminal groups that would facilitate a more holistic assessment of what to do about gangs, organized crime, and terrorist groups. It clarifies the advantages and disadvantages of different legal approaches and paves the way for further research on more nuanced and effective laws on criminal organizations for the future.     

Cross-Classified Multilevel Models: An Application to the Criminal Case Processing of Indicted Terrorists

This study provides an application of cross-classified multilevel models to the study of early case processing outcomes for suspected terrorists in U.S. federal district courts. Because suspected terrorists are simultaneously nested within terrorist organizations and criminal court environments, they are characterized by overlapping data hierarchies that involve cross-nested ecological contexts. Cross-classified models provide a useful but underutilized approach for analyzing such data. Using the American Terrorism Study (ATS), this research examines case dismissals, trial adjudications and criminal convictions for a sample of 574 terrorist suspects. Findings indicate that diverse factors affect case processing outcomes, including legal factors such as the number of counts, number of co-defendants, and statute of indictment, extralegal factors such as the ethnicity of the offender, and incident characteristics such as the type of terrorism target. Case processing outcomes also vary significantly across both terrorist groups and criminal courts and are partially explained by select group and court characteristics including the type of terrorist organization and the terrorism trial rate of the court. Results are discussed vis-à-vis contemporary research on terrorism punishments and future directions are suggested for additional applications of cross-classified models in criminological research.     

Managing money acquired from human trafficking: case study of sex trafficking from Bulgaria to Western Europe

Often the criminal activities, especially organized criminal groups are aimed at generating large amounts of money in a short period of time. However, the criminal organizations differ in their approach to revenue management. This article focuses on the management of proceeds acquired from human trafficking and presents the results of an empirical study on the topic. This study is based on 152 semi-structured interviews conducted with sex workers, traffickers, law-enforcement representatives, and prosecutors. The article explores the movement of money within the criminal organizations, the methods of bookkeeping and accounting, and the basic techniques for laundering the proceeds acquired from sex trafficking from Bulgaria to Western Europe. By describing how the criminals engaged in human trafficking for sexual exploitation manage the money generated from this type of criminal activity, a better understanding of the criminal phenomenon itself can be attained.     

余罪自首成立要件解析

成立余罪自首的主体为被采取强制措施的犯罪嫌疑人、被告人和正在服刑的罪犯。认定余罪自首的重点不在于犯罪人是否被剥夺了人身自由 ,而在于交代的是否是“余罪”。余罪自首成立的客观要件为“如实供述司法机关还未掌握的本人其他罪行” ,无论该罪行与司法机关已掌握的或判决确定的罪行属同种还是异种 ,只要其可以单独构成犯罪 ,就应认定为自首。     

Rwanda’s involvement in Eastern DRC: A criminal real options approach

This paper applies an alternative model to analyze criminal behaviour by countries based on real option models. Criminal options incorporate a richer framework than traditional cost-benefit models and allow examining the optimal timing of a crime as criminals have the possibility but not the obligation to commit a crime in the near future. From the model, we show how criminal states can actively manage their criminal options. More importantly, we show how the international community can optimally intervene pro-actively, by reducing the incentives for criminal states to execute their criminal options. These novel insights are then applied to two episodes of criminal behaviour by Rwanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the massive killing of Hutu refugees by the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) in late 1996-early 1997 and the illegal exploitation of Congolese resources from August 1998 onwards. This article describes and assesses these activities from this real option perspective.     

Courting Rwanda: The Promises and Pitfalls of the ICTR Outreach Programme

This article aims to assess the contribution of the OutreachProgramme at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR). The author introduces and discusses two general approachesor models of outreach that international criminal tribunalsmay pursue. The transparency model of outreach seeks to makea tribunal's opaque legal process more visible by disseminatingbasic information about the court to communities recoveringfrom human rights abuses. The engagement model goes beyond onlyinforming these communities by facilitating frequent and extensivetribunal interaction and dialogue through seminars, town hallpresentations, and training of legal professionals. Despitesome progress with limited resources, the efforts of the OutreachProgramme of the ICTR to engage the Rwandan population and tomake the Tribunal more transparent have been ineffective. Thearticle recommends that the ICTR bolster its outreach effortsby helping to train Rwanda's judiciary, appointing more Rwandansto serve in positions of authority at the Tribunal, and engagingdomestic and international non-governmental organizations inoutreach programme partnerships.     

反洗钱情报在侦查中的深度应用

发达国家及国际组织纷纷认识到了通过对金融系统资金交易进行监控,利用了解客户身份、保持记录制度、大额和可疑交易报告制度等反洗钱制度来发现犯罪线索、截留犯罪收益、追查犯罪嫌疑人的重要性。许多犯罪涉及到犯罪资金的流动,经侦、刑侦、禁毒、反恐等侦查部门应充分认识到反洗钱情报在侦查中的重要作用,通过建立包含金融、税务、海关、公安...     

近代中国侦查权独立的历史考量

作为一种具有司法色彩的特殊行政权,刑事侦查必须独立于司法审判权和普通行政权;作为一种刑事诉讼权力,它也必须具有排除党派等政治势力干扰的独立性.但在清末民初的中国,虽然也设置了如其他大陆法系国家的检察、司法警察等机构组织,但行使侦查权的检察和警察都带有浓郁的政治色彩,法律并未能够保证它们依法独立侦查犯罪,侦查权的独立性无法获得保障.     

DEMOGRAPHY,POLICE BEHAVIOR,AND DETERRENCE *

This paper presents a model of police response to changes in crime frequencies and a criminal response model characterizing the deterrent effects of police arrest behavior. These models are estimated for data taken from police department records in the city of St. Louis. The underlying theoretical conception is that arrests constitute communication to criminals in general in addition to the specific deterrence achieved through the arrest it see Disaggregation in both space and time enables identification of the statistical models through measurement rather than through statistical manipulation. The models are estimated for burglaries under varying demographic conditions and using data organized through aggregation in time (by weeks) and space (by census tracts). Under some demographic conditions, both police response and deterrent effects on criminal behavior are enhanced. Under other demographic conditions, these effects are suppressed. Enhancements and attenuations arising from specific demographic conditions for both the police response and criminal response models have a similar pattern, consistent with the underlying communication hypothesis.     

足迹鉴定结论在侦查过程中的证据价值分析

本文着重从刑事诉讼过程中的证据运用比较密集的侦查阶段，讨论了足迹鉴定结论的证据价值。在综合各种观点的基础上，明确说明了对不同种类的足迹，采用不同鉴定方法所得出的结论，在刑事侦查和审判过程中的不同证据价值。力图成为司法和公安机关在评价足迹鉴定结论证据价值时的参考依据，提高司法工作人员对足迹鉴定的应用水平。