Crime Mapping and the Training Needs of Law Enforcement

This paper explores some of the more recent developments within crime mapping and the broader application of geographical information technology within law enforcement. The information technology (IT) revolution and the reduction in computing costs since the 1980s has brought a range of analytical tools within the budgets of most police services, and one of the most significant changes has been in the way that spatial data are handled. Law enforcement has strong geographic currents at all levels of the organisation, and this paper examines three applications of geographical information systems (GIS) within policing: hotspot mapping; CompStat; and geographic profiling. The paper concludes by discussing the future training needs using a simple model of intelligence-led crime reduction. This model suggests that training for managers to enable a greater understanding of the analyses presented to them, and how to use mapping to further crime prevention and reduction, may be as important as increasing the technical ability of crime analysts. The challenge for the immediate future of crime reduction practice in law enforcement is less to worry about the training of analysts, and more to address the inability of law enforcement management to understand and act on the crime analysis they are given.     

Wildlife Crime: The Problems of Enforcement

Environmental and wildlife crime appear recently to be benefitting from an increasing profile amongst those agencies tasked with their control, as well as receiving growing criminological attention. Despite this, those with responsibilities in this area report that it remains marginalised, receiving limited resources and suffering from a lack of political impetus to push such problems higher up the agenda. This is particularly so for those agencies, such as the police, that may be seen to have many more pressing objectives. This discussion paper considers the problems of relying on an enforcement approach to controlling such offences, taking, as an example, those activities that may be termed ‘wildlife crime’, focusing on the situation in England and Wales. Firstly, the legislative framework that criminalises harm or exploitation of wildlife is presented, alongside the main enforcement methods used. Next, the problems facing an enforcement approach are critically considered, the key issues being: under-resourcing and marginalisation, the large ‘dark-figure’ of wildlife crime, the possibility of corruption, the lack of seriousness with which such crimes are viewed, and the lack of deterrent effect. Finally, responses to the problems of enforcement are presented, categorised as either methods to improve enforcement or, as the author advocates, methods which are alternatives to enforcement (such as adopting a crime prevention approach). The paper concludes with suggestions for future research in this field.     

行贿犯罪执法困局及其对策

长期以来,由于重受贿轻行贿思想作怪,我国司法机关对行贿犯罪一直打击不力;惩治行贿犯罪的刑事政策亦模糊不清,甚至相互矛盾。此种状况,导致行贿人一再行贿,有恃无恐,结果是社会公正坍塌、公众普遍不满。这种状况之所以存在,既有社会心理方面的原因,也有立法、司法方面的原因。今后,我们应当大力倡导惩办行贿与惩办受贿并重原则,修正行贿犯罪的刑法规范,并努力提升查办贿赂犯罪的执法能力,切实遏制行贿犯罪。     

民商法在公安执法中的地位研究

民商法的平等、权利保护、诚信等基本原则对树立人民警察的执法理念具有重要作用,对维护人民警察自身合法利益也具有重要意义。现在,公安机关在具体执法工作中愈来愈多地应用民商法知识。因此,研究民商法在公安执法工作中的地位,有助于扭转以往公安工作重刑轻民的传统观念,提高警察的素质,更好地发挥人民警察的作用。     

Culture,Philosophy and Crime: The Japanese Experience

As societies modernize, one usually sees rapidly increasing rates of conventional crime. Contrary to this trend, Japan has experienced patterns that have either declined or remained basically horizontal during this process. In fact, this Oriental society is one of the few nations that has not had a positive development/crime correlation. Expanding on a societal explanatory approach suggested by Reischauer, this article describes how cultural traditions within Japan may explain this phenomenon, how their dark side of crime is also related to these cultural features, and how Implications for research are specified.     

法治的核心是宪法和法律的实施

注重宪法和法律实施是当代法治基本内涵的普遍要求,是全面推进依法治国的时代要求,是法治建设战略转移的客观要求。我国宪法和法律的实施面临着立法粗放与执行不力的困扰、经济状况与社会转型的制约、体制不顺与机制不全的束缚、法治传统与法治精神的缺失。保障宪法和法律统一正确实施,应加强和改进宪法实施,保障和落实公民权利,坚持和完善党的领导,营造和改善法治环境。     

人体器官犯罪的刑法规制——对《刑法修正案(八)》第37条的分析解读

目前的器官犯罪主要与器官移植有关,是科技风险在该领域的突出表现.对此,《刑法修正案(八)》第37条新增了有关器官犯罪的内容,旨在以刑法手段应对与器官犯罪有关的科技风险.该条文既具有科学合理之处,如理性克服了对供/受体直接交易行为的犯罪化冲动等问题,也存在不尽完善之处,如未对精神病患者等特殊对象权利保护问题作出规定等.因此,有必要结合科技风险对该条涉及的器官犯罪若干问题进行深入研究并提出完善建议.     

Enhancing Data-Driven Law Enforcement Efforts: Exploring how Risk Terrain Modeling and Conjunctive Analysis Fit in a Crime and Traffic Safety Framework

Law enforcement’s examination of vehicle crashes is often nested in the Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) framework which highlights the importance of hot spot analysis. To assist law enforcement efforts, this study explores how two additional spatial techniques, namely risk terrain modeling (RTM) and conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC), could be incorporated within the DDACTS framework. RTM was utilized to identify how the built, physical environment contributed to the risk of traffic incidents. RTM identified 6 risk factors related to the occurrence of vehicle crashes, and high-risk places were compared to hot spots on predictive accuracy. CACC was used to explore configurations likely to result in traffic incidents for the priority places. Our findings support the Theory of Risky Places and fit within a vulnerability-exposure framework, providing law enforcement with guidance for identifying places where vehicle crashes are likely to occur in the future. In addition to providing insight for law enforcement, we discuss how law enforcement can develop working partnerships with stakeholders capable of preventing and/or reducing traffic incidents, which is in line with the general DDACTS framework.

     

Comparing Discourse to Officer Perceptions: The Problems of War and Militarization in Wildlife Crime Enforcement

‘War’ has become a common model and metaphor for biodiversity conservation in Africa. By discussing the specific challenges of wildlife crime enforcement in Uganda, this article challenges the ‘war on wildlife crime’ discourse. It concludes that in the context of Uganda, the discourse is profoundly unhelpful because of a lack of alignment between the problems highlighted by Ugandan law enforcement officers interviewed and the solutions typically favoured in the ‘wars on crime’. Most wildlife crimes are subsistence-driven and interviewees’ requests are for basic equipment and conventional capacity building. Findings demonstrate that the language of war, militarization and securitization should be used with caution as it risks constructing an image of wildlife crime that is misleading—and one that prevents responses that are effective in the long term.     

正式合同法和合同执行机制在经济发展中的角色

本文所讨论的是正式合同法及其执行机制在经济发展中的角色。不同于多篇提交给本次研讨会的其他论文,本文的追问是毫无掩饰的——甚至是毫无歉意的——后果论导向:一套正式的合同法及其执行机制的存在是否会大大有助于发展中国家的经济增长。     

民法上的赔礼道歉责任及其强制执行

赔礼道歉可以缓解受害人的精神痛苦,具有填补损害的功能,可以达到抚慰金所不能实现的效果,也符合普通民众的公平感,作为侵权责任的一种形式具有积极意义。但对赔礼道歉的间接强制执行违反了比例原则,构成违宪。公布判决书并不能获得与被告道歉相当的效果,并非一种适当的替代执行方式。由原告或者法院以被告名义草拟道歉启事并予以公布的观点也不妥当。而以受害人发表谴责声明而由被告负担其费用的方式替代执行,则不失为一种妥当的方式。如果受害人不选择以该方式强制执行,则可以请求被告支付一定的金额,其数额应由法院在判决书中确定。