Criminal Law and the Routine Activity of ‘Hate Crime’

If our knowledge about so called ‘hate crime’ was confined to what we read in the national newspapers or see on the television news then the impression that we would be most likely left with is that hate crime offenders are out-and-out bigots, hate-fuelled individuals who subscribe to racist, homophobic, and other bigoted views who, in exercising their extreme hatred target their victims in premeditated violent attacks. Whilst many such attacks have occurred, the data on incidents, albeit limited, suggests instead that they are commonly committed by ‘ordinary’ people in the context of their ‘everyday’ lives. Considering the everyday circumstances in which incidents occur, this paper argues that by imposing penalty enhancement for ‘hate crime’ the criminal law assumes a significant symbolic role as a cue against transgression on the part of potential offenders.     

有组织犯罪界定及其组织行为实行行为化——基于犯罪学与刑法学的视角转换

我国社会正处于转型期。在这一时期,有组织犯罪在形式和实质上都发生了明显的变化,而其态势已经构成社会稳定、经济安全、基层政权的重大威胁,成为影响建设和谐社会的一大隐忧。因而加强对有组织犯罪现状及发展态势的研究,提出切实可行的治理方略,对于遏制这类犯罪的蔓延和对社会肌体的腐蚀具有重大意义。对该问题的研究,应综合刑法学、犯罪学、刑事政策学乃至法哲学方面的研究成果,兼顾学理与实践,以期提出积极、有效、符合实际的研究成果。     

Measuring the Geographical Displacement and Diffusion of Benefit Effects of Crime Prevention Activity

The displacement of crime is an important criminological phenomenon. However, while there has been theoretical discussion of this issue in the research literature, there has been little in the way of either standardized empirical work that investigates the incidence of displacement or in the development of techniques that can be used to measure it. In the current paper we discuss a new technique, the weighted displacement quotient (WDQ), that was developed to measure the geographical displacement of crime. A critical feature of the rationale is that displacement can only be attributed to crime prevention activity if crime is reduced in the target area considered. Thus, the WDQ not only measures what occurs in a buffer (displacement) zone but also relates changes in this area to those in the target area. Part of the appeal of the measure is that it can be used either with aggregate or disaggregate crime data and for any geographical boundary selected, provided the appropriate data are available. In addition to detecting displacement, when detailed data are available, the technique can also be used to identify where the effect was most prominent. The WDQ can equally be used to measure the diffusion of benefit of any crime prevention activity. A series of examples are presented for illustration purposes.     

Crime Reporting Decisions and the Costs of Crime

The paper develops a model of crime reporting based on an economic approach. It identifies the principal costs and benefits of reporting from the victim’s perspective, taking account of insurance provision and the risk of intimidation by an offender. It shows how a victim might use backward induction to infer a rational reporting strategy. The recording of crime by the police is a process that relies on victim reports, and is thus influenced by the reporting decisions made by victims. The paper uses empirical evidence from the British Crime Survey and from the International Crime Victims Survey to explore the hypotheses generated by the model. It finds support for the suggestion that the propensity to report a crime increases with the size of the loss entailed. The paper also explores the implications of the findings for the estimation of the costs of crime. Reporting and intimidation costs are generally excluded from bottom-up estimates of costs, an omission that may be quite serious in the context of offences such as domestic violence.     

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.     

Gang Activity and Overall Levels of Crime: A New Mapping Tool for Defining Areas of Gang Activity Using Police Records

In this note, a new method for defining gang activity areas based uponpolice records is illustrated using the Chicago Police Department's1996 incident files. This method is based upon standard geographictechniques and uses a uniform grid that divides the city into 150-msquares. It is shown that this technique may be useful both in describinggang activity areas and in describing the spatial distribution of crime inlarge cities. A strong relationship is found between the number of gangsthat are active in an area and the general level of criminal activity.     

The Complexity of Hate Crime and Bias Activity: Variation across Contexts and Types of Bias

Are racially-motivated hate crimes, non-criminal bias incidents, and general forms of crime associated with the same structural factors? If so, then social disorganization, a powerful structural correlate of general crime, should predict rates of hate incidents. However, tests of social disorganization’s effects on racially-motivated hate crime yield inconsistent results. This study uses data from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) to explore such inconsistencies. Specifically, we assess the effects of social disorganization across contexts and types of bias motivation using bias incidents over 12 years. The results suggest that (a) social disorganization, particularly residential instability, is robustly correlated with rates of both hate crime and other prejudicial conduct, and that (b) the interactive effects of social disorganization help explain variations in incident rates by motivation type. Specifically, anti-black incidents are most frequent in unstable, homogeneous (i.e. white) and advantaged communities, while anti-white incidents are most frequent in unstable, disadvantaged communities.     

Crime and the Family

Although there has been a great deal of speculation about the relationship of crime and the family, the nature of that relationship is not well understood. After tracing the origins of the theory that crime can be genetically transmitted from parents to children, I go on to critique current biological theories of crime. Next I discuss work emerging from several disciplines that helps explain the environmental influence of families on crime. Arguing that familial influences cannot be understood apart from the structural context in which families exist, I focus on two structural factors, gender and social class. I conclude with a discussion of the policy implications of current research and with recommendations for steps we can take to reduce familial contributions to criminal behavior.     

行政犯与二元化犯罪模式

刑事犯与行政犯的类型划分已成为犯罪分类中的一个固定范武,如何在认知行政犯之本质的基础上设置行政犯的犯罪模式,这就不仅关系到刑法的控制效果,而且还关系到刑法的科学发展.作为"先抑后扬"的二元化犯罪模式,不仅能够满足刑法上设置行政犯之目的诉求,而且较好地体现了刑法谦抑原则,因而是行政犯之犯罪模式的理性选择.所以未来的刑法修正案应适当扩展二元化犯罪模式的存在范围,具体可以考虑在纯正的贪利性行政犯中实行.     

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。     

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.     

国际犯罪与涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪关系辨析——以基础概念解析为进路

国际犯罪与涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪之间虽然在起源上具有不可磨灭的历史渊源,但它们在内容上并不具有同一或者包容关系,而是一种即相互交叉又彼此保持一定独立性的关系。只有当涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪具有"国际性"时,即它们的危害性达到国际刑法所要求的严重程度时,才能上升为国际犯罪。而在国际犯罪中,除了具有国际性的涉外犯罪和跨国犯罪外,还包括具有国际性的既不属于涉外犯罪又不属于跨国犯罪的单纯的国内犯罪。     

职务犯罪要案多发领域的分析及对策研究

掌握职务犯罪要案多发的重点领域,分析特点、规律,研究打击、防范的对策,对于检察机关全面正确履行检察职能,有效遏制其滋生蔓延势头,具有重要的现实意义。必须坚持标本兼治、综合治理的方针,按照教育是基础、制度是保证、监督是关键的思路,全面加强道德控制,强化"不想犯"的心理动机;全面加强社会控制,营造"不能犯"的外部环境;全面加强司法控制,形成"不敢犯"的威慑态势,从根本上防范职务犯罪要案的发生。     

危险驾驶罪共同犯罪问题研究

作为故意犯罪,危险驾驶罪理应存在共同犯罪的情形.机动车驾驶者之间以及非机动车驾驶者与机动车驾驶者之间均有可能构成危险驾驶罪的共犯.暗中帮助他人危险驾驶的行为人应构成危险驾驶罪的片面共犯,而不知情的危险驾驶者则应单独构成危险驾驶罪.在间接正犯和单独不作为犯的情况下,非机动车驾驶者应单独构成危险驾驶罪.危险驾驶者的同饮者、劝酒者、同乘者以及饭店、酒吧等酒水提供者均不应构成危险驾驶罪的共犯.     

Crime and Reactions to Crime in Scandinavia

This short overview of available statistical data on crime and penal systems in Scandinavia indicates that the level of traditional forms of crime in Scandinavia is on a par with or lower than that found in many other European countries. As elsewhere in western Europe, Scandinavia experienced a substantial increase in crime rates during the post‐war period—indicating that these recorded increases may have common structural roots. The 1990s witnessed a stabilization of theft rates, albeit at a high level. Increasing equality between women and men may have contributed to an increase in the reporting of violent and sexual offences against women (and children), making these offences more visible. The system of formal control in the Scandinavian countries is characterized by relatively low police density; a clear‐up rate that has declined; above‐average conviction rates; the imposition of fines in a high proportion of criminal cases; and relatively low prison populations. The implications for crime policies are discussed.