Transnational organized crime challenges for future research

This essay and review seeks to assess the state of empirical research on transnational organized crime, drawing on a review of the English language academic literature. It identifies major themes and research questions as well as methodological approaches, and summarizes key findings. It also addresses challenges to meaningful research, arguing that internationally coordinated research projects will be necessary in the future to arrive at the insights necessary to inform theory and policy.     

Crime is a Social Problem

This article seeks to place the study of crime and criminals in the social policy context. Criminal careers research is critically evaluated and modern social trends are outlined as a background to an exploration of the interaction between criminological research findings and social policies for youth in trouble. A contrast is drawn between individualised explanations of criminal behaviour and approaches which seek to place crime in its situational and social context.     

The Swiss regulatory framework for paediatric health research

Medical research on minors entails both risks and benefits. Under Swiss law, clinical trials on children, including nontherapeutic drug trials, are permissible. However, ethics committees must systematically verify that all clinical studies have a favorable risk-benefit profile. Additional safeguards are designed to ensure that children are not unnecessarily involved in research and that proper consent is always obtained. Federal Swiss law is undergoing revision to extend these protections beyond clinical trials to a broad array of health research. The Swiss drug agency also seeks to improve the incentives for pharmaceutical firms to develop new paediatric drugs and relevant paediatric drug labels.     

Does Empirical Legal Studies Shed more Heat than Light? The Case of Civil Damage Awards

Empirical investigation of legal systems is emerging as a leading trend in both the social sciences and the legal academy in the early twenty‐first century. Law reviews are now filled with studies reporting empirical data. Because empirical investigation of law commonly seeks to inform contentious social and political debates, however, its research often fuels more debate than it resolves. Partisans on both sides of contentious issues now cite the same body of research to support their reform efforts. However, social science research on law is not a useless undertaking, as it can sharpen debate. But the hope that the new empirical legal studies movement will become a neutral source of information for policy makers is unlikely to be realized.     

A community paradigm of organized crime

This article reviews the available empirical research on organized crime and suggests that an important dimension of that research is the close symbiosis between organized crime groups and the communities in which they operate. As such, it is hypothesized that the concept of community may be important to explaining the persistence and durability of organized crime. A community model proposed by Roland Warren, which seeks to integrate much of the sociological literature on the community, and which delineates the basic functions of the community is presented as a means of organizing the available date about organized crime and explaining organized crime’s functional and latent aspects.     

Safeguarding Themselves and Their Children: Mothers Share Their Strategies

This paper describes a single aspect of an ongoing program of research that seeks to create an open dialog among low-income parents of young children, staff from a large urban Head Start program, and researchers on child and woman safety. Authors conducted a content analysis of three focus groups within a larger ethnographic study employing qualitative methods. Data emerging from this analysis illustrates the ingenuity with which women keep themselves and their children safe in unsafe contexts.     

AN ANALYSIS OF SERIOUS CRIME BY YOUNG BLACK WOMEN*

This research focuses on a relatively unexplored phenomenon—black female juvenile offenders. Both theoretical and research work are weak or nonexistent regarding these offenders. This paper seeks to fill some of these gaps. In addition, this research effort draws on a source of data that has in frequently been adapted to study offenders, National Crime Survey (NCS) victimization data. Utilizing NCS data from 1973 through 1981, a comparative analysis of NCS rates of juvenile offenses by black females, black males, white females, and white males is presented and discussed. A number of propositions which are found in the literature regarding black female offenders are examined. Trends in offending by black females compared with trends for other age-race-sex subgroups are also presented and analyzed. Finally, some implications for future theoretical and research efforts are presented     

Capriciousness or Fairness?

Abstract

Previous research on capital sentencing have discovered quantitative proof of discrimination, especially by race of the victim. The present study examines prosecutorial decision making in Kentucky. Using a method of analysis developed by Berk et al., it seeks to determine the level of capriciousness (uncertainty) present in the prosecutorial decision to seek the death penalty. Kentucky prosecutors were most likely to seek the death penalty in cases where black offenders killed white victims.     

The Elderly Victim at Risk: Explaining the Fear- Victimization Paradox

Current research argues that criminal victimization of the elderly is less of a problem than advocates for the elderly have argued it was in the past. The rate of victimization has been empirically demonstrated to be lower than for most other age groups. At the same time, the elderly express high levels of fear regarding criminal victimization. This article seeks to explain this apparent paradox through an “at risk” hypothesis that accounts for both low rates and high fear.     

Organized crime, the militarization of public security, and the debate on the “new” police model in Mexico

After the recognition in Mexico of a situation characterized by violence involving both non-state actors (mainly drug lords) and the state apparatus, the present research critically analyzes both the national security strategy adopted by President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006–2012), which is based on the process of the militarization of public security, as well as the “new” police model proposed by the executive power that seeks to professionalize law enforcement agencies.     

Survivor-Centered Research: Towards an Intersectional Gender-Based Violence Movement

Much has been written on the imperative of intersectionality within the fight for women’s equality and in efforts to end gender-based violence. However, data continues to show that women and LGBTQ people of color experience heightened and more severe instances of both state and interpersonal violence. What lessons can domestic violence and sexual assault advocates and researchers learn from intersectional theory and frameworks to help reduce instances of violence, reduce barriers in accessing resources and create safety nets for communities? This paper seeks to explore the roots of historical violence against communities of color, the current trends in anti-violence research and service provision and strategies for engaging in intersectional community based research.     

Criminal psychological profiling of serial arson crimes

The practice of criminal psychological profiling is frequently cited as being applicable to serial arson crimes. Despite this claim, there does not appear to be any empirical research that examines serial arson offence behaviors in the context of profiling. This study seeks to develop an empirical model of serial arsonist behaviors that can be systematically associated with probable offender characteristics. Analysis has produced a model of offence behaviors that identify four discrete behavior patterns, all of which share a constellation of common nondiscriminatory behaviors. The inherent behavioral themes of each of these patterns are explored with discussion of their broader implications for our understanding of serial arson and directions for future research.     

Independent Self-Construal and Opposition to Affirmative Action: The Role of Microjustice and Macrojustice Preferences

Why are people with a stronger independent self-construal more opposed to affirmative action than those with a weaker independent self-construal? Drawing on prior research, we predicted that this is because the former endorse microjustice principles—which are perceived to be violated by affirmative action—and disregard macrojustice principles—which affirmative action seeks to ensure. In contrast, people with a weak independent self-construal endorse both microjustice and macrojustice. The results from three studies support our reasoning. Our research contributes to theorizing on affirmative action by illuminating the important role of both microjustice and macrojustice concerns in predicting opposition to affirmative action. We discuss the implications of our research within the North American context for increasing people’s endorsement of macrojustice in an effort to mitigate opposition to social policies aimed at redressing societal injustice.     

Organised Cybercrime or Cybercrime that is Organised? An Assessment of the Conceptualisation of Financial Cybercrime as Organised Crime

Criminological research over the last couple of decades has improved our understanding of cybercrimes. However, this body of research is regarded as still theoretically thin and not fully developed; more knowledge on the actors involved, their characteristics, and modus operandi is needed. Some publications recently suggested that organised crime is or might be involved in cybercrimes, which would have important policing implications, but evidence-based research on this point is still scarce and inconclusive. This article seeks to further this path of inquiry by providing a systematic analysis of 40 cases from The Netherlands, Germany, UK, and USA where criminal networks were involved in financial cybercrimes affecting the banking sector. It also assesses whether and to what extent these criminal networks meet the definitions of organised crime and discusses the theoretical and policing implications of our findings.     

The world at their fingertips? The mental wellbeing of online distance-based law students

In recent years there has been an increased interest in student mental wellbeing within higher education. In terms of legal education, much of this has been focused upon the United States (US) and Australia, with a lack of United Kingdom (UK)-based empirical data available. Although there is now extensive provision of online distance learning options available to UK (and other) law students, there is a notable lack of research into the possible challenges which are specific to this form of tertiary offering. This paper seeks to contribute to the development of research in this area by reporting upon, and analysing, preliminary data gathered from an empirical study of the mental wellbeing of online distance learning law students.     

Decision Making in a Hybrid Organization: A Case Study of a Southwestern Drug Court Treatment Program

This article presents a case study of decision making in a drug court located the southwestern United States. This study seeks to fill a gap in research on decision making by attending to the ways that drug court officials navigate the demands of a court that is dedicated to both therapy and criminal justice. This analysis differs from previous research by viewing the drug court as a “hybrid organization” and asking how the staff members interact in the decision‐making process. Additionally, this research provides an opportunity to investigate the concerns over collaborative decision making raised by critics. The data from this case study reveal that as a hybrid organization, the drug court staff often divides along institutional lines by allowing the counseling staff to manage treatment and the judge to manage punishment. When tensions arise, they are resolved by the structure of the court, which is hierarchical rather than collaborative.     

Studying Law by Association: Bruno Latour Goes to the Conseil d'État

This essay provides an overview of actor-network theory (ANT) and its potential interest for sociolegal scholars. It focuses on Bruno Latour's 2002 ethnography of La fabrique du droit: une ethnographie du Conseil d'État [The factory of law: an ethnography of the Conseil d'État] (2002b), which provides an analysis of the workings of the French Conseil d'État. The essay seeks to introduce non-French-reading sociolegal researchers to this work and draws out methodological and theoretical implications for research on legal institutions, legal knowledge, and bureaucracies.     

Punishment and Paperwork: White-Collar Offenders Under Community Supervision

This article examines how changes in penal ideology may affect the experiences of white-collar offenders under community supervision. In-depth interviews with white-collar offenders on their experiences while under federal probation are used to examine how changes in criminal punishment have undermined the traditional reintegrative and rehabilitative goals of community supervision. The analysis suggests that shifts to a more managerial, actuarial model that seeks depersonalized efficiency has unintended consequences that delegitimatize the criminal justice system, and foster sentiments of degradation. Based on these findings, considerations for future research are discussed.     

Intellectual Property Theft and Organized Crime: The Case of Film Piracy

This article seeks to understand the processes by which the crime of intellectual property theft is organized, with specific attention given to film piracy. It seeks to identify the structure and function of the criminal enterprises engaged in this crime and assess the degree to which organized crime is involved with film piracy. An analysis of available sources reveals that general conclusions about the relationship of organized crime to film piracy results from a lack of useable and verifiable information in media, government, and industry sources. In the absence of independent, substantive analysis, anecdote and industry interests currently drive public policies and legal developments created to address the role of organized crime in film piracy. In the United States and across the globe, seizures, criminal indictments, civil actions, and public awareness are up considerably. Whether or not these advances can be maintained in the face of technological advances, the evolution of industry economic structures, and consumer indifference to the stigma of intellectual property theft and concern at industry response to such theft remains to be seen. Specific recommendations for future research are offered. The author would like to thank the International Center of the National Institute of Justice for soliciting funding this research through a grant, Intellectual Property and Organized Crime. He also Thanks Jay S. Albanese and his the anonymous reviewers of this work for their helpful comments and criticisms. This article only reflects the findings of the author, not the National Institute of Justice, Dr. Albanese or the reviewers.     

Teleporter: An analytically and forensically sound duplicate transfer system

This research seeks to minimize the transmission of unnecessary data when sending forensically sound drive images from remote client locations back to a central site. Files such as operating-system files, applications, and media files are likely to exist on many hard drives. The concept combines common data from local stores with unique data from the remote site to create new, forensically sound media images. Data that can be used from local stores need not be sent over the link. The result is substantially reduced amounts of data that must be transmitted between the two sites and stored at the central location.This paper describes Teleporter, a highly optimized file transfer method. The described research will also refine the understanding of the term forensically sound and introduce the term analytically sound.