Construction of the problem of Latin gangs in Spain and response of the law enforcement system

Recently, since their official recognition as criminal organizations by Spanish law enforcement authorities, stricter prosecution of Latin street gangs has been observed. The toughening of legal regulations, new models of police conduct and the increasingly active role of prosecutors have contributed to greater punitive pressure on the gangs. This article has two main objectives: first, to describe changes in Spanish criminal policies for the treatment of Latin American street gangs; second, to analyse to what extent these changes are in consonance with empirical findings on criminal involvement and the organizational nature of these groups. The results show that despite the recent increase in criminal activity these groups cannot be viewed as the only parties to blame for local street crime. The opinion of the law enforcement authorities that Latin American street gangs are a form of organized crime is far from reality. These groups do not have the required combination of characteristics inherent to criminal organizations, and their purposes are not always exclusively criminal.     

Legal Ambiguity in Managerial Assessments of Criminal Records

In an age of widespread background checks, we ask how managers in different organizational contexts navigate legal ambiguity in assessing applicants' criminal history information, based on interview data obtained in a recent field experiment. The study builds on institutional analyses of the social sources of workplace legality to describe how employers consider applicants with criminal histories. We find that some organizations set explicit standards to guide hiring decisions, providing concrete policies on how to treat applicants with records. Where such procedural mandates are lacking, however, hiring managers turn to a micro‐rational decision process to evaluate potential risk and liability. These individualized approaches create inconsistencies in how the law is interpreted and applied across organizations, as evidenced by actual hiring behavior in the field experiment.     

论复合法域条件下的中国对外刑事司法合作关系

对于中国的刑事司法合作问题的研究 ,目前主要着眼于中国的对外刑事司法合作以及中国国内的区际刑事司法合作两个方面 ,而对于复合法域条件下的中国国家及其各个法域的对外刑事司法合作及其相互关系问题却几乎无人问津。本文在分析了中国对外刑事司法合作的现状 ,以及“一国两制三法系四法域”局面的形成给中国的对外刑事司法合作带来的影响的基础上 ,就复合法域条件下 ,中国应当如何处理国家及其各个法域同有关国际条约和国际组织的关系、同外国的引渡关系等问题进行了探讨 ,并就中国国家及其各个法域在对外刑事司法合作中的身份定位、活动方式、行为准则以及相互关系等问题阐述了一些见解和主张。     

The effects of legal and extra-legal characteristics on organizational victim decision-making

A variety of factors influence decisions to mobilize formal social control. With few exceptions, studies considering the effects of legal (e.g., case specific) and extra legal (e.g., offender and victim characteristics) variables have concentrated on sentencing under criminal law, an outcome subject to sample selection bias given that the majority of cases never reach this stage. Analyses of earlier decision points (e.g., victim calls for service, police use of force, and arrest), have focused on street crime and single jurisdictions. A neglected research context is the organizational victim’s response to employee fraud. Using a sample of 663 fraud cases, this study applies Black’s (The behavior of law, San Diego, Academic, 1976) theory of law to victim organizations’ decisions to mobilize formal social control. Results demonstrate that extralegal characteristics weigh heavily on decisions to initiate both criminal and civil outcomes. Specifically, offenders’ education and age decreased the odds of criminal legal mobilization. Mobilization of criminal law was also more likely by government agencies. Implications for Black’s theory and directions for further research are discussed.     

New Legislation in the Union Republics with Respect to the Legal Profession

The Soviet legal profession occupies a place of honor in the system of government and public organizations whose duty it is to protect the rights and liberties of Soviet citizens and to strengthen socialist legality and order. In performing the function of defense in criminal trials and in providing other legal services to citizens, enterprises, institutions and organizations, and by vigorous activity to educate the people with respect to Soviet law, lawyers promote the defense of the rights and legal interests of the citizenry, their training in a spirit of respect for Soviet laws, prevention of crime, strengthening of socialist legality, and proper administration of justice.     

关于我国刑事诉讼中检法关系的几个问题

检察机关和法院是刑事诉讼中两个非常重要的机关,两机关在我国刑事诉讼中的关系应界定为分工前提下的互相制约关系而非互相配合关系。这种界定不仅具有深刻的法理基础,同时对于诉讼中确保法官中立和控辩双方的平等也是非常重要的。当然,在重新确立检法之间关系时还必须解决好由此而产生的相关问题。     

‘No,buddy, I will not speak to the press – I am working!’: criminal justice and the interprofessional dynamics of communication production in the Chilean Public Prosecutorial Office

This article analyses the interprofessional dynamics of communication production in the criminal justice system. Through 26 in-depth interviews, we investigate the production of media information on prosecutorial work in Chile, tracking the relationships between internal communication agents, prosecutors, and external legal journalists. Previous scholarship has shown the success of police organizations in defining the content of crime communication based on asymmetrical power relations with the media. By contrast, our study reveals that legal journalists can bypass attempts to control the flow of information from the prosecutorial office and impose extra-organizational goals. Lawyers regularly dismiss the work of journalists, particularly those working as strategic communication advisors with prosecutors, but the asymmetrical relationship between the criminal justice agency and the media plays in favour of external legal journalists. Our article considers several explanations for this configuration, including interprofessional values, transactional relationships between journalists and prosecutors, and local legal culture.     

Mentally disordered criminal offenders: Legal and criminological perspectives

Legal research in Sweden has traditionally focused on a systematization of the legal rules and their practical application, while the task of studying the effects of the application of the laws has been handed over to other branches of the social sciences. In contrast, new legal theories focusing on proactive and therapeutic dimensions in law have gained increasing attention in the international arena. These approaches may be better suited for evaluating legislation governing compulsory psychiatric care. Theoretical discussions and studies of causal mechanisms underlying criminal behaviour, as well as the implementation and value of instruments for predicting behaviour, are relevant to contemporary criminological research. Criminal behaviour varies across different groups of perpetrators, and the causes can be sought in the interplay between the individual and social factors. Multi-disciplinary efforts, integrating research from forensic psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and criminology, would be beneficial in leading to a better understanding of the causes underlying criminal behaviour.     

City police and drunk driving: Baseline data

Public attitudes, social movement organizations, and criminal justice laws regarding drunk driving have undergone significant changes in recent years. These changes raise important questions about police, who act as gatekeepers for the rest of the criminal justice system. Very little, however, is known about what police did in the years when drunk driving was viewed as a less serious social problem or about what police do now. I attempt to answer the first of these questions using data collected in the early 1970s, an important, largely unexamined period in the history of city police and drunk driving. The data provide a baseline for contemporary research. City police did not give contacts with drunk drivers a high priority, preferred to avoid these encounters, and made arrests on the basis of both legal and extralegal factors; extralegal factors were more important than legal factors. I examine the implications of the baseline data for contemporary policing.     

法治视野中的刑事案件立案程序——以公安机关为视角的考证

刑事立案程序是刑事诉讼的启动程序和开展刑事侦查的必经程序,公安机关作为刑事案件侦查的主力军,其立案、侦查职权具有专属性和排他性,但是,公安机关在侦办刑事案件中的立案程序却存在立案标准不统一、立案标准缺失、立案与撤案法律依据相互矛盾等诸多缺憾,极易造成基层职能部门的无所适从乃至变相操作,应当从统一立案标准、加强对侦查活动的监督制约等多方面去完善侦查活动的构造,以修葺立案程序的法治化出路。     

中国经济刑法法益:认知、反思与建构

当前基于秩序、利益、自由等表述的经济刑法法益学说在认知进路上存在问题,无法形成本体和功能自洽的法益观。应当承认集体法益的独立性,立足法益二元论对经济刑法法益进行本体重塑与功能展开。它勾连宪法,是保障在经济领域中实现个人自由的外部条件的统一体,也是经济秩序市场经济规范保护的客体。法益不是刑法独有的保护目标,仅根据法益标准难以有效区分刑事不法与行政不法。经济刑法的犯罪化应坚持保护适格的集体法益,同时更加注重合比例原则和明确性原则的补充与限制。经本体重塑的经济刑法法益兼具体系超越与体系内在功能,有助于在反思当下中国经济刑法立法与司法的基础上,重构经济刑法的立法理念与犯罪化标准,厘清经济犯罪的类型与解释原理。     

刑事被害人获得社会援助权之论纲

刑事被害人的获得社会援助权是指被害人在遭受犯罪侵害后能够得到有关社会组织或成员的支援和帮助的一种法律权利.它是社会人道主义的法律化和制度化的表现,也是减轻被害人所受犯罪损害的现实需要.被害人获得社会援助权已纳入国际刑事人权保障的范畴,发达国家和地区较早地建立了完善的社会援助体系,为被害人实际享有获得社会援助权提供了现实保障.我国目前尚未从法律上确立刑事被害人的获得社会援助权,也缺乏援助被害人的社会工作体系,只是部分被害人获得了某些"边缘性的援助"或者司法经济救助.因此,立法上明确被害人的获得社会援助权,规范社会援助被害人的方式和内容,是被害人获得有效社会援助的制度保障.     

PRETREATMENT CHARACTERISTICS AND TREATMENT PERFORMANCE OF LEGALLY COERCED VERSUS VOLUNTARY METHADONE MAINTENANCE ADMISSIONS*

Analyses were conducted to determine whether addicts coerced into treatment by actions of the criminal justice system differed from voluntary entrants in terms of background characteristics, early risk factors, or drug use and criminal behavior during pretreatment, treatment, and post treatment periods. Subjects were categorized into high, moderate, and low legal coercion groups based on their official legal status, related narcotics testing requirements, and their self-reported perceptions of criminal justice system coercion. Those induced to enter the treatment program through legal channels had slightly higher rates of serious property offenses and higher proportions of time incarcerated and under legal supervision, but they did not differ from voluntary entrants in overall criminal behavior during pretreatment periods. All groups showed substantial improvement in level of narcotics use, criminal involvement, and most other behaviors during treatment, but there was some regression after treatment.     

Managing money acquired from human trafficking: case study of sex trafficking from Bulgaria to Western Europe

Often the criminal activities, especially organized criminal groups are aimed at generating large amounts of money in a short period of time. However, the criminal organizations differ in their approach to revenue management. This article focuses on the management of proceeds acquired from human trafficking and presents the results of an empirical study on the topic. This study is based on 152 semi-structured interviews conducted with sex workers, traffickers, law-enforcement representatives, and prosecutors. The article explores the movement of money within the criminal organizations, the methods of bookkeeping and accounting, and the basic techniques for laundering the proceeds acquired from sex trafficking from Bulgaria to Western Europe. By describing how the criminals engaged in human trafficking for sexual exploitation manage the money generated from this type of criminal activity, a better understanding of the criminal phenomenon itself can be attained.     

论法律拟制思维在刑法中的重要性

刑法中存在普遍的＂有意将不同者等同视之＂的＂法律拟制＂现象,这种＂以假为真＂的作法并不必然与刑法的基本原则相违背,而有可能是在坚持刑法基本精神的前提下的一种刑事立法层面上的有效方式。所以,对刑法中拟制现象的研究不能仅限于＂刑法的拟制性规定＂,而应该以＂法律拟制＂本身所代表的标准来审视刑法中的拟制现象。     

Cross-Classified Multilevel Models: An Application to the Criminal Case Processing of Indicted Terrorists

This study provides an application of cross-classified multilevel models to the study of early case processing outcomes for suspected terrorists in U.S. federal district courts. Because suspected terrorists are simultaneously nested within terrorist organizations and criminal court environments, they are characterized by overlapping data hierarchies that involve cross-nested ecological contexts. Cross-classified models provide a useful but underutilized approach for analyzing such data. Using the American Terrorism Study (ATS), this research examines case dismissals, trial adjudications and criminal convictions for a sample of 574 terrorist suspects. Findings indicate that diverse factors affect case processing outcomes, including legal factors such as the number of counts, number of co-defendants, and statute of indictment, extralegal factors such as the ethnicity of the offender, and incident characteristics such as the type of terrorism target. Case processing outcomes also vary significantly across both terrorist groups and criminal courts and are partially explained by select group and court characteristics including the type of terrorist organization and the terrorism trial rate of the court. Results are discussed vis-à-vis contemporary research on terrorism punishments and future directions are suggested for additional applications of cross-classified models in criminological research.     

Organized crime,money laundering and legal economy: theory and simulations

This paper proposes a dynamic model to simulate the relationships between the profits of organized crime, money laundering and legal investments. We develop a macro framework in which organized crime can increase its possibilities to invest in the legal sector by resorting to effective but costly money laundering schemes. The model explores the conditions under which the effectiveness of money laundering causes a positive trend in the legal assets owned by the criminal organizations. We use the model to simulate the total amount of legal wealth generated by organized crime through drug trafficking in different world regions, with particular attention to Europe.     

“When They Come for You”: Legal Mobilization in New Authoritarian Russia

As of 2012, the Russian State Duma passed a string of repressive laws on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), surveillance, and high treason. Under this “new authoritarian” regime, a growing number of Russians are investigated by the security services or put on trial for high treason. NGOs face selective prosecution and surprise inspections. While we know how lawyers use legal mobilization in democratic regimes where they can expect courts to be fair, legal mobilization remains understudied in regimes moving toward authoritarianism, where authorities pass repressive laws but enforce them erratically. Drawing on interviews with Russian lawyers, this article examines how lawyers represent two victim groups of state coercion: Russians under investigation for treason and prosecuted human rights NGOs. By examining how lawyers make strategic choices while coping with unfair courts, the random enforcement of laws, and shrinking resources, this article argues that state coercion does not deter lawyers from legal mobilization at domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights. Instead, repressive laws push lawyers to reinvent their everyday practices to counter repressive legislation and conviction bias in the criminal justice system.     

新冠疫情背景下妨害传染病防治罪的解释扩张及其回归

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情中的法律规范适用带来新视角与新问题,在超越可容忍的社会相当性且有刑事可罚追究必要的场合,我国刑法中妨害传染病防治罪的规范适用值得关注。该罪的对象被限定为"甲类传染病",本次新冠肺炎被列为"乙类传染病",从而该罪存在适用上的瓶颈。司法解释的渐进扩张具有唤醒妨害传染病防治罪和注重公共卫生安全法益保护的一面,但是选取的方式难以与刑事法治相契合。为了更好地实现刑法参与社会治理的功能需求,应当对妨害传染病防治罪采取"立法类型化调整、司法解释适度限制"的组合路径,使刑法规范的社会适应性与刑罚处罚的有限性相融合。     

Criminal superstition, pregnancy and infants at the turn of the 19th century

Around 1900, various crimes were still caused by criminal superstition. Criminologists like Hans Gross, Albert Hellwig and August L?wenstimm were engaged in the exploration of this topic aiming at the complete explanation of criminal behaviour linked to superstition. Crimes against pregnant women and infants are particularly good examples to illustrate the problems arising from crimes motivated by superstition. When assessing superstition under scientific and legal aspects, the criminologists applied different approaches, although positivistic rationalization was the most common tendency. In the forensic and legal evaluation of crimes related to superstition the problematical questions were whether the perpetrator was criminally responsible and how the offence was to be legally qualified. In many cases, criminals motivated by superstition were treated with more lenience.