The use of corruption by “Russian” organized crime in the United States

This paper exemplifies the research of the Organized Crime Study Center in Vladivostok, Russia. Using secondary sources, it examines Russian organized crime in the United States in recent years. Special attention is given to the study of cases of corruption by Russian criminal groups in the United States. The author analyzes corruption, crime, and the practices of U.S. law enforcement agencies to combat them.     

The importation and re-exportation of organized crime: explaining the rise and fall of the Jamaican posses in the United States

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jamaican posses captured the imagination of the press corps, film makers, and numerous of criminal justice scholars in the United States. However, except for a few historical references, their virtual disappearance from the contemporary criminal justice literature leaves many unanswered questions. In updating the literature, this paper examines the main factors contributing to the decline of Jamaican posses in the United States and explains how their criminal activities were displaced to Jamaica through aggressive U.S. anti drug and anti-gang operations and immigration policies.     

The Use of Incarceration in the United States

The past two decades have produceda profound increase in imprisonment in theUnited States, resulting in a prison populationof two million and expenditures of over $35billion annually on corrections, while otherimportant government services are underfunded. Imprisonment is highest for minority maleslargely because of the War on Drugs, which hasalso dramatically increased the incarcerationof women and created nearly 1.5 millionchildren having a parent incarcerated. Inresponse to this trend, the American Society ofCriminology (ASC) directed the ASC NationalPolicy Committee (NPC) to draft a policy paperon the incarceration issue. This articleexplains the main ideas, themes, andrecommendations of the full policy paper. Itanalyzes the sources and effects of theincreased use of imprisonment, drawingattention to the negative effects of excessiveincarceration. The paper and itsrecommendations reflect a concern that the ASCneeds to set a research agenda that isindependent of the federal government andconventional wisdom. The NPC hopes this paperwill stimulate a healthy and much overduedebate on the role of the ASC in public policyin general, and the merits of widespreadincarceration in particular.     

Asian transnational organized crime and its impact on the United States: Developing a transnational crime research agenda

Undertaken on behalf of the National Institute of Justice between July 2003 and August 2004, the research goals of this study were to (a) determine high priority areas for research on Asian transnational organized crime (TOC); (b) assess the impact of Asian TOC on the United States; (3) identify relevant data and information sources in Asia; and (4) identify potential collaborative research partners and institutions in Asia. The aim was thus not to examine in detail the organized crime situation in this region, but rather to lay the foundation for a research agenda and strategy that would accomplish that purpose. In seeking to achieve this aim, the researchers used a variety of techniques as part of an overall exploratory methodology. They included four months of interviews (andfield observations) with experts in eight Asian sites, including law enforcement officials, policymakers, and scholars, as well as American officials in each site. Meetings were also held with Asian crime experts in the United States. Interviews and site visits were supplemented with surveys and analyses done by local Asian researchers, an analysis of U.S. indictments, and the review of a large volume of literature. The sites covered by this research are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia. The major findings are first, that there is little consensus among the Asian authorities on just wliat their main organized crime problems are. Whereas the Asian authorities give higher priority to traditional organized crimes, e.g., gambling, extortion, prostitution, etc., the American authorities focus more on transnational crimes. Consistent with this view, Asian authorities do not see much linkage between the local or regional crime groups about which they are most concerned, and transnational organized crime. Next, contrary to the views and expectations of some American authorities, the commonly expressed view among the respondents in this study is that there is no collaboration or linkage between transnational organized crime groups and terrorists. Finally, the transnational organized crime networks operating in the region are said to be highly specialized, with any overlapping of criminal activities occurring mostly at the level of transportation of goods or people. It is recommended that future collaborative research efforts focus on trafficking in women and children, human smuggling, and drug production and trafficking. These are likely to continue to have the most impact upon the United States and upon U.S. interests in the region. It is further recommended that these research efforts be both bi-lateral (principally with China) and multi-lateral in nature. A wide variety of potentially willing research partners are identified and their strengths and weaknesses are assessed. Finally, a specific strategy for accomplishing the research agenda is proposed. Support for this research was provided by TDL# 1700-215 from the National Institute of Justice. The opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect the policies or views of the National Institute of Justice.     

美国的保释制度

美国的保释制度是在继受英国的保释制度的基础上发展而来的。以保释是原则,羁押是例外为指导思想,并把保释权上升到宪法的高度,反对预防性羁押。近年来,随着犯罪率高升,美国开始对保释权有所限制。一、保释制度在美国的缘起美国学者关于保释内涵的理解直接来源于英国。从17世纪中叶开始,英国政治学、法学思想对美国的法律制度的确立产生很大的影响。尤其是有关自由、民主、法治、分权与制衡等学说与理论深深刺激了酷爱自由清教徒移民者,鉴于对政治国家仍然心有余悸以及对其不信任心理依然存在,注重个人基本权利的保护和反对酷刑的思想意识迅…     

当代美国的死刑制度

美国最高法院在1972年曾经宣布暂停死刑执行,但是在1976年又恢复了死刑的执行,目前美国是唯一仍然保留并适用死刑的所谓西方文明国家。美国联邦系统和38个州的刑法都规定了死刑,可以适用死刑的罪行还比较多,但是罪名相对比较集中;死刑诉讼程序严格且复杂;相对于美国庞大的犯罪数字,尤其是暴力犯罪而言,其死刑判决和实际执行死刑数量仍属较低;美国死刑执行方式呈现为以注射方式为主多种执行方法并存的特点。美国死刑程序复杂但是死刑错判率仍然较高。     

乞讨权在美国确立的过程

引言由孙志刚事件、《城市生活无着流浪乞讨人员救助管理办法》颁布实施、各地禁止乞讨规范出台所引发的关于乞讨权、乃至生存权的探讨曾经是媒体和学术界的一个共同热点。但近年来,这一话题不仅渐渐淡出媒体的视线,而且,也逐渐远离学者们的关注。〔1〕然而,如何对乞讨者以及乞     

美国仲裁制度的新发展

近年来,仲裁制度在其发展过程中,吸取了调解和审判的优点,演变出新的形式,在运用上更加灵活。尽管形式发生了演变,但随着经济的发展,仲裁在适用法律的层面上出现了许多新的问题。本文以美国为视角,对仲裁制度的发展进行了探讨,并试对《统一仲裁法》修改过程中出现的几个热点问题作简要的介绍分析。     

Physicians' conflicts of interest in Japan and the United States: lessons for the United States

Japanese health policy shows that even with physician ownership and the absence of for-profit, investor-owned health care, physicians' conflicts of interest thrive. Physician dispensing of drugs and ownership of hospitals and clinics were justified in Japan as ways to avoid commercialization of medicine. Instead, they create physicians' conflicts and fuel patient overuse of services. Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) has responded by introducing per-diem payment, thereby creating incentives to decrease services in ways similar to those of American managed care organizations, but with none of their benefits, such as coordination of care, oversight of physicians practices, and quality assurance. Although the United States and Japanese health care systems are organized and financed differently there is convergence in the source of their physicians' conflicts and the way they are addressed. The United States is starting to integrate institutional and physician payment and align their incentives, in a traditional Japanese way. In so doing, the United States creates new physicians' conflicts and reduces the role of countervailing incentives and power, an advantage of previous policy. Japan, in turn, has combined incentives to increase and decrease services, thus moving closer to the U.S. policy.     

Fugitives in the United States

Little is known, empirically, about fugitives in the U.S. There is no research describing basic facts such as the prevalence of warrants or how features of warrants vary across geography or demographics of fugitives.PurposeTo (A) describe the prevalence of warrants in the U.S., including variation in warrant features across geography as well as demographics of fugitives (age, race, and gender). In addition, the paper (B) models a key feature of warrants (extradition limits) as a function of legal and extra-legal factors.MethodsThis study draws on the Wanted Persons file—the central operational database maintained by the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC) for tracking warrants from all jurisdictions in the United States. Warrant factors are described across demographic groups via bivariate comparisons. Extradition is modeled via a multivariate fixed effects logistic regression framework (i.e., within state comparisons)ResultsThe data show approximately 2 million warrants are active on any given day. Warrant features vary significantly across states (per capita), and fugitive demographics. Extradition varies as a function of legal (e.g., crime seriousness) and extra-legal factors (e.g., race of fugitive).ConclusionsWarrants may provide an important new avenue for scholarship on disparity, criminal carreers, and the administration of justice.     

美国的版权产业和版权贸易

版权产业和版权贸易是知识产权产业的重要组成部分。根据美国“国际知识产权联盟”2002年4月发表的研究报告显示,近10年来,美国的版权产业在美国经济中迅速崛起,成为一个重要的新兴产业部门,并极大地促进了版权贸易的发展。 一、版权产业的由来 美国的版权产业是指以版权为基础的产业部门,例如新闻和图书出版业、各种电脑软件设计制造业、影视音乐和电视节目制造传播业等等。这些部门的产销活动与版权法息息相关,它们以版权法的强有力的执法保护为生命线,这是版权产业最本质的共同特征。     

The United Nations,the United States,and the War on Terrorism

Since the moment the United Nations was created, the Americans have had certain expectations of it, which logically follow from their past.