Sex, lies, and videotape: The presentation of sex crime in local television news

The portrayal of sex crime in popular media is distorted and sensational. The media propagate several myths about sex crime and provide numerous inaccuracies about the nature and level of sex crime. Employing content analysis, this research sought to systematically and critically explore the presentation of sex crime in local television newscasts. The results revealed that approximately 10 percent of crime stories were sex related. In addition, the results suggested that sex crime stories were more likely to present fear, while being less likely to appear sensational or report motives. Finally, unlike the majority of crime stories, sex crime stories were more likely to be reported in the later stages of criminal justice, which included the court, sentencing, and disposition phase. These findings are discussed within the context of common depictions of sex crime. Essentially, victim credibility and fear are universal themes within the context of sex crime presentation.     

RACIAL ANIMOSITY AND INTERRACIAL CRIME*

The primary objective of this study is to determine the effect of a victim's race on the likelihood of him or her being seriously injured during the commission of an interracial crime. We also assess the probability of a homicide occurring during an interracial crime. A multilevel city analysis shows that black offenders are no more apt than white offenders to injure their victims seriously during an interracial robbery or rape. A black offender also does not have a greater proclivity to kill his or her victim during the commission of an interracial crime. Some evidence suggests that white victims are more likely than black victims to suffer serious physical harm during an aggravated assault. Results also reveal that contextual factors related to racial animosity, such as residential segregation, white‐to‐black economic inequality, and black‐to‐white unemployment, fail to have any moderating effect on either the severity of victim injury or the likelihood of a homicide occurring during an interracial crime. Overall, the results generated in this study tend to cast doubt on the validity of racial animosity theory. Our findings also lead us to question the veracity of the oftenmade claim that black‐on‐white crimes are punished more severely because these types of offenses are somehow more heinous in circumstance. At least in regard to serious victim injury and victim death, black‐on‐white crime is no more violent than white‐on‐black crime.     

Victim survey research: Implications for criminal justice planning

The historic use of offense reports by police agencies for decision making is examined in the light of another data source — victim surveys. Survey information data can be used to: (1) more reliably estimate the extent and distribution of crime in a community; (2) evaluate the effectiveness of innovative programs; (3) develop police-sponsored public education programs; (4) describe the characteristics of victims and high crime areas; (5) sensitize police to the needs of the victim; and (6) develop police training programs that include dealing with the victim.     

OFFENDER–VICTIM INTERACTION AND CRIME EVENT OUTCOMES: MODUS OPERANDI AND VICTIM EFFECTS ON THE RISK OF INTRUSIVE SEXUAL OFFENSES AGAINST CHILDREN*

Criminological research has shown the relevance of examining offender–victim interaction and related factors to understand crime event outcomes. In sexual offenses against children, an obvious lack of knowledge exists regarding this issue. From a criminological perspective, we seek to improve our understanding of the offender–victim interaction in sexual offenses against children and, in particular, what factors might increase the risk of a more intrusive offense. We argue that modus operandi strategies play a central role in crime event outcomes and examine this hypothesis with data obtained from a semistructured interview conducted with offenders. As expected, modus operandi was found to have a strong effect on crime event outcomes, especially victim participation during sexual episodes. Victim effects also emerged from the analyses. Specifically, a strong interaction effect between age and gender of the victim was found for victim participation, which suggests that as the victim gets older, offenders are more likely to make their victim participate in sexual episodes when abusing a male victim but are less likely to do so when abusing a female victim.     

Contesting policy that undermines restorative justice for victims of crime☆

A policy provision in the Criminal Victim Assistance Program in British Columbia excludes the offender from participating in restorative justice approaches with the victim (and other affected parties) during counseling. A historical analysis of victim responses to crime shows that the victim experience to crime is socially constructed. In this regard, this policy act that excludes offenders from the victim healing process is consistent with a traditional approach to justice, which understands the offender to have committed a crime against the state, not the victim; however, separating the offender from the healing process is problematic within a restorative framework of justice where relationality is a central premise. Using a restorative lens, this policy act is contrary to an accompanying statute that has explicit provisions for counseling support for crime victims, as well as other statutes that provide for restorative responses to crime in Canada. The way we counsel and support victims from the harms created by crime cannot be separated from our view of justice.     

False allegation of child abduction

Cases in which a child has been falsely reported as missing or abducted can be extremely challenging to the law enforcement agencies responsible for their investigation. In the absence of a witnessed abduction or an obvious crime scene, it is difficult to determine whether a child has actually been abducted or has become a victim of a homicide and a false allegation. The purpose of this study was to examine falsely alleged kidnapping cases and identify successful investigative strategies. Sixty-one adjudicated false allegation cases involving 66 victims were analyzed. The mean age of the victim was 5 years. Victims came from generally unstable, high-risk family situations and were killed primarily by biological parents. Victims were killed because they were unwanted or viewed as an obstacle to a desired goal, or they were victims of abuse or maltreatment that ended in fatality.     

论“涉众型”经济犯罪被害人经济权利救济的困境及出路

办理"涉众型"经济犯罪案件的重点和难点在于如何最大限度地为被害人挽回经济损失。对"涉众型"经济犯罪被害人经济权利进行救济,须重构防范与保全结合型的财产控制机制、建构特殊类型案件民事救济程序独立于刑事诉讼程序的运行机制、建立健全长效机制破解民事赔偿判决执行难、构建恢复性司法理念指导下的被害人救济三元刑事诉讼模式、建立"涉众型"经济犯罪被害人国家救助制度。     

Online victimization risk and self-protective strategies: developing police-led cyber fraud prevention programs

ABSTRACT

The prevalence and impact of cyber fraud continues to increase exponentially with new and more innovative methods developed by offenders to target and exploit victims for their own financial reward. Traditional crime reaction methods used by police have proved largely ineffective in this context, with offenders typically located outside of the police jurisdiction of their victims. Given this, some police agencies have begun to adopt a victim focused, crime prevention approach to cyber fraud. The current research explores with a sample of two hundred and eighteen potential cyber fraud victims, the relationship between online victimization risk, knowledge and use of crime prevention strategies. The study found those most at risk of cyber fraud victimization despite accurate perceptions of risk and knowledge of self-protective behaviors in the online environment underutilise online prevention strategies. This research has important implications for police agencies who are designing and delivering cyber fraud education. It provides guidance for the development of effective prevention programs based on practical skills development.     

Who wants to be an ideal victim? A narrative analysis of crime victims' self-presentation

The aim of this article is to analyse how self-presentation is performed in victim narratives and what possible variant features are present in the narratives. This is examined by means of narrative analyses of face-to-face interviews with crime victims (n = 6). The narratives were grouped into two categories: 1) narratives about the crime victim as an established citizen, and 2) narratives about the crime victim as an outsider. How the narrators presented their status in society was relevant for how they understood the offender, the crime, and Victim Support. Importantly, the interviewed victims did not construe themselves as ‘ideal victims’ as they all projected personal strength in their self-presentations. Furthermore, the victim narratives normalized (rather than idealized) the victim while construing the offender as in need of treatment. The article concludes by discussing future research needs and the role of victim self-presentations for psychological well-being and trust in the criminal justice system.     

The Reconstitution of Law in Local Settings: Agency Discretion, Ambiguity, and a Surplus of Law in the Policing of Hate Crime

An important yet poorly understood function of law enforcement organizations is the role they play in distilling and transmitting the meaning of legal rules to frontline law enforcement officers and their local communities. In this study, we examine how police and sheriff's agencies in California collectively make sense of state hate crime laws. To do so, we gathered formal policy documents called “hate crime general orders” from all 397 police and sheriff's departments in the state and conducted interviews with law enforcement officials to determine the aggregate patterns of local agencies' responses to higher law. We also construct a “genealogy of law” to locate the sources of the definitions of hate crime used in agency policies. Despite a common set of state criminal laws, we find significant variation in how hate crime is defined in these documents, which we attribute to the discretion local law enforcement agencies possess, the ambiguity of law, and the surplus of legal definitions of hate crime available in the larger environment to which law enforcement must respond. Some law enforcement agencies take their cue from other agencies, some follow statewide guidelines, and others are oriented toward gaining legitimacy from national professional bodies or groups within their own community. The social mechanisms that produce the observed clustering patterns in terms of approach to hate crime law are mimetic (copying another department), normative (driven by professional standards about training and community social movement pressure), and actuarial (affected by the demands of the crime data collection system). Together these findings paint a picture of policing organizations as mediators between law‐on‐the‐books and law‐in‐action that are embedded in interorganizational networks with other departments, state and federal agencies, professional bodies, national social movement organizations, and local community groups. The implications of an interorganizational field perspective on law enforcement and implementation are discussed in relation to existing sociolegal research on policing, regulation, and recent neo‐institutional scholarship on law.     

Anticipating organized and transnational crime

This paper seeks to identify ways in which governments and lawenforcement agencies might enhance the effectiveness of their efforts toanticipate organized crime. It starts by defining what is meant byanticipation, and differentiating it from the much more difficult task ofprediction. The analysis then identifies some of the methods and modelsthat are generally accepted as part of the existing knowledge base onorganized crime and highlights how these can be used to anticipate futuredevelopments and to develop warnings about how criminal organizationsmight evolve and behave in the future. The knowledge base includespolitical, economic, sociological, strategic, and composite models and showshow they provide a foundation for anticipating future developments inorganized crime. The models are either models about the kind ofenvironment in which organized crime flourishes or models about the waysin which organized crime behaves. What we do, in effect, is to identifyand elucidate `models' in ways that provide propositions about the kindsof developments, innovations or changes we might see in organized crime(both domestic and transnational) in the future. Underlying indicators provide warning about future manifestations of organized crime. Anticipating these manifestations provides a basis for appropriatepreventive, defensive or mitigating strategies. Finally, the article providessome examples of specific techniques of information collection andintelligence analysis that might assist in this task of anticipation.     

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention: a Short Presentation

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet, BRÅ) is a centre for research and development work within the justice system and is to provide assistance to the agencies of the criminal justice system in improving their knowledge and developing their methods to combat and to prevent crime.

In this article a summary of the operations of the Council – with a focus on the year 2004 – is presented. It is shown that a great number of evaluation projects have been conducted (e.g. of electronic monitoring of offenders). Another way in which the Council can contribute is working to develop various instruments that can be used to measure the effects of different parts of the criminal justice system. As an example, a routine measure of repeat victimization at the regional and local level for different crime types, is being developed.

In order to maintain a national centre of expertise in the broad area of economic and organized crime, a special secretariat has been established. Its focus is directed at the area of prevention, ranging from strategies to methods. Finally, the Council has the responsibility to support local crime prevention work and mediation at the local level.

The article also points out some challenges for the future.     

Juvenile Justice in Oregon: Balanced and Restorative Justice in Action

The goals of Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) are to hold juvenile offenders meaningfully accountable, hear and empower crime victims and engage communities both as stakeholders who have been negatively impacted and as advocates to make things right for the crime victim, offender, and community. This article examines how several Oregon juvenile justice agencies have put BARJ into action over the last 25 years, highlighting specific examples of how several agencies have made this the philosophical underpinning of their work. An overview of the philosophical principles, values, and goals that drive this approach is also discussed.     

The Convergence of Social Policy and Criminal Justice

This article discusses the shift from crime as a problem of the police and judicial authorities to a subject of local policy. It will, in particular, examine the relationship between safety policy and social policy. Safety has become an important social theme in the last decades. There are at least three reasons to explain why this is the case: the increase of crime, increased attention for the victim and the legitimacy of the government. A concentric model is proposed to serve the development of a systematically set up local safety policy. In the Netherlands programmes such as Communities that Care and Justice in the neighbourhood (Jib) are important developments which stress the integral approach of the crime and safety problem. The article closes with a discussion on the convergence of criminal justice policy and social policy.     

On Mimicry and the Psychology of the Belief in a Just World: Imitating the Behaviors of Others Reduces the Blaming of Innocent Victims

Innocent victims of crime are often blamed for what happened to them. In this article, we examine the hypothesis that victim blaming can be significantly reduced when people mimic the behavior of the victim or even a person unrelated to the crime. Participants watched a person on a video after which we assessed the extent of their spontaneous mimicry reactions (Study 1) or participants were instructed to mimic or not to mimic the movements of this person (Study 2). Then, they were informed about a rape and criminal assault and judged the degree to which they thought the victims were responsible for the crime. One of the crimes happened to the same person as the person they previously did or did not mimic. The other crime happened to a person unrelated to the mimicry situation. Results of both studies revealed that previously mimicking the victim or an unrelated person reduced the degree to which victims were being blamed.     

Spatio-Temporal Change of Crime at Provincial Scale in China—Since the Economic Reform

China has undergone tremendous social changes during the transition since the Economic Reform, and this paper did a comparative study on crime change patterns among provinces both spatially and temporally. The results indicated that (1) regional differences on crime levels and temporal change trends were largely influenced, or even been shaped, by the outcomes brought by economic reform, such as priority developmental policies, geographical location, transportation facilities, etc. For example, spatially, more developed areas with more governmental policy supports not only saw dramatic development during the economic reform but also showed higher criminal rates and greater criminal rate variation. (2) The relationships between criminal rates and corresponding contextual conditions vary by temporal scales (long-run and short-run), regions, target areas’ features and their different development policy priorities; (3) experiences from Western theories and empirical studies cannot be applied directly into the Chinese society, without taking into consideration of the spatial-temporal scales and target’s specialities; it is also suggestive to local policy-makers and governmental agencies that crime reduction and prevention measures should not be identical to other places and need to be made according to local characteristics.     

Racial Context and Crime Reporting: A Test of Black’s Stratification Hypothesis

Contextual factors that contribute to race differences in reporting crime to the police are an important element in Donald Black??s theory of the behavior of the law, yet few studies have investigated whether these differences vary depending on social context. The present study investigates whether the relationships between victim and offender race and the reporting of crime are moderated by the level of racial stratification in a given place as Black??s stratification hypothesis would predict. Using victim survey data from 40 metropolitan areas, as well as data from other sources, we find results that are consistent with Black??s stratification hypothesis, namely, that victim and offender race are more strongly associated with the reporting of crime in those metropolitan areas where the gap in economic status between blacks and whites is larger and the groups are more residentially segregated. The theory, however, is unable to account for the high rates of reporting of black-on-black assaults found across the 40 metropolitan areas. The question of how the needs of black victims may outweigh their reluctance to call the police is an important issue for future research.     

NIBRS Data Available for Secondary Analysis

The NIBRS data program currently being implemented by the FBI and local lawenforcement agencies has by now produced sufficient data for archiving anddistribution. Although not representative of crime in the United States, existing NIBRS data can be used to investigate the nature of crimesknown to the police compared to the traditional UCR data. The Bureau ofJustice Statistics has requested the National Archive of Criminal JusticeData to store and make NIBRS data available to interested users. The datafrom 1996 will shortly be available from the NACJD web site. The 1996 datacontain almost 6.5 million records and the FBI's full file includes about 361 Mbytes of data. The data have been disaggregated from the FBI's complex single file into 11 segment levels or record types. This makes theindividual record types easier and faster to analyze than using the fullfile, which more closely resembles a relational database than a hierarchicalfile. However, splitting apart the record types requires that specialprocedures be used to merge files of different record types, which would benecessary if a user were interested in analyzing variables appearing in morethan one record type (e.g., comparing offender and victim ages). These procedures are described, and a test comparing the time to run a simple frequencycount using the full file against the merged files shows that using themerged files is considerably more efficient. Also discussed are some futuredevelopments to facilitate the analysis of NIBRS data.     

How Much Time Should the Police Spend at Crime Hot Spots? Answers from a Police Agency Directed Randomized Field Trial in Sacramento,California

Hot spots policing has been shown to be an effective strategy for reducing crime across a number of rigorous evaluations, but despite this strong body of research, there still exist gaps in our knowledge of how officers can best respond to hot spots. We report on a randomized experiment in Sacramento, California that begins to address these gaps by testing the recommendation from prior research that police officers randomly rotate between hot spots, spending about 15?min patrolling in each. Our results suggest significant overall declines in both calls for service and crime incidents in the treatment hot spots relative to the controls. Additionally, the study was carried out primarily by the Sacramento Police Department without any outside funding. In an era of limited economic resources for policing, this experiment suggests a model by which police agencies can take ownership of science and oversee the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based interventions.