Power-seeking crime? The professional thief versus the professional launderer

Relating the concept of power to motives and objectives for criminal activities results in different images of criminals and their motivations. In this article, we aim to reflect on two different forms of crime (burglary versus money laundering) starting from a power perspective. We describe how the pursuit of power may or may not be related to crime, perpetrators and the policies that have been developed to prevent or repress these types of crime. By examining the motives behind both burglary and money laundering, we try to make clear how the concept of power and power pursuit leads to different rationales in criminal conduct. We try to determine to what extent ‘rational choice’ plays a role in this respect. As a conclusion, we argue that ‘power’ as such influences patterns of crime, victimisation and societal reactions (by means of criminal policy). The extent to which power accumulation is an outcome of crime, will in part determine the social reaction to crime and as a result, the perceived threat of crime.     

Criminal trial from a crime control perspective

Such ideas as upholding the advantages and merits of ex officio doctrine, gradually borrowing the fair factors of the adversary system, embodying a new-style concept of crime control and establishing the safeguarding rules and principles of the basic procedure for minimum justice criteria are macroscopical themes to which we must stick in the course of criminal trial. The effectiveness of a particular function in criminal trial in faith results from the choice of “degree” in the respect of crime control. The attitude of a criminal judge directly or otherwise exercises an influence on the trial of a case, and may even be decisive on some occasions. The concept of crime control is a barometer of the judge’s attitude in criminal trial, and an indispensable component of the judge’s rational attitude as well.     

CAN RATIONAL CHOICE BE CONSIDERED A GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME? EVIDENCE FROM INDIVIDUAL‐LEVEL PANEL DATA

In the last few decades, rational choice theory has emerged as a bedrock theory in the fields of economics, sociology, psychology, and political science. Although rational choice theory has been available to criminologists for many years now, the field has not embraced it as other disciplines have. Moreover, rational choice scholars have fueled this skepticism of the theory's generality by modeling offender decision making that is one‐sided—large on the costs of crime (sanction threats), short on the benefits of crime. In this article, we directly assess the generality of rational choice theory by examining a fully specified model in a population that is often presumed to be less rational—adolescents from lower socioeconomic families who commit both instrumental (property) and expressive crimes (violence/drugs). By using a panel of N = 1,354 individuals, we find that offending behavior is consistent with rational responses to changes in the perceived costs and benefits of crime even after eliminating fixed unobserved heterogeneity and other time‐varying confounders, and these results are robust across different subgroups. The findings support our argument that rational choice theory is a general theory of crime.     

The police,crime, and economic theory: A replication and extension

Based on insights garnered from rational choice theory, Loftin and McDowall hypothesize that there is likely to be a reciprocal relationship, over time, within jurisdictions between police force strength and crime. Contrary to expectations, their ARIMA analyses of the association between total police force employment and the total crime rate for Detriot during the period of 1926 to 1977 produce null findings. As a result, they conclude that rational choice models are too simplistic to explain the relationship between the agency size and crime. It is our contention that this conclusion might be premature. We suggest that a failure to disaggregate total police force employment into its component sectors may be masking substantial reciprocal effects. The present investigation employs ARIMA techniques to model the reciprocal relationship between total, patrol, and detective police employment and total, property, and personal, robbery crimes in Milwaukee for the years 1930 to 1987. Consistent with previous research we report null findings between total police employment and total crime rates. However, the findings also reveal significant reciprocal relationships between the disaggregated measures of police size and crime. The implications of these results for rational choice theory are discussed.     

Perceived arrest risk,psychic rewards,and offense specialization: A partial test of rational choice theory†

In prior tests of Beckerian rational choice theory, the notion that individuals are responsive to the (dis)incentives associated with crime has been supported. Much of this research has comprised composite scores of perceived rewards and risks of multiple, often disparate, crime types that are then used to predict “general” offending behavior. Although the results of such prior tests are informative, we believe that this tendency has resulted in two shortcomings. First, a central component of mathematical rational choice theory is overlooked, namely, that responsivity to incentives will be crime specific. That is, offenders should prefer crime types that subjectively offer greater rewards and fewer risks relative to other crimes. Second, individual differences in offending specialization are not addressed, of which Clarke and Cornish (1985) and Shover (1996) argued rational choice theories are well suited to explain. Using a sample of serious offenders, we find that in a given time period, individuals are more likely to engage in crime types they viewed as more intrinsically rewarding and less risky compared with other crimes. Furthermore, individuals displayed greater specialization in violence to the extent they view violence as more rewarding and less risky than property offenses     

The influence of police interventions and alternative income sources on the dynamic process of choosing crime as a career

This paper demonstrates how a rational process of choice may be influenced by both deterrence forces and economic opportunities. This choice is modeled by a dynamic (Markov) process which captures self-sorting by youth among the categories of innocents, desisters, and persisters. in crime. A key to the results is the introduction of the perceived probability of punishment and its influence on the sorting process. The analysis shows how this force and the availability, or lack of, economic opportunities or income sources modify transition probabilities. The long-run consequences will be a larger subpopulation of individuals who have experimented with crime but subsequently revert to crime-free behavior and a smaller subpopulation of individuals who commit a greater share of crime. Empirical evidence is based on data from the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys.     

Toward an Integrated Model of Offending Frequency: A Replication Study

Criminology is limited by a paucity of replication studies. As such, the measurement of key concepts and the empirical support for theory is open to skepticism. Drawing on the RAND Survey of Inmates and a replication of it, the current study developed an integrated model of offending frequency that contained measures from the rational choice, criminal identity, and criminal careers literatures. A confirmatory structural equation model revealed that criminal self‐concept partially mediated the effects of background risk factors. Perceived costs of crime had no significant effect. Perceived benefits of crime were directly and indirectly (through criminal identity) related to offending frequency. However, differences in measures and variance across data sets contributed to discrepant model fit. This attests to the importance and increasing need for precise replication in criminological research.     

BETWEEN PROPORTIONALITY & IMPUNITY: Confrontation⇒ Truth⇒ Prevention

The ideal of punishment proportionate to wrongdoing creates a criminal justice system that deters prevention. An alternative ideal is that crime should always be confronted with a presumption for mercy that is conditional upon participation in a truth-seeking process that identifies paths to prevention. Informally rewarding reconciliation and prevention is the basis of a more compelling rational choice account of crime control than proportionate formal punishment. A rational and emotionally intelligent criminal justice system might look something like the airline safety system.     

犯罪人真的是不理性的吗——与陈和华教授商榷

犯罪学研究的犯罪人应当是理性的犯罪人。行为人选择犯罪虽然在价值理性的角度看存在不理性的成分,但是犯罪学的研究应当注重犯罪人行为的实践理性与工具理性。犯罪人对犯罪的长期后果（法律后果）低自控与低自珍不是决定犯罪人非理性的决定因素。适应性非理性应当注重对于犯罪情境的分析。当代理性选择理论强调犯罪人的有限理性,犯罪预防的落脚点在于对于犯罪人犯罪机会的控制与犯罪具体社会情境的抑制。     

The choice of crime: An empirical analysis of juveniles' criminal choice

This article applies the theory of individual rational choice to micro data on the criminal activity of juveniles. The individual choice model is developed and applied to data on 1,171 files on property offenses adjudicated by the Family Court between 1972 and 1976.It is found that the type of crime chosen, as indicated by the charge at the time of arrest and the final charge, is influenced by sex, age, number of prior referrals to the court, ethnic extraction, and place of residence of the juvenile. As the effect of each of these individual characteristics on the probability of selecting the various crimes differs, the choice of crime exhibits dynamic features; as the individual age increases, and as the number of prior referrals to court increases, the probabilities of selecting particular crimes change. These features are examined by generating the probabilities and examining the patterns which emerge.     

Understanding offense specialization and versatility: A reapplication of the rational choice perspective

An understanding of offender specialization and versatility offers benefit to both criminal justice policy and theoretical foundations. The majority of research examining offending specialization/versatility, however, sought to inform crime policy. Accordingly, there was little theoretical insight as to why individuals might engage in more specialized offending, or instead, diversify in their criminal participation. An earlier application of rational choice theory to the offending specialization — versatility issue was premised on the idea that the theory inherently predicted specialization in offending. Other interpretations offered it as a heuristic tool for understanding both crime specialization and versatility. The findings from a series of logistic regression techniques on a national level probation sample supported rational choice predictions about successive tendencies in offending participation that fulfill likely offender needs.     

THE APPLICATION AND ROBUSTNESS OF THE RATIONAL CHOICE PERSPECTIVE IN THE STUDY OF INTOXICATED AND ANGRY INTENTIONS TO AGGRESS*

Using a rational choice framework, this study examines the effects of alcohol and anger on violent decision making. Male students of legal drinking age participated in a randomized experiment in which intoxication and anger levels were manipulated. Participants read a “bar fight” scenario and completed a series of questions measuring aggressive intentions and the perceived consequences of violence. Results indicate that alcohol and anger interacted to increase one measure of aggressivity, but the perceived costs and benefits of violence were unaffected. Exploratory analyses call into question the robustness of the rational choice model, suggesting that the perspective may not be the general explanation for crime it is proclaimed to be.     

SELF-INTEREST,EQUITY, AND CRIME CONTROL: A GAME-THEORETIC ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL DECISION MAKING

Employing the analytic technique of game theory, we attempt to answer questions about how individuals with different proclivities to use crime to accomplish ends, and different beliefs about society's fairness, are likely to respond to different incentives and disincentives that are derived from strain and neoclassical deterrence theories. Our analysis indicates that the crime control policies typically recommended by adherents of both theories are often logically invalid, given the premises upon which they are supposedly based. For example, our analysis suggests why punishment strategies like “three strikes and you're out” and “entitlement strategies” such as welfare and other short-term redistributive payment programs fail to deter crime. Finally, after including notions of equity with traditional rational choice assumptions, our analysis identifies a mix of theoretically derived strategies that may more effectively deter crime.     

Beyond Rational Choice: the Hot/Cool Perspective of Criminal Decision Making

This paper proposes a general framework of criminal decision making that assumes both ‘cool’ cognition and ‘hot’ affect, i.e. feelings, to influence criminal choice. Drawing from judgment and decision making research and social psychology, the hot/cool perspective extends rational choice and deterrence theories by explaining how affect is likely to influence criminal decisions alongside cognitive considerations, such as the perceived costs and benefits of crime. It is shown how the hot/cool perspective offers a more realistic account of criminal decision making processes than existing decision models and approaches and also allows for the explanation of criminal behaviors that are difficult to explain in terms of rational choice.     

犯罪的边界——我国轻罪制度的立法思考

从探寻现行立法意图入手,在分析和考察我国“定性加定量”犯罪概念界定标准的基础上,立足刑法基本理论和司法实践进行理性反思,提出构建我国轻罪法的理论思路,试图彻底解决立法调整对象竞合的制度性弊端.     

“罪与罚”主题价值内涵的变迁

“罪与罚”是欧洲学史的一个重要母题,作为欧洲学两大源头的希腊学和希伯莱学在表现这个母题时体现出鲜明的化差异性：希腊学中我们看到的是对“我在”的求证,而在希望伯莱学中我们看到的是对“他在”的求证。中世纪“罪与罚”作为一种宗教理念对人的思想和行为产生深刻的影响,理性的、有节制的生活成为人们的一种自觉选择。陀斯妥也夫斯基则通过对罪的虚化、弱化,强调对罚的自觉担当,强调人面对不合理的外部世界的一种自主选择。至此,罪与罚主题完成了一个循环,由哲学命题回归为哲学命题。     

刑法中定量因素的故意规制研究——“客观超过要素”理论的再诠释

我国刑法“立法定性、定量”的．立法特点对于我国刑法中“主客观相统一原则”的“相统一”基准以及犯罪故意概念内在结构的理解都有其实质性影响，从行为无价值与结果无价值机能二元论的视角重新审视“客观超过要素”理论就会发现“客观超过要素”概念的存在有其充实的理论基础与合理性。     

SPECIALIZATION AND THE CRIMINAL CAREER*

Hirschi recently (1985) attempted to show the compatibility of social control with rational choice theory. This effort by Hirschi is noteworthy because, if successful, he could provide a connection between positive and classical sentiments which have traditionally appeared in contention. Hirschi fails, however, to achieve his objective and is hindered by what he views as the incompatible objectives of the two theories. Hirschi uses the recently accepted findings which indicate lack of specialization among persons involved in illegal behavior to illustrate the difference he sees between criminality and crime and, thus, the divergence between social control and rational choice. This paper attempts to remove the barrier found by Hirschi by providing improved measurement of specialization, such as has been proposed by Farrington (1986) and Klein (1984), and by placing the results in a more realistic criminal careers perspective than has been done in previous studies. This study utilizes data from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort. With information to age 26 for 27,160 persons, these data are perhaps better suited to investigate this topic than any available.     

刑法科学的理论

当代德国刑法教义学存在着侧重具体问题的细化研究、弱化体系性要求的趋势。但体系的一致性,毕竟是刑法学作为一门科学所必须满足的基础要求。刑法科学的理论,旨在为刑法教义学的建构提出必要的准则,以确保刑法教义学能够成为一门体系性的、理性的科学。刑罚论是建构犯罪总论的起点;犯罪概念的内容,取决于刑罚的正当化根据。刑法的任务在于,保证法共同体成员相互认可的状态具备必要的稳定性。因此,犯罪的本质并非法益侵害;只有当某一行为违反了公民所负有的应当共同维护既有之自由生存秩序这一义务时,才能将该行为视作犯罪。从该犯罪概念出发,可以在行为概念、客观归责、故意论、不作为犯等犯罪总论的具体领域中,推导出与之相适应的结论。刑法科学之理论的优势在于,它能够将某一学说的教学法品质与其真正的科学品质截然区分开来。