Unemployment, Economic Theory, and Property Crime: A Note on Measurement

Drawing on rational choice theory, this study considers how best to measureunemployment within the context of the unemployment–property crimerelationship. Specifically, we use ARIMA techniques to examine the relativeefficacy of using the conventional Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)unemployment rate and two alternative measures of the demand for labor aspredictors of monthly counts of U.S. property offenses for the years 1982through 1996. The bivariate time series analyses indicate that while theBLS unemployment rate exhibits null effects, the number of individualsunemployed for 15 weeks or more and the capacity utilization ratesignificantly affect the level of property crime. The implications ofthese results are discussed.     

罪刑关系的立体考察:罪刑关系的相关属性

罪刑关系是刑法本体论的一个极为重要的问题。在我们深入考察罪刑关系的相关属性后,我们将发现罪刑关系本来是一种立体关系而非直线关系。罪刑关系的相关属性包括客观性与主观性、强制性与宽和性、静止性和动态性、一般性与个别性,而这些属性正是在对立统一之中生成了罪刑关系的立体性。罪刑关系的立体性把握对于罪刑关系理论的丰富和罪刑关系的刑法实践都有着极其重要的意义。     

犯罪构成:从二元论体系到一元论体系——以事实和价值关系论为视角

根据犯罪构成要件的内容或者位阶的不同,主张构建不同的犯罪构成论体系,属于结构合理主义的理论观点,无助于解决实际问题。以事实与价值二元论为基础构建的事实论体系与价值论体系、存在论体系与规范论体系,割裂事实与价值的内在联系,存在诸多缺陷。以事实与价值一元论为基础构建的一元论评价体系,主张事实判断与价值评价辩证统一,具有内在合理性:能够避免客观归责与主观认罪;事实判断与价值评价虽混融但脉络清晰;能够充分说明事实判断与价值评价的内在联系。犯罪构成要件的位阶不影响行为定性。社会危害性理论在犯罪构成论体系中处于核心地位。排除犯罪性事由不构成犯罪是因为没有侵犯犯罪客体。     

国际犯罪与涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪关系辨析——以基础概念解析为进路

国际犯罪与涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪之间虽然在起源上具有不可磨灭的历史渊源,但它们在内容上并不具有同一或者包容关系,而是一种即相互交叉又彼此保持一定独立性的关系。只有当涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪具有"国际性"时,即它们的危害性达到国际刑法所要求的严重程度时,才能上升为国际犯罪。而在国际犯罪中,除了具有国际性的涉外犯罪和跨国犯罪外,还包括具有国际性的既不属于涉外犯罪又不属于跨国犯罪的单纯的国内犯罪。     

Fear of Gang Crime: A Look at Three Theoretical Models

Gang crime and resulting public fear became a major policy focus during the 1990s, yet few studies specifically focus on fear of gang crime. Guided by social disorganization theory, we test three theoretical models about the individual thought processes leading to fear of gang crime. Using structural equation models, we find that each of these three theories—diversity, disorder, and community concern—is an important predictor of gang-related fear. In addition, we find that the indirect relationships between demographic characteristics, theoretical variables, and fear depend upon which model is tested.     

Fear of Crime in Botswana: Impact of Gender,Victimization, and Incivility

The subject of fear of crime has generated a substantial body of empirical study within Western industrialized society. However, the current focus on comparative criminology inspires efforts to study fear of crime cross culturally. This study attempts to assess some of the widely accepted predictors and conclusions of fear of crime found in developed nations on the urbanized capital city of Botswana. More specifically, in this article, the author explores the relationships between gender, victimization, incivility, and fear of crime in Gaborone, Botswana. Findings suggest that gender, victimization, and, in part, the environment are all useful in explaining fear of crime in Gaborne. However, it appears that gender, more than victimization and incivility, is itself a genuinely powerful determinant of fear of crime.     

Victimization Rates, Exposure to Risk, and Fear of Crime

Studies of fear of crime repeatedly point to an apparent paradox: fear of crime and risk of victimization are related inversely among demographic groups (i.e., age, race, and sex groups). However, data from surveys of Chicago residents show that fear of crime is related positively to victimization rates once they are adjusted for exposure to risk. When demographic variables are included with the adjusted rates as predictors of fear of crime, age and sex effects persist. Even so the present findings indicate that fear of crime should not be interpreted as an irrational or unjustified response and that fear can be reduced by lowering victimization rates.     

A Multilevel Analysis of the Vulnerability,Disorder, and Social Integration Models of Fear of Crime

The current research tests three conceptual models designed to explain citizens’ fear of crime—vulnerability, disorder, and social integration. These models are assessed for differential impact across the cognitive and affective dimensions of fear of crime. The analysis reported here considers the consecutive and simultaneous influence of individual- and city-level factors using multilevel modeling techniques. Recently collected survey data for 2,599 citizens nested within 21 cities across Washington State provide the empirical evidence for the analysis. Results indicate that the disorder model is best able to explain variation in both the cognitive and affective dimensions of citizens’ fear of crime across cities. The vulnerability and social integration models explain significantly less variation. Further, the vulnerability model lacks directional consistency across the observed dimensions of fear. Societal implications of the research findings are discussed.

Elections and the Fear of Crime: the Case of France and Italy

Recent elections in France (2002 and 2007) and Italy (2008) were won on a law and order platform. This article asks why, and compares the strategies used by the new governments to implement their election promises. The goals are the same: to increase security and lower fear of crime levels, but there are noticeable differences in the perception of the underlying causes, such as the role played by illegal immigration. The solutions proposed also vary. France relies on increased police efficiency and more coercive legislation, whereas Italy favours almost exclusively emergency legislation including the deployment of 3500 soldiers. Prevention is not a priority in either country.     

Defending the Criminal Law: Reflections on the Changing Character of Crime, Procedure, and Sanctions

Recent years have seen mounting challenge to the model of the criminal trial on the grounds it is not cost-effective, not preventive, not necessary, not appropriate, or not effective. These challenges have led to changes in the scope of the criminal law, in criminal procedure, and in the nature and use of criminal trials. These changes include greater use of diversion, of fixed penalties, of summary trials, of hybrid civil–criminal processes, of strict liability, of incentives to plead guilty, and of preventive orders. The paper will assess the implications of these changes for the function of the criminal law, assessing the reasons behind them, and examining whether or not they are to be welcomed. Identifying the larger import of these changes draws attention to the changing relationship between state and citizen as well as changes in the nature of the state itself. These can in turn be attributed to a jostling among the different manifestations of the authoritarian state, the preventive state, and the regulatory state. These changes have profound normative implications for a liberal theory of the criminal law that require its re-articulation and its defence. A modest start may be to insist that where the conduct is criminal and the consequences are punitive the protections of criminal procedure and trial must be upheld.

重庆“打黑”行动中媒体与司法的关系

在重庆“打黑”行动中,公安、司法司法机关在处理媒体与司法关系的过程中,有很多值得推广的经验,也有一些存在的问题。“打黑”行动中重庆市公安、检察机关新闻发布的经验有：重庆公安、司法机关适度公开信息体现执法文明,及时回应媒体质疑符合公诉机关的职责。“打黑”行动中重庆市法院及法官新闻发布的经验是：推行“分区就座”和“声音直播”实现审判公开;宣判时召开新闻发布会进行审后答疑。公安、司法机关在处理媒体与司法关系的过程中应当改进的方面是：限制个人隐私和证据内容的公开;对民众特别关注的案件应当庭审直播。     

Examining the Effects of Health in Explaining Fear of Crime: A Multi-Dimensional and Multi-Level Analysis

We examine the understudied link between mental/physical health problems and their relationship with perceived unsafety via higher levels of vulnerability. We examine this relationship by linking data at the individual-level, the neighborhood-level, and the county-level using the Portraits of American Life Survey (PALS). Using this data we examine the effect of individual and neighborhood conditions on perceived safety while controlling for county-level crime rates. Findings indicate that higher numbers of physical impairment and mental health issues are independently related to higher levels of perceived unsafety. Both mental and physical health problems are associated with higher levels of fear. These higher levels of vulnerability then directly contribute to higher levels of feeling of unsafety. Unlike past research, we find a mental health link to fear of crime that cannot be explained by physical impairments.     

略论人身危险性与犯罪定量的关系

社会危害性是指行为对特定社会所保护的社会关系造成的现实的或可能的危害的属性,是事实评价与价值评价的统一,是主观与客观的统一,是现实性和可能性、已然性和未然性的统一。人身危险性是初犯可能与再犯可能的统一,是特定人格与非特定人格的统一。因此,两者的关系就表现为人身危险性是社会危害性的重要内容,人身危险性是表征社会危害性的主观范畴。人身危险性的大小是衡量社会危害性程度的一个重要因素。从犯罪定量的角度看,如果犯罪数额、犯罪结果等因素是衡量犯罪的社会危害性程度的客观因素,那么,人身危险性则可以与主观恶性、罪过心理等主观因素一起被视为犯罪定量的主观因素。