Sexual offenders’ treatment experience: a qualitative and quantitative investigation

Abstract

This research investigates the where and when of sexual assaults to determine what types of sexual crimes are committed at different time and place classifications. Exhaustive CHAID (chi-squared automatic interaction detection) analyses are conducted, examining factors associated with crimes that were committed indoors or outdoors, in private or public places, during the day or at night, and during the week or on the weekend. These methods are applied to a sample of 361 sexual crime events committed by 72 serial sex offenders. The results are strikingly different dependent on which spatial or temporal aspect of the crime is examined, which implies the complexity of sexual crime events and their situational components. This research brings to light possible policy implications with respect to situational crime prevention.     

ASSESSING THE EXTENT OF CRIME DISPLACEMENT AND DIFFUSION OF BENEFITS: A REVIEW OF SITUATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION EVALUATIONS*

Few criticisms of situational crime‐prevention (SCP) efforts are as frequent or prevalent as claims of displacement. Despite emerging evidence to the contrary, the prevailing sentiment seems to be that crime displacement is inevitable. This study examined 102 evaluations of situationally focused crime‐prevention projects in an effort to determine the extent to which crime displacement was observed. The results indicate that of the 102 studies that examined (or allowed for examination of) displacement and diffusion effects, there were 574 observations. Displacement was observed in 26 percent of those observations. The opposite of displacement, diffusion of benefit, was observed in 27 percent of the observations. Moreover, the analysis of 13 studies, which allowed for assessment of overall outcomes of the prevention project while taking into account spatial displacement and diffusion effects, revealed that when spatial displacement did occur, it tended to be less than the treatment effect, suggesting that the intervention was still beneficial. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

A Time-Series Analysis of Terrorism: Intervention,Displacement, and Diffusion of Benefits

This paper discusses the perception that displacement in terrorism is inevitable; that antiterrorism efforts merely relocate terrorism in some way. Using quarterly time-series data from the Global Terrorism Database (1994–2013) and the vector autoregression framework, we test the following hypothesis: the target-hardening efforts within the United States (US) after September, 11, 2001 reduce attacks on domestic US targets, but increase attacks on US targets abroad. To provide a more comprehensive test, we also provide dynamic impact factors and variance decompositions. The results of this intervention analysis show no support for displacement, and instead provide support for a diffusion-of benefits hypothesis. We also discuss how criminological and especially crime-prevention knowledge can guide and encompass the study of terrorism.     

Keeping the Barbarians Outside the Gate? Comparing Burglary Victimization in Gated and Non-Gated Communities

Despite the widely-held belief that gated communities are safer than their non-gated counterparts, little is known about the veracity of this assumption. Explanations rooted in routine activity theory and situational crime prevention suggest that restricted entry would reduce crime. Alternative explanations hypothesize that the overuse of security may actually increase crime. The present study explores this issue by comparing burglary victimizations in gated and non-gated communities using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey. We find support for the hypothesis that housing units in gated communities experience less burglary than their non-gated counterparts. Our findings also emphasize the diversity of gated communities and their residents, which is in stark contrast to commonly held perceptions of these areas as affluent enclaves. Future research is needed to further explore this initial finding and assess the influence, if any, of gated communities on other types of crime such as intimate violence and vandalism.     

The effects of closed-circuit television on crime: meta-analysis of an English national quasi-experimental multi-site evaluation

This article reports results obtained in an English national quasi-experimental multi-site evaluation of 14 closed-circuit television (CCTV) projects in residential areas, town and city centers, a city hospital, and car parks (parking lots). Both police and victimization data were collected before and after the installation of CCTV in target, control and buffer areas, and police Divisions. The results showed that CCTV was effective in reducing crimes in train station car parks but not in city centers or residential areas, seemed to be effective in reducing vehicle crimes (but not other types of crimes), and was most effective when the degree of coverage by CCTV was high and when CCTV was combined with other interventions such as improved lighting. Implications for situational crime prevention theory are drawn. There was no evidence of displacement or diffusion of benefits. It is concluded that CCTV needs to be implemented more effectively, based on an analysis of the crime problem and its causes, and needs to be evaluated using a randomized experimental design.

商业秘密犯罪抗制对策论略

在日益发达的经济全球化的信息时代,侵犯商业秘密犯罪正如附生于经济体的“毒瘤”,吞噬着商事企业的健康活力。2009年的“力拓案”让国人对侵犯商业秘密犯罪危害的认识更深了一层,中国此类犯罪的猖獗令人再度警觉。在全球范围内,侵害商业秘密犯罪形势也不容乐观,美德日等国的“商业间谍”屡屡兴风作浪,给全球经济的健康发展造成巨大危害。各国都力图通过一些法律来遏制此类犯罪,中国也应从着手从立法、司法、行政管理、企业管理制度、商业伦理、传统文化等多重层面入手,来构建系统的侵犯商业秘密犯罪的抗制对策体系。     

Technology, Criminology and Crime Science

Developments in technology have changed the environment of crime, which, in some of its new forms, poses a serious threat to society. At the same time the technologies of crime control are being transformed. If criminology is to respond adequately to this changed environment, it must make radical changes in its mission, its theories and its methodologies, the collective result of which would be to make the discipline more directly relevant to crime control and prevention. This would enhance the effectiveness of these activities and would also open up new and exciting career opportunities for criminologists. If criminology does not change, it will become eclipsed by crime science and will find it increasingly hard to survive – even in the protected environment of universities.     

Closing Off Opportunities for Crime: An Evaluation of Alley-Gating

A new situational crime prevention measure recently introduced into Great Britain involves the fitting of gates to alleyways running along the back of terraced properties to restrict access to local residents and reduce opportunities for offenders. A number of quantitative techniques were used to assess the success of the intervention in reducing burglary in the City of Liverpool. The results demonstrate that, relative to a suitable comparison area, burglary was reduced by approximately 37%, there was a diffusion of benefit to properties in the surrounding areas, and the scheme was cost beneficial with a saving of £1.86 for every pound spent. The analyses provide persuasive evidence that these reductions were attributable to the intervention. We argue that the methodological techniques demonstrated here can be applied more widely to crime prevention evaluations.     

Strategic versus emergent crime groups: the case of Vietnamese cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands

This article addresses the nature and development of the Vietnamese involvement in cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands. The findings are based on empirical data collected from national police registrations, case studies and in-depth interviews with over 30 Dutch and international respondents. The authors describe the background characteristics of Vietnamese cannabis farmers, the structure of the predominantly mono-ethnic Vietnamese criminal groups and the international context. A situational approach to organised crime is applied to illustrate the ‘emergent’ character of the Vietnamese crime groups as opposed to a ‘strategic’ context of organised crime. The Vietnamese supervisors in the Netherlands have legal citizenship and often have ‘careers’ in cannabis-related crimes. It would appear that for a Vietnamese gardener or farmer, the path into cannabis cultivation is linked to financial debt. Besides situational factors, group characteristics, such as the migrant community, seem important in understanding the Vietnamese involvement in the Dutch cannabis market.     

表现型犯罪的情境预防--一个西方犯罪学视角的观察

表现型犯罪是指行为人的在行为过程中带有强烈情感色彩的犯罪行为,这些犯罪可以包括由飙车所引起的交通事故犯罪、由足球流氓引起的伤害案件、故意毁坏财物的犯罪、强奸、猥亵儿童等行为,在转型期的中国,表现型犯罪已屡见不鲜,其防治成为须待解决的问题。基于西方古典犯罪学派的情景预防理论基于理性犯罪人与机会控制的思考路径,是防治表现型犯罪的一套成熟的理论体系和策略应用。西方犯罪学文献中对于情境预防之于表现型犯罪也有批判之声,情境预防理论的倡导者从理论的正当性与实际犯罪的预防效果两方面对批判进行了回应,证明了情境预防是对抗表现型犯罪的有效途径之一。     

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。     

犯罪情境预防的理论与方法探讨

犯罪情境是一种与犯罪相关联的,可以被犯罪所利用的有利于实施犯罪的各种社会环境因素的总和。犯罪情境预防就是在了解犯罪情境内容基础上,通过研究犯罪主客观情境因素,以社会作为载体和媒介,对犯罪进行预防的理论与方法。采用理论分析和比较的研究方法,将西方“个体——情境”交互作用的理论与我国犯罪预防的实践相结合,或许可以找到适合于我国犯罪情境预防的理论和方法。