Methods for Understanding and Analyzing NIBRS Data

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is an incident-basedcrime reporting program for local, state, and federal law enforcementagencies. Within each criminal incident, NIBRS captures information onoffenses, victims, offenders, property, and persons arrested, as well asinformation about the incident itself. The ability to link and analyze thisdetailed information is a significant improvement to the existing UniformCrime Reporting (UCR) summary reporting system. As one might expect,however, this increase in crime data significantly complicates the life ofthe data analyst, particularly when cross tabulating the NIBRS data. To dealwith the complexity of NIBRS data, one must understand its structure. Thisarticle provides an overview of the NIBRS structure and methods formaneuvering within it to present and interpret correctly cross tabulationsof the NIBRS data.     

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.     

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF ASSAULTS MOTIVATED BY BIAS*

This research examines the ways in which assaults motivated by bias are similar to and different from other types of assault. Analyses are based on data from the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), pooled across eleven states. We find evidence suggesting that offenders motivated by racial and ethnic bias are more likely to be versatile offenders than specialists: they are more (not less) likely to be using drugs and alcohol during the crime than conventional offenders. Bias offenders are also more likely to seriously injure the victim. Finally, we find that the risks of bias crime victimization (relative to the risk of assault victimization generally) are similar for blacks and other racial minorities.     

The National Incident-Based Reporting System: Research and Policy Applications

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) offers a new source ofdata for measuring crime. Though far from national in coverage, NIBRS datacan address research and policy questions outside the scope of the UniformCrime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey. Comparisons ofthe three sources of crime data are presented, with particular emphasis onwhat can be learned from incident-based police data that cannot be learnedfrom other sources. Like all data on crime, the NIBRS is subject to variousproblems with validity and measurement error. Two general categories of suchproblems are discussed: those evident in the design of the NIBRS and thoselinked to more general issues in the organizational production of data.     

以罪名为讨论平台的反思与纠正

我国刑法学界存在以罪名作为问题讨论平台的现象,但是,由最高司法机关确定的罪名与刑法规定的犯罪构成之间大多并非一一对应的关系,“多罪一名”是我国罪名体系的显著特征,以罪名作为问题讨论平台会带来诸多理论上难以妥善处理的问题。在刑法学研究中,应当严格区分罪名和犯罪这两个概念。刑法学的研究对象是犯罪,讨论刑法问题的基本平台只能是犯罪构成而不是罪名,分析刑法问题的基本单元是“一个犯罪构成”而不是“一个罪名”。罪数中的“罪”是指犯罪构成而不是罪名,具体的事实认识错误是指“同一犯罪构成”内的事实认识错误而非“同一罪名”内的事实认识错误,罪过是犯罪构成的罪过而非罪名的罪过。     

THE LAW OF CRIME CONCENTRATION AND THE CRIMINOLOGY OF PLACE*

According to Laub (2004), criminology has a developmental life course with specific turning points that allow for innovations in how we understand and respond to crime. I argue that criminology should take another turn in direction, focusing on microgeographic hot spots. By examining articles published in Criminology, I show that only marginal attention has been paid to this area of study to date—often termed the criminology of place. I illustrate the potential utility of a turning point by examining the law of crime concentration at place, which states that for a defined measure of crime at a specific microgeographic unit, the concentration of crime will fall within a narrow bandwidth of percentages for a defined cumulative proportion of crime. By providing the first cross‐city comparison of crime concentration using a common geographic unit, the same crime type, and examining a general crime measure, I find strong support for a law of crime concentration. I also show that crime concentration stays within a narrow bandwidth across time, despite strong volatility in crime incidents. By drawing from these findings, I identify several key research questions for future study. In conclusion, I argue that a focus on the criminology of place provides significant opportunity for young scholars and has great promise for advancing criminology as a science.     

身份犯及其相关概念辨析

身份犯是指刑法规定的以行为人所具有的特定身份作为犯罪构成要件或量刑情节的犯罪。身份犯不同于亲手犯和不作为犯,身份犯是以犯罪主体是否具有特定身份为标准对犯罪进行分类的结果,亲手犯是根据实行行为是否可以和主体相分离而对犯罪所作的一种分类,不作为犯则是以实行行为的表现形式为标准划分的一类犯罪,三者既有区别,又有联系。     

Narcotics use,property crime,and dealing: Structural dynamics across the addiction career

Structural-equation modeling is used to test causal relationships between narcotics addiction and the associated cost-support activities of property crime and drug dealing across four critical periods of the addiction career. It is argued that structural-equation methodology yields greater insight into the causal dynamics of such activities than the typical methodologies of comparing means and proportions. Using structural coefficients of longitudinal models to infer causal relationships and stability, it is found that (1) dealing is often a predictor of future narcotics involvement; (2) narcotics use, property crime, and dealing are mutually interrelated during periods of elevated narcotics use and are not related during periods of reduced narcotics use; (3) dealing appears to be the most stable of the three variables, although narcotics use and property crime show appreciable stability as well; and (4) property crime and dealing appear to be inversely related to a moderate extent. The relevance of these findings to the understanding of the economic behavior of addicts during the initiation and cessation of addiction, relapse, and maturing out is discussed.     

身份犯类型的学理探讨

身份犯是刑法中明文规定的由具有特定身份的犯罪主体进行的一类犯罪。根据主体身份对共同犯罪的刑事责任的影响 ,可以将身份犯分为纯正身份犯与不纯正身份犯 ;根据主体身份的形成原因 ,可以将身份犯分为自然身份犯与法定身份犯 ;根据主体身份的确定程度 ,可以将身份犯分为定式身份犯与不定式身份犯 ;根据刑法中规定的身份犯的犯罪构成要件的内容是否要求具有特定身份之主体去亲自实施 ,可以将身份犯划分为排他性身份犯和非排他性身份犯。     

经济犯罪死刑立法的多维解析

经济犯罪的概念对破坏市场经济秩序罪具有评价功能,而后者对前者具有载体功能。这一命题使得经济犯罪死刑立法的分析更具明确性。经济犯罪死刑立法的本质问题是刑法的政治性过度侵蚀刑法的道德性。经济刑法过度政治化的约束条件主要有4个,即工具主义刑法观、民主性不足的立法程序、老一代政治家的政治情感、法典主义的立法技术。随着这4个因素的先后变化,预计经济犯罪的死刑立法将很快得到改观。     

中国东盟打击跨国犯罪刑事合作机制探析

中国东盟打击跨国犯罪刑事合作是双边政治、经贸发展的需要;已经建立的双边协商机制和法律合作机制是开展打击跨国犯罪的基础。中国和东盟国家已经签署的引渡条约在政治犯罪不引渡、本国国民不引渡等问题规定落后双边打击犯罪现实,亟需改进;中国和东盟国家司法协助形式较单一,需要增加。对于尚未与中国签署引渡条约的国家,由于不能根据国际公约开展引渡合作,只能开创新的合作思路。未来中国东盟打击跨国犯罪刑事合作应当向着建立区域机构、区域统一逮捕令、强化人员培训技术合作以及网络信息建设方向发展。     

论走私、贩卖、运输、制造毒品罪

走私、贩卖、运输、制造毒品罪的概念应当全面含盖刑法第347条、第350条第2款、第355条的规定,作者据此对本罪的概念和特征作出了重新界定。文章还列表表示了本罪数额与情节和刑罚适用的关系,列表界定了毒品再犯制度与累犯制度的联系和区别。     

Area characteristics and regional variates as determinants of area property crime levels

This article seeks to examine the area characteristics that act as determinants of area property crime levels, namely, incidence and prevalence. The crime figures are extracted from the 1984 British Crime Survey. Area characteristics are taken from the 1981 UK census. Initial exploratory analysis considers the non-Gaussian nature of the crime data, the statistical implications of this, and the transformations used to overcome these problems. In addition, possible regional and inner-city/non-inner-city variations are considered. The later stages move from simple individual correlations to multiple regression models. Three regression models are considered and the reasons for refining these are explored, with the results indicating that both area characteristics and regional influences play a role as determinants of the area crime level. In particular, population density and the area population age profile have significant roles to play. The conclusions support the recent revival of the application of ecological concepts in the analysis of crime levels.     

论对向犯的定罪处刑

行为人之间存在相互对向关系的犯罪,刑法理论都应称之为对向犯.刑法对存在相互对向关系的犯罪的规定有一定的规律,可分为同罪同刑、同罪异刑、异罪同刑、异罪异刑和只规定处罚一方行为.不同类型的对向犯的定罪处刑原则不一.在法律规定只处罚一方的对向犯中,对法律不处罚的一方的行为不能根据刑法总则关于共同犯罪的规定作共犯定罪处刑.     

The law of concentrations of crime at place: the case of Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Weisburd, Groff, and Yang argue that there is a ‘law of concentrations of crime at place’ within cities. In this paper, we provide a test for this proposition in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. We found that crime concentrations at street segments in 2010 were remarkably similar to those observed in American cities. About 4.5% of the street segments produced approximately 50% of the crime, and about 1% of street segments produced 25% of crime. Our study provides important verification of the broad applicability of the law of crime concentrations at place.     

增设破坏矿业环境罪的路径分析

在一些资源丰富的地方。因矿山企业滥用环境权使矿产在被开采的同时环境也被破坏贻尽。对此。相关部门因找不到刑事惩治的法律依据而无力遏制。本文以实证法、经济分析法推导出设置“破坏矿业环境罪”的必要性。根据矿业环境犯罪的特点得出破坏矿业环境罪的基本构成要素,设置该罪还必须配套危险犯罪、严格责任、资格刑以及非刑罚措施等整体制度创新。在设置破坏矿业环境罪的这一路径分析中,“公民环境权”是犯罪客体。以此区别于类罪;违法开采并严重破坏环境是犯罪的客观方面。以此区别于做为个罪。由这两个区别进一步说明：必须设置破坏矿l业环境罪。     

Modeling the longitudinal impact of legal sanctions on narcotics use and property crime

Structural equation models are used to confirm the suppressive effects of legal sanctions, e.g., probation and parole, on narcotics use and property crime. Both concurrent and longitudinal effects of legal sanctions are tested within two different models, which together span the entire addiction career. The findings indicate that (1) the suppressive effects of legal sanctions are evident only when legal sanctions are operationalized as parole or probation officer contact where urine monitoring is utilized; (2) only concurrent suppressive effects are statistically significant, and longitudinal suppressive effects are not; (3) both narcotics use and property crime are suppressed by legal sanctions, although the latter is less responsive than the former to intervention by the criminal justice system; and (4) suppressive effects tend to be more pronounced later in the addiction career. The significance of the findings and the implications for criminological theory related to issues regarding surveillance effects are emphasized.     

转化犯基本问题探究

转化犯 ,是指行为在成立基础犯罪之后又具备了另一密切相关的更为严重的犯罪构成要件或者其他事实特征 ,刑法明文规定按后一较重的犯罪论处的犯罪形态。转化犯有如下特征 :基础行为必须构成犯罪 ;基础犯罪与转化犯罪性质不同 ,并且后者重于前者 ;转化条件的发生紧接于基础行为之后 ,或者在基础行为持续期间 ;转化条件独立符合转化犯罪的构成要件 ,或者基础犯罪并转化条件符合或者大致符合转化犯罪的构成要件 ;转化犯是法定的一罪 ,以刑法规定为限。转化犯包括典型转化犯与准型转化犯。我国《刑法》有 10个条文规定了转化犯 ,其中有些立法值得考究     

犯罪论中数额的地位

在我国刑法中,关于犯罪数额的立法形式比较多,种类多样。我国刑法条文中有关数额的实体法规定,在入罪、此罪与彼罪、量刑等多个方面发挥作用。不能把刑法中所有的定量因素都理解为数额犯,数额犯是指法定的决定某一行为是否构成犯罪在量上的表现。要论证数额在犯罪构成中的地位,需要解决以下几个理论问题：（1）数额为什么能决定一个行为是否构成犯罪？（2）行为人主观上对数额没有认识的情形下,如何成立数额犯的故意犯罪？（3）数额犯是否存在未遂形态？上述三个问题的理论推理结论是：数额是犯罪成立要件要素。     

论我国双层模式犯罪构成理论的建构

基于对中外犯罪构成理论的考究与分析,揭示并遵循犯罪构成理论的必要规则,正视中国大陆刑法的实然规定与犯罪构成理论的基本现实,应当建构我国双层模式的犯罪构成理论。犯罪成立必须具备本体构成符合与严重危害充足二个阶层要件;本体构成符合为第一层次,描述犯罪的基本轮廓,严重危害充足为第二层次,限定犯罪的实质底线。犯罪成立是本体构成与严重危害两者缩限评价的结论。