THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF URBAN HOMICIDE: AN APPLICATION OF THE "ROUTINE ACTIVITIES" APPROACH

The purpose of this paper is to use the recently developed "routine activities" approach to help interpret patterns of homicide in a major metropolitan area—Manhattan, New York We argue that the routine activities perspective suggests several distinctive hypotheses about the relationships among sociodemographic characteristics of victims, temporal features of the situation, and the probability of being involved in different kinds of homicide. More specifically, we hypothesize that the sociodemographic characteristics of age, sex, race, marital status, and employment status, along with temporal factors such as time of day, day of week and time of year, will be related systematically to the location of homicide (that is, The geographical proximity to the victim's household) and to the victim-perpetrator relationship (that is, the social proximity of participants: family members, friends, strangers). Detailed data on all recorded homicides occurring in Manhattan during 1981 are examined to evaluate the hypotheses. The results are generally consistent with expectations, indicating that the routine activities approach does indeed provide a useful framework for interpreting the social ecology of urban homicide.     

THE IDENTIFICATION OF "CAREER CRIMINALS" FROM "CHRONIC OFFENDERS" IN A COHORT

The findings by Wolfgang et al. that 6.3% of their cohort had 52% of the recorded police contacts is well known. This retrospective analysis has been used to suggest that imprisoning these "chronic" offenders will avert a correspondingly disproportionate amount of crime. On prospective analysis of the arrest histories, however, the recidivism probability is found to be constant after the third contact, suggesting that prior record has little predictive value regarding future criminality. These observations raise important questions about the benefits of "career criminal" programs and their incapacitative effects.     

关于完善我国《票据法》的几点思考

1995年颁布的《中华人民共和国票据法》在规范票据行为、保障票据当事人合法权益、维护经济秩序、促进社会主义市场经济健康发展方面发挥了重要作用。伴随着我国经济与国际接轨，票据法与金融实践之间的冲突与矛盾日趋显现．给当今金融界带来了诸多不利影响。笔者从法理的角度并结合现实可能性，在对现行《票据法》的立法缺陷进行系统分析的基础上就其修改与完善提出了建议。     

对选举法“四分之一条款”及其代表制理论的追问 一个不同于平等论的视角

<正>半个世纪,既可为革故鼎新留下充分的余地,也能将错误凝固为历史的惯例。——题记一个好政府应该做到两点:一,信守政权的宗旨,亦即人民的幸福;二,了解实现其宗旨之最佳途径。——亚历山大·汉密尔顿     

ON THE CAUSES OF "WHITE-COLLAR" CRIME: AN ASSESSMENT OF HIRSCHI AND GOTTFREDSON'S CLAIMS

This article assesses Hirschi and Gottfredson claims about patterns and explanations of White-collar crime. It points out several flaws in their analysis and shows (1) that the UCR offense categories of fraud and forgery are not appropriate indicators of white-collar or occupational crime because the typical arrestee in these categories committed a nonoccupational crime; (2) that the demographic distribution (age, sex, race) of these "white-collar" crimes is not the same as it is for most ordinary crimes; and (3) that the occurrence of these "white-collar" crimes is not relatively rare. The implications of the findings for research and theory on crime are also discussed.