The politics and mythology of organized crime: A Philadelphia case-study

Although much criticized, the “Cosa Nostra” theory of organized crime continues to exert considerable influence over lawmakers and law enforcement officials. This theory has been extensively studied on a national level, but few local case studies trace the transition from the multiethnic organized crime of the 1930s and 1940s to the (supposed) Italian hegemony of the years since 1960. Philadelphia provides an excellent opportunity for such a study, as the base of a strong Jewish-dominated structure before 1960 and a “Mafia town” thereafter.A major concern of this article is the manner in which the history of crime in the city was retroactively rewritten during the 1970s, in order to provide a basis for contemporary theories and bureaucratic needs.     

“Scared Straight”: Ideology and the media

One of the more widely publicized presentations about crime is “Scared Straight,” a documentary about a program in which juveniles visit inmates in a New Jersey penitentiary. It is the contention of this article that this film and the accompanying media coverage of it convey an ideology message concerning crime and criminals. Crime is presented as a matter of individual choice that has little relationship to any social variables. Criminals are portrayed in a one-dimensional manner as evil, vicious, and barely human. The documentary is a success because these images of crime and criminals conform to existing stereotypes. Based on these distorted images, the film and media coverage “market” a simplistic solution to crime that is compatible with their presentation of the crime problem.     

Closing Off Opportunities for Crime: An Evaluation of Alley-Gating

A new situational crime prevention measure recently introduced into Great Britain involves the fitting of gates to alleyways running along the back of terraced properties to restrict access to local residents and reduce opportunities for offenders. A number of quantitative techniques were used to assess the success of the intervention in reducing burglary in the City of Liverpool. The results demonstrate that, relative to a suitable comparison area, burglary was reduced by approximately 37%, there was a diffusion of benefit to properties in the surrounding areas, and the scheme was cost beneficial with a saving of £1.86 for every pound spent. The analyses provide persuasive evidence that these reductions were attributable to the intervention. We argue that the methodological techniques demonstrated here can be applied more widely to crime prevention evaluations.     

Alcohol and rape: An “economics-of-crime” perspective

Using a panel of state-level data over the years 1982–2000, this study explores the potential relationship between alcohol policy, alcohol consumption, and rape by considering a number of theoretical and methodological issues. First, the potential relationship is examined in the context of an economics-of-crime model, controlling for various deterrence and opportunity cost variables. Second, unlike most studies, consumption of liquor and wine are considered as well as consumption of beer. A third focus is on the potential endogeneity of alcohol consumption. A fourth consideration dictates the focus on rape-rates rather than other violent crime rates. Several studies have discovered a tendency for relatively high alcohol consumption by both offenders and victims. Since rape victims are virtually all female, and at least some alcohol policy variables appear to have differential impacts on females and heavy-drinking males, an examination of policy impacts for rape-rates, unlike other types of violent crime, can suggest the nature of the alcohol-consumption–violence relationship. The empirical results support an “alcohol-increases-potential-victims-vulnerability” hypothesis. In the context of the economic theory of crime, this lowers the expected cost of rape to potential offenders and raises rape-rates. Tests for endogeneity of alcohol consumption and resulting simultaneous equation estimates reinforce this implication because they suggest that potential victims respond to relatively high rape-rates by reducing alcohol consumption.     

Identifying,explaining, and targeting burglary ‘hot spots’

Conclusion The data-gathering and crime analysis part of the Task Force programme (while not yet completed) has generated some useful information about burglary in Cambridge which might inform a crime prevention strategy. The research has shown that residential burglary is not evenly distributed across Cambridge, but tends to be clustered in the northwest of the City. It has also shown that even in these high-burglary areas there are hot spots and cold spots of crime. These hot spots account for a relatively large proportion of all burglary.One factor contributing to the high burglary counts in the hot spot area is the high number of repeat burglaries, with as many as 35 percent of all burglaries recorded in the area being one of a repeat series of burglaries. Another factor which might have contributed to the high burglary counts was the abundance of access and escape routes of the kind identified in the environmental survey. Perhaps the most important factor which explains the high number of burglaries was the closeness of the area to the place of residence of known offenders. The hot spot site thus provides a local source of easy and rewarding opportunities for offenders who live in these areas.In the second stage of its work, the Cambridge Burglary Task Force will collate the information that has been collected in the first stage and devise appropriate intervention strategies. We aim to continue to monitor crime and criminals in the area and to evaluate the effectiveness the programmes implemented.     

Juvenile conference committees: An evaluation of the administration of justice at the neighborhood level

The Juvenile/Family Court has significant problems in dealing efficiently and effectively with its caseload. Due to the pressure of “serious” juvenile crime, a large volume of status offense and minor crime cases, although of significant social consequence, are dismissed by the court. The concept of “neighborhood justice” has provided one basis for dealing with such cases.This is a report of a process evaluation of New Jersey's Juvenile Conference Committee (JCC) program, which provides an extensive network of citizen tribunals as an arm of the court. The evaluation was designed to explore both structural and procedural aspects of the JCC with a focus on policy implications. Results show that the JCC is a major diversion mechanism. Questions are raised, however, as to the purpose of intervention in cases of minor delinquency and the adequacy of current JCC procedures in dealing with such cases. The conclusion is reached that the citizens' tribunal is an important mechanism for community development.     

Hispanic perception of police performance: An empirical assessment

This exploratory study examines relationships between the police and Hispanics in Texas. Specifically, data were collected on Hispanic evaluations of police performance, expectations of police performance, and overall satisfaction with the police. A sample of 500 Hispanics throughout the state of Texas were surveyed on their experienced and perceived relationships with three levels of police agencies: local (municipal) police, sheriff's officers, and the state's Department of Public Safety. Findings are reported based upon overall ratings of the police, victim-related data, and data from individuals who had any form of contact with the police. Significant findings show that any form of contact with the police appeared to lower the rating of police performance. This appears to be a product of the interaction between high public expectations and qualitatively poor police performance. Further findings indicate that an increase in the fear of crime among Hispanics lowered evaluations of local police. Similarly, victimization lowered the evaluation of local police, the county sheriff, and the Department of Public Safety. Hispanics also perceived that officers have a “bad attitude,” that the police need to patrol and investigate more, that response time should be improved, and that there should be less discrimination against Hispanics. These findings appear to be largely influenced by ineffective communication (both symbolic and linguistic) and cultural conflict.     

Official Crime Statistics and Survey Data: Comparing Trends of Youth Violence between 2000 and 2006 in Cities of the Czech Republic,Germany, Poland,Russia, and Slovenia

Based on official crime statistics, violent crimes of youths in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe had appeared to have increased considerably between 1990 and 2000. Survey data that can overcome limitations of police data and allow to compare crime trends across countries are rare. Based on self-report delinquency studies of 15 year old juveniles in 1998–2001 (SRD) and 2006 (ISRD-2) using compatible questionnaires in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe (partly in the same cities), trends of attitudes towards violence, of victimisation experiences and self-reported wanton and instrumental violence are compared cross-nationally. There is substantially less approval of violence in 2006 and a corresponding decrease of victimisation experiences and violent behaviour between 1999 and 2006. Official crime statistics show serious limitations. The results are discussed with respect to theories of modernisation and social change.     

Old and New Actors in the Italian Drug Trade: Ethnic Succession or Functional Specialization?

The article analyses Italian and foreign organized crime involved in the drug market from two perspectives. The first, called “criminal succession”, assumes that the great presence of foreign criminal groups into this illegal market would represent a menace to the traditional hegemony exercised by Mafia-type associations in Italy. From a different perspective, defined as “functional specialisation”, the involvement of foreign criminal groups in the drug market could also be seen in terms of criminal “labour force” tending to follow the same mechanisms occurring in the general market at large, where immigrants fill low-paying jobs not requested by the local population. Through the analysis of data provided by the Italian Central Antidrug Bureau and recent court records the article tests these two perspectives. In particular, the in-depth analysis of three case studies from northern, central and southern Italy – i.e. Milan, Florence and Naples – has allowed us to identify the main changes that occurred in the drug market since the early 1990s. In effect, in Milan and Florence, we register the emergence of foreign criminal actors in the high- and medium-level positions of the local drug trade, while in Naples, where Camorra clans hold very strong positions, it leaves small areas of autonomy to foreign criminal groups.     

Trends in Police-recorded Offences

This article presents 10-year trends (1998–2007) on some common crimes: homicide, assault, rape, robbery, car theft, domestic burglary and drug offences. In addition, a few less common offences in police statistics, such as money laundering, corruption, offences against computer data and systems are discussed, even though trends of these crimes are not available. Trends are shown from Western, Central and Eastern Europe, where significant sociopolitical changes have occurred. Although police data actually describes more the recording practices of the officials than the amount of crime, police data is highly valuable for research purposes. Most countries continuously collect information about police activity, and the police is mostly the starting point for proceeding with a case in the criminal justice system. In the USA, all common offences recorded by the police have decreased during the recent years. In Europe, property crimes, homicide and robbery have decreased in most countries, but violence and drug crimes have increased. According to the crime victim surveys, the increase in assault cannot be explained by the increasing reporting activity of victims; the increase seems real. The level of crime differs considerably in different areas: for instance, homicide is most common in Eastern Europe, but assault is much higher in Western Europe.     

Crime Trends in the EU

The paper’s aim is to show to EU policy makers, academics, journalists and the general public what the available information tells us about crime levels, trends in crime and public opinion about crime among Member States. The paper centres on an analysis of current trends on crime levels and trends based on the data available both from victimisation surveys and police statistics. The victimisation survey source is the published data collected in the International Crime Victimisation Survey. A separate analysis based on the Eurobarometer was also carried out. Data on police statistics present two separate sources i.e. the Council of Europe Sourcebook and the crime data published annually by the UK Home Office. These two sources both add considerable value to the raw police statistics by their choice of data, their commentary and their technical explanations and definitions. The paper compares data on three crime types (robbery, domestic burglary and theft of a motor vehicle) across the 15 Member States of the European Union (as in 2003). These three types were selected in line with the priorities of the EU Commission and as types of crime that are a major concern for EU-citizens. The paper has been modified from a report produced by the European Crime prevention network for the EU Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs with the permission of the EU. The members of the network are listed in the appendix.     

Measuring the impact of forensic science in detecting burglary and autocrime offences

As UK investment in forensic science has increased, the government has taken a fresh interest in how far this has led to dividends in terms of the detection of crime and its reduction. The Home Office funded 'Pathfinder Project' sought to monitor and document the complex relationships between the collection and use of forensic material (looking at a range of forensic science techniques) and its impact on crime detection. The project specifically targeted the 'volume' crimes of burglary and vehicle crime. Detailed data was gathered on all stages of the process between the collection and use of forensic material and crime detection. The model falls into two conceptual phases--scene attendance to suspect identification and identification to detection. From the analysis it was found that approximately one third of burglary and autocrime scenes are visited by SOCOs. While scientific identifications are only made in a minority of burglary and autocrime offences overall, it belies their importance. About one in ten of burglary and autocrime cases are cleared up by the police and it is estimated that fingerprints and SGMPlus were a contributory factor in achieving one third of these clear ups.     

Learning on the job: Studying expertise in residential burglars using virtual environments*

In this article, we describe a quasi‐experiment in which experienced incarcerated burglars (n = 56), other offenders (n = 50), and nonoffenders (n = 55) undertook a mock burglary within a virtual neighborhood. We draw from the cognitive psychology literature on expertise and apply it to offending behavior, demonstrating synergy with rational choice perspectives, yet extending them in several respects. Our principal goal was to carry out the first robust test of expertise in offenders by having these groups undertake a burglary in a fully fledged reenactment of a crime in a virtual environment. Our findings indicate that the virtual environment successfully reinstated the context of the crime showing clear differences in the decision making of burglars compared with other groups in ways commensurate with expertise in other behavioral domains. Specifically, burglars scoped the neighborhood more thoroughly, spent more time in the high‐value areas of the crime scene while traveling less distance there, and targeted different goods from the comparison groups. The level of detail in the data generated sheds new light on the cognitive processes and actions of burglars and how they “learn on the job.” Implications for criminal decision‐making perspectives and psychological theories of expertise are discussed.     

论共同犯罪的转化犯

转化犯是真正身份犯。在聚众斗殴过程中出现致人伤亡但无法查清行为人情形的,应当根据行为人事前对伤亡结果的心理态度确定是否构成转化犯罪及其责任范围;集团犯罪转化犯的责任范围应当根据行为人事前对暴力、胁迫行为的心理态度来确定。间接正犯的转化犯要根据利用者对法定结果的心理态度和被利用者刑事责任能力的状态来确定;共谋共同正犯转化犯的责任范围应当根据共谋的内容是否包括转化犯罪来确定;承继性共同正犯转化犯的责任范围应当根据后参与者参加犯罪的时间来确定。在共同犯罪的转化犯与结果加重犯竞合的情况下,需要根据转化犯罪的性质来确定转化犯的责任范围;在共同犯罪的转化犯与包容犯发生竞合的情况下,应当根据行为人的行为状态来确定转化犯的责任范围。     

Public perceptions of crime seriousness in Israel:: native-born versus new immigrants

The broad consensus generally found with regard to public perceptions of crime seriousness has been shown to reflect “consistency” in relative rankings rather than “absolute agreement” in ratings among sample groups. The present study compared the crime seriousness perceptions of native-born Israelis with those of two groups of new immigrants (one from the former Soviet Union and the other from Ethiopia). Questionnaires including 30 different criminal offenses for evaluation were distributed by means of face-to-face interviews to a representative sample of the Israeli adult population. As expected, the three groups provided very similar rankings of offenses but much less absolute agreement (ratings). It is suggested that the significant gaps in the perceptions of the groups stem from “culture conflict” (Culture Conflict and Crime, Social Science Research Council, New York, 1938), that is, differences in the social and cultural norms of the immigrants’ countries of origin and those prevailing in the absorbing society.     

Transnational and local entanglements in the ‘cycle of violence’ of Central American migration

ABSTRACT

Violence in Central America has become one of the reasons for leaving the region. Recent scholarship tends to understand violence within local and regional processes, while neglecting the larger transnational processes. Focusing on the case of Hondurans seeking asylum in the United States, this article argues that the phenomenon of violence that has forced Hondurans to leave is a result of a combination of local and transnational processes. Conceptually, this article draws on the notion of the ‘cycle of violence’ to understand the different forms of violence that forcibly displaces Central Americans. The notion has been used to understand how early exposure to violence is linked to future violent behaviour. However, it is limited to local processes. This article expands this notion by considering transnational factors, such as migration and the global agenda of crime control, in the contribution to the reproduction of the ‘cycle of violence’ of Central Americans.     

Experiencing violence in a cross-media environment: an interdisciplinary focus group study

Due to drastic changes in the contemporary media environment, criminology needs to examine how the experience of violence is shaped by the emerging cross-media context. We conducted a qualitative focus group study (N = 24) to explore conversations about mediated violence experiences and crime media literacy in Finland, which manifests as an advanced state of cross-media transformation. We found that the cross-media context affects how information on violence and crime is received, as people combine and contrast bits of information from traditional media, social media, alternative media, and direct personal and local knowledge. This constellation of information sources is a fertile ground for distrust, as people challenge the self-regulatory limits of ‘old media’ in reporting on crime and construe such limits as ‘downplaying’ violence. Consistent with the general ‘media-critical’ frame of mind, the interviewees saw crime news media as fear-inducing. Through a focus group of older participants (in addition to three groups of younger participants), we observed generational differences that reflect the dimension of change from the old monolithic media environment to the cross-media context. The new context blurs the distinction between media content and social network-based reception and is thus a game changer for media criminology.     

Toward a typology of sexual burglary: Latent class findings

Purpose

To understand fully the nature of residential burglary one must examine the situational context, and offender's behavior during the burglary. Although several behaviors appear to be distinctly related to sexual burglaries, including voyeurism, fetishism, sexual violence, and sexual murder, a systematic typology of the characteristics of residential sexual burglary is lacking. The purpose of the study was to develop a typology of residential sexual burglary.

Methods

The present study investigated 224 incidents of residential burglary with recorded sexual components. A typology classifying these incidents was developed using Latent Class Analysis.

Results

Three types of sexual burglary were identified. Fetishistic noncontact burglaries typically occurred in unoccupied houses and involve fetishistic behavior, but no theft, violence, and weapon. Versatile contact burglaries were characterized by rapes occurring in apartments and involving theft, violence, and weapon. Finally, perpetrators of sexually oriented contact burglaries raped their victim in houses but these incidents rarely involved theft, violence, or weapon. Previous offenses were also analyzed; the three distinct types of burglary appear to be embedded in different prior offense histories. The practical implications are discussed.

Conclusions

This research underscores the importance of examining the situational context and offender's behavior during a residential burglary with sexual components.     

Crime Trends in Western Europe from 1990 to 2000

This paper analyses the evolution of police recorded crime rates for nine offences (intentional homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft, vehicle theft, burglary, domestic burglary, and drug offences) over the period 1990–2000 in 16 Western European Countries. The analysis shows that there was an increase in drug and violent offences, while property offences reached a peak at the beginning of the 1990s and started decreasing afterwards. The evolution of property offences can be related to the emergence of a large black market for stolen goods in Central and Eastern Europe at the beginning of the time series, while by the end of it that market was saturated and there had also been a reinforcement of police measures in the frontiers and of security measures in Western European households. The increase in drug offences is correlated to the rise of drug use in Europe shown by other indicators, and can be related to an increased availability of drugs in European markets. Finally, the upward trend in violent offences can be explained partially by gang struggles over the control of illegal markets and by the consolidation of problematic neighbourhoods, but seems also due to a large extent of increase in the reporting of violent offences by their victims and the recording of such offences by the police. The analysis shows that opportunity-based theories provide a satisfactory explanation of the trends in recorded crime, and that the crime opportunities are heavily influenced by socio-economical factors.Versions of this paper were presented at the 3rd Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology (Helsinki, August 27–30, 2003) and at the Societies of Criminology 1st Key Issues Conference (Paris, May 13–15, 2004). The paper was written during a stay at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law (Freiburg imBreisgau, Germany) made possible through the support of Swiss National Science Foundation     

The Economic Cost of Crime in Chile

This study estimates that the economic cost of crime in Chile, using the accountancy method, is $1.35 billion as at 2002; that is, this cost is equivalent to 2.06% of Chile's GDP. Crimes included in the estimation are murder, robbery, larceny–theft, burglary, wounding, rape and sexual assaults, domestic violence and economic felonies such as fraud, forgery and so on. Consequential costs are the most important, representing 68% of the total cost of crime. Government spending represents 23% of the total and anticipatory cost account for the remaining 9%. Chile presents higher level of crime than most developed countries—though less than most developing nations—but government's spending on citizen's security is considerably lower than that of the US and several other European countries.