‘There were ethical dilemmas all day long!’: harrowing tales of ethnographic researchers in criminology and criminal justice

While there have been many ethnographies published within the disciplines of criminology and criminal justice, very few studies have examined actual field researchers who have successfully employed this qualitative technique. In this exploratory study, we identified and conducted phone interviews with a sample of eight scholars who have used variations of the ethnographic method to study aspects of life which relate to crime, deviant behavior, and social control. Respondents revealed to us their colorful stories, as well as the risks, rewards, and ethical dilemmas they experienced while attempting to balance the delicate roles of being insiders, outsiders, researchers, and participants. They specifically discussed how they negotiated the personal and professional obstacles of being thrust into criminal worlds (as well as criminal justice worlds) and ultimately managed to thrive while conducting fieldwork in perilous places.     

Activity Fields and the Dynamics of Crime

Our current understanding of the role of the social environment in crime causation is at best rudimentary. Guided by the theoretical framework of Situational Action Theory, and using data from the ESRC financed Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), this paper aims to propose how we can better theorise and study the role of the social environment, particularly the person and place interaction, in crime causation. We will introduce, and illustrate the usefulness of, a space–time budget methodology as a means of capturing people’s exposure to settings and describing their activity fields. We will suggest and demonstrate that, combined with a small area community survey and psychometric measures of individual characteristics, a space–time budget is a powerful tool for advancing our knowledge about the role of the social environment, and its interaction with people’s crime propensity, in crime causation. Our unique data allows us to study the convergence in time and space of crime propensity, criminogenic exposure and crime events. As far as we are aware, such an analysis has never before been carried out. The findings show that there are (a) clear associations between young people’s activity fields and their exposure to criminogenic settings, (b) clear associations between their exposure to criminogenic settings and their crime involvement, and, crucially, (c) that the influence of criminogenic exposure depends on a person’s crime propensity. Having a crime-averse morality and strong ability to exercise self-control appears to make young people practically situationally immune to the influences of criminogenic settings, while having a crime-prone morality and poor ability to exercise self-control appears to make young people situationally vulnerable to the influences of criminogenic settings.     

Exposure to Property Crime as a Consequence of Poverty

This paper investigates whether and why the poor are more exposed to property crime than are the non‐poor, despite the reasonable assumption that poor people lack or have little valuable property that can be stolen. If poor people are more exposed to property crime than those who are not poor, there are needs for explanations. The paper investigates two plausible reasons: the significance of the neighbourhood character and routine activities. The results in the paper indicates that poor people are more exposed to property crimes related to the residence, independent of neighbourhood character and routine activities, while exposure to property crimes related to vehicles depends more on the family situation and age than on poverty per se. When it comes to other kinds of property crime, poor people do not seem to be more exposed than do the nonpoor. That poor people are more exposed to property crime related to their residence, and that there are problem areas explaining why, is worrisome. Those who are poor are often vulnerable to other social problems that tend to exclude them from ordinary living patterns. To find out the relation between poverty and exposure to property crimes related to residence is of importance for crime prevention and probably an important step to prevent those who are poor from being further excluded from society.     

Testing for Individual Factors for the Fear of Crime Using a Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause Model

In the extant literature, very few studies have simultaneously examined the impact of individual attributes, neighbourhood disorder and social cohesion on an individual’s fear of crime. This article addresses the use of multiple-indicator, multiple-cause (MIMIC) analysis for testing different variables related to the fear of crime based on a number of theories. Face-to-face interviews with residents of a high-crime council estate were conducted to examine the crime rate, disorder, cohesion and the fear of crime in the participants’ residential area. The results support the incivilities thesis and the vulnerability hypothesis, while the social disorganisation theory was partially supported. It was concluded that women and the elderly demonstrate higher levels of fear than men and the nonelderly and that crime, disorder and social cohesion have a direct effect on one’s level of fear, as the decreases in neighbourhood cohesion increase the individuals’ levels of fear. In addition, people who have been victimised and those who perceive higher levels of incivility were found to be more fearful of crime. By incorporating the three theories, the final model is able to account for 50 % of the variance in the fear of crime.     

浅议面对我国青少年犯罪问题的政府作为

时代高速发展的今日，伴随着人们生活水平的提高的同时，城市犯罪率也节节攀升，而其中犯罪更有向年轻化发展的趋势。犯罪年轻化问题，特别是青少年犯罪，严重威胁了我国的正常运行，具有不可预计的潜在危害性，急需政府采取失当行为应对。究其原因，除了与社会环境、思想观念的变化密切相关外，更涉及社会制度、家庭管理和个人素质等各个层面的原因。政府在面对犯罪年轻化问题时，可通过完善社会制度、改善社会风气、强化各方监督体系等方面加强管理，以减少青少年犯罪为突破口，达到从源头上控制犯罪的目的。     

Crime networks in Vietnamese diasporas. The Czech Republic case

The study seeks to analyse the structure and “modus operandi” of crime networks in the Czech Republic′s Vietnamese diaspora. Vietnamese criminality in the country has roots in communist era. After the democratic changes at the end of 80s, it has been representing dynamically developing phenomena, penetrating not only the local Vietnamese emigrant community but the state apparatus as well. Actually, the Vietnamese criminal underground lives in a specific symbiosis with the local Asian emigrant community, where legal and illegal activities are frequently merged together. “Respectable men” who have features of both legal businessmen and criminal bosses are the main actors in these processes. They create parallel power structures in closed worlds of Asian emigrants.     

论完善外来低收入群体的救助与犯罪的预防

城市中外来低收入务工人群有极不稳定的社会因素，也是城市犯罪主要产生因素之一，追溯其发生原因，可以发现社会收入分配严重失衡导致的贫富两极分化是造成当前城市外来人口犯罪众多的深层原因，城市对于外来边缘人群的救助缺失对于犯罪的高发生率又起到推波助澜作用。从社会救助入手，减小贫富分化缺口，将从根源上起到犯罪预防的作用。     

Insiders and outsiders: social change,deviant others,and sense of community in a boomtown

In the last decade, the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta has undergone significant social changes due to the rapid growth of the oilsands industry in and around the city. In this short period of time, Fort Murray’s population has more than doubled attracting migrants from all over Canada and internationally to fill labor shortages in the city. In the process, Fort McMurray has become a twenty-first century boomtown. Drawing on in-depth interviews, this article examines how young people and (adult) key informants perceived disorder, crime, risk, and boomtown living. It was found that participants drew a sharp distinction between those who contributed to the community by making Fort McMurray a home (the insiders) and those who did not (the outsiders). Blame for many of the negative aspects (i.e., disorder, crime, and risks) that came along with boomtown living was attributed to these outsiders.     

新生代农民工犯罪生存空间之考察——以社会不公平竞争为视角

2010年2月1日,中央一号文件首次明确提出"新生代农民工"的概念,旨在当今现实条件下努力促进新生代农民工的市民化。改革开放至今,农民工已步入第二代,即"新生代农民工",他们在促进城市经济发展过程中发挥了重要作用,但新生代农民工犯罪问题也成了社会的顽疾。本文在研究这一群体特点、犯罪情况的基础上,从社会根源、社会原因以及个人因素等方面进行综合分析,在社会不公平竞争视角下对新生代农民工犯罪生存空间进行探索,研究不公平竞争与其犯罪的关联,以期发展三元协调促进的防控理论,并寻求消除不公平竞争机制,铲除新生代农民工犯罪土壤的对策。     

GIRL FRIENDS ARE BETTER: GENDER,FRIENDS, AND CRIME AMONG SCHOOL AND STREET YOUTH*

In recent years, popular media has drawn attention to “mean girls” and their negative treatment of others, particularly other females. But while the attention to girls' aggression and their mistreatment of their peers highlights understudied aspects of female behavior, it neglects the beneficial aspects of female friendship. We argue that compared to relationships with males, friendships with females provide more social control, fewer opportunities and less motivation for offending and may therefore discourage crime. Because an adolescent's gender likely influences the association between the gender of one's friends and crime, we anticipate that the association will be stronger for females than for males. The relationship is also likely affected by the context in which relationships originate; we expect that those that develop in less conventional contexts will have weaker effects on crime. We explore these hypotheses with a comparative analysis of effects of friendships on property crime in two samples of youth: those who live at home and attend school and those who are homeless and spend their days and nights on the street. Our findings support our hypotheses. The relationship between female‐dominated friendship networks and property crime is negative and significant; however, this association is strongest for school females, weaker for school males and females who live on the street, and nonsignificant for homeless males.     

SOCIAL CONCERN AND CRIME: MOVING BEYOND THE ASSUMPTION OF SIMPLE SELF‐INTEREST

Most leading crime theories and crime‐control policies are based on the assumption that people are self‐interested. But recent work in a variety of fields has challenged this assumption, suggesting that people are both self‐interested and socially concerned. Social concern involves biologically based inclinations that sometimes lead people to give more consideration to others than to their own interests. These inclinations include caring about others, forming close ties to and cooperating with others, following certain moral intuitions, and conforming. This article describes the nature of and evidence for social concern, as well as the ways in which social factors shape social concern. The article then presents a theory of social concern and crime. Social concern has direct, indirect, mediating, and conditioning effects on crime. Although social concern generally reduces the likelihood of crime, it has little effect on or increases crime under certain conditions.     

‘There’s just places ya’ don’t wanna go’: the segregating impact of hate crime against Native Americans

Between 1999 and 2001, I interviewed or surveyed nearly 300 Native Americans in seven states, in an effort to uncover insights into the prevalence, dynamics, and local contexts of hate crime as experienced by Native Americans living in remote, rural reservations. One of the predominant themes that emerged revolved around one of the most damaging effects of the ongoing racial harassment and violence that threatens them on a daily basis. What I have observed is that hate crime has become an institutionalized mechanism for establishing boundaries, both social and physical. It reinforces historical patterns of withdrawal and isolation, in short, segregation. Through violence, the threat of violence, or even through the malevolent gaze, Native Americans are daily reminded that there are places in which they are not welcome. For too many American Indians, the perception, if not the reality of ‘what’s out there’ has its intended effect of keeping people in their place.     

食品安全犯罪之刑罚配置——以民生刑法为视角

在民生时代,食品安全犯罪的刑罚应当以民生刑法为指导来进行配置.在刑罚配置强度的确定上,我国食品安全犯罪的刑罚配置以国家刑法为导向,在定性错误的基础上强调重刑,存在诸多弊端;根据民生刑法,应当运用社会控制模式对犯罪进行综合治理,在正确定位的基础上合理配置刑罚,顺应世界刑罚的发展趋势逐步实现刑罚的轻缓化.在刑罚配置种类的完善上,根据民生刑法,应将罚金刑上升为主刑,将货值金额作为罚金刑的适用基准,采用倍比罚金制,提高罚金数额,设定最低数额,对犯罪单位配置较犯罪自然人以及相关责任人员更高的罚金数额;根据民生刑法,应增设与食品安全犯罪相配的资格刑刑种,这是惩罚和预防犯罪的需要,是禁止令的改革方向.     

论刑法学与犯罪学研究的整体互动

在中国,犯罪学与刑法学彼此分离各自为“家”,导致了中国社会过于看重严刑峻法而忽视犯罪原因,使得犯罪虽受到严惩但犯罪情势依然十分严重。如何扭转这一现象,尽快使刑法学惩罚犯罪的研究与犯罪学预防犯罪的研究相互结合,构筑刑法学与犯罪学整体相互联动的格局,是中国社会实现社会稳定的现实政治需要,也是中国社会经济发展的自然要求,更是中国社会通过历史反思对历史的经验与教训进行总结的必然趋势,从而实现使中国的刑事政策从刑事惩罚为主到刑事预防为主的战略转移,刑事法理论对犯罪构成和刑事责任的重点研究为主要转移到对犯罪原因和犯罪预防为主的研究重点上来,以此迎接一个国家繁荣昌盛但犯罪并不猖獗疯狂的时代的到来。     

我国工程质量事故犯罪的立法分析

工程质量问题已成为一个屡治不愈的“顽症,”严重地威胁到了人民群众生命财产的安全和社会的稳定。而我国工程质量事故犯罪立法在犯罪主体、罪过形式、危害结果、法定刑方面存在缺陷和弊端。为遏制工程质量事故,必须从主观方面、客观要件、责任主体、单位犯罪责任方面,对工程重大安全事故罪予以完善并增设危害工程质量事故罪。     

城市和谐的安全保障：犯罪预防战略措施及其整体优化

犯罪成型是一个发展过程,控制城市犯罪泛滥的预防措施也必须是一个发展过程。必须控制社区解体的速度以及社会成员特别是贫困群体等弱势主体对经济社会变迁的承受度。公民、城市公共场所的管理者、公司、企业、事业单位都有义务根据能力采取适当的情境型犯罪预防措施控制特色的犯罪行为。发展型、社区型、情境型犯罪预防战略措施优化升级的内在要求促使犯罪预防理论与实践思考控制犯罪的全新分析视角。     

A THEORY OF CRIME RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY*

The “causes of crime” research has up to this point focused on those events and conditions that push or pressure individuals into crime (strains), that pull or attract individuals to crime (social learning for crime), and that restrain individuals from responding to pressures and attractions with crime (controls). Work in several areas, however, has suggested that the response to the pressures for and attractions to crime is not simply a function of controls. It is also a function of the individual's resistance or susceptibility to the events and conditions described by strain and social learning theories. Those high in resistance are less likely to experience these criminogenic events and conditions as pressures for or attractions to crime, whereas those high in susceptibility are more likely. Resistance and susceptibility are a function of factors that influence the perception and interpretation of criminogenic events and conditions, the emotional reaction to them, and the behavioral inclinations prompted by them. These factors include negativity, pleasure and sensation seeking, conventional efficacy and perceived social support, and general sensitivity to the environment. With certain notable exceptions, these factors have been neglected in mainstream crime research, but they have the potential to improve the explanation and prediction of crime substantially.     

“Scared Straight”: Ideology and the media

One of the more widely publicized presentations about crime is “Scared Straight,” a documentary about a program in which juveniles visit inmates in a New Jersey penitentiary. It is the contention of this article that this film and the accompanying media coverage of it convey an ideology message concerning crime and criminals. Crime is presented as a matter of individual choice that has little relationship to any social variables. Criminals are portrayed in a one-dimensional manner as evil, vicious, and barely human. The documentary is a success because these images of crime and criminals conform to existing stereotypes. Based on these distorted images, the film and media coverage “market” a simplistic solution to crime that is compatible with their presentation of the crime problem.     

《刑法修正案(七)》第13条之解读

《刑法修正案(七)》第13条的规定可以概括为两个罪名,即"密切关系人受贿罪"和"离职国家工作人员受贿罪"。"密切关系人"包括国家工作人员和离职国家工作人员的近亲属以及其他与之关系密切的人,其范围比"特定关系人"要广,除了近亲属、情妇(夫)和有共同利益的人之外,还可以是同学、老乡、同事、战友、朋友等。其实质在于,行为人基于与国家工作人员的这种关系,能够或者足以影响该国家工作人员或者其他国家工作人员,进而通过该国家工作人员或者其他国家工作人员职务上的行为,为请托人谋取利益,实现与请托人之间的权钱交易行为。由于近亲属等密切关系人和离职国家工作人员既可以构成受贿罪的共犯,也可以独立构成密切关系人受贿罪与离职国家工作人员受贿罪,因此,要将其与斡旋受贿、共同受贿等行为相区别。     

Social harm future(s): exploring the potential of the social harm approach

The notion of social harm has sporadically interested critical criminologists as an alternative to the concept of crime. In particular, it has been viewed as a means to widen the rather narrow approach to harm that criminology offers. More recently, the publication of Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously has renewed interest in the notion of social harm. The book asserted a number of very valid reasons for a social harm approach that provoked a number of interesting critical responses. The article seeks to respond to five recurring questions: Should the social harm perspective move beyond criminology? If so, where should the perspective locate itself? From this position, how will the perspective continue to engage within ‘law and order’ debates and address the concerns of those affected by crime? If the notion of crime is problematic, how will the perspective form an alternative definition of harm? Moreover, without a notion of crime and the accompanying concept of criminal intent, how would the perspective allocate responsibility for harm? The article is not offering definitive answers to these questions, but possible directions for the perspective’s future development.