Capitalizing on Criminal Accomplices: Considering the Relationship between Co-offending and Illegal Earnings

This study investigates whether co-offending offers an avenue towards criminal success. Specifically, it considers if current and prior co-offending experience is related to the probability of reporting illegal earnings as well as the amount of these earnings. Using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, we estimated fixed-and random-effects models to test whether co-offending experience is related to self-reported illegal earnings. The models also estimated whether “historical” co-offending experience predicted current illegal earnings. Across both modeling strategies, current and historical co-offending predicted the probability of reporting non-zero illegal earnings, net of offending frequency and controls. There is minimal evidence of a relationship between co-offending experience and the amount of illegal earnings, however. These findings lead us to conclude that access to a relatively common criminal connection—the co-offender—offers tangible benefits to adolescent offenders, primarily by affecting their ability to translate criminal opportunities into monetary gain.     

Border Enforcement,Organized Crime,and Deaths of Smuggled Migrants on the United States – Mexico Border

In response to ever increasing numbers of illegal immigrants entering the United States from Mexico, the United States adopted a border enforcement strategy in the 1990s that sought to bring the problem under control. This strategy relied primarily on increasing the number of Border Patrol agents directly on the border, the erection of walls at heavy traffic areas, and insertion of electronic surveillance systems. While these efforts succeeded in making it more difficult for illegal migrants to gain entry into the United States undetected, it also resulted in an increased reliance on human smugglers. Thus, the nature of the problem has shifted from one of illegal immigration to one of human smuggling. In an effort to gain entry successfully, smugglers have continued to lead migrants through hazardous terrain along the border where surveillance is less intense. Anecdotal evidence is presented which suggests that smugglers' drive for profit often results in the abandonment and death of migrants. Implications for future border policing strategy and research are discussed. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the International Conference on Organized Crime and Humanitarian Disasters at the initiative of the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme (ISPAC) in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Courmayeur Mont Blanc, Italy, December 3–5, 2004.     

The paradoxes of organized crime

The paper argues that the concept of organised crime inconsistently incorporates the following notions: a) the provision of illegal goods and services and b) a criminal organization, understood as a large-scale collectivity, primarily engaged in illegal activities with a well-defined collective identity and subdivision of work among its members. Against this superimposition, the author's contention is twofold: (1) The supply of illegal commodities mainly takes place in a `disorganized' way and, due to the constraints of product illegality, no immanent tendency towards the development of large-scale criminal enterprises within illegal markets exist. (2) Some lasting large-scale criminal organizations do exist, but they are neither exclusively involved in illegal market activities, nor is their development and internal configuration the result of illegal market dynamics.For Susan Strange: mentor and friend     

ILLEGAL ENTERPRISE: A THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION *

Illegal enterprise—defined as the sale of illegal goods and services to customers who know that the goods or services are illegal—has long been a central part of the American underworld, but it has received little attention as a separate criminological category. Although such activities are often relatively short term and small scale when compared with legal businesses, three major factors explain the cooperation that sometimes emerges among illegal entrepreneurs. The first factor is systematic corruption, which often permits police or politicians to bring order to illegal activities within a political subdivision. A second factor is overlapping partnerships by which entrepreneurs often launch and maintain illegal businesses. A third factor is the internal economic characteristics of illegal businesses, which shape the manner in which they operate. The paper explores the implications of each factor through historical examples and suggests hypotheses concerning the changing structure of illegal enterprises in American cities.     

检察视野下非法证据排除程序的几个理论问题

较之西方国家的非法证据排除集中于法庭审理阶段而言,我国非法证据排除具有贯穿于整个刑事诉讼程序的特点。非法证据排除的程序性理论问题、检察机关在非法证据排除中起到何种作用、检察机关排除非法证据的本质属性是什么、排除非法证据的模式有哪些以及如何在诉讼中排除非法证据、排除证据的效力怎样等基本理论问题都需要学界展开深入研究,以期在这些理论问题研究基础上构建检察机关排除非法证据程序的相关制度体系。     

行政执法与刑事司法衔接初探——以广州市违法建设查处领域为例

针对当前广州违法建设行为的具体情况,提出在强化行政执法的同时,有选择的使用刑法手段对违法建设行为进行打击,分别从违法建设行为本身、阻挠违法建设执法行为、违法建设相关监管部门渎职等三个角度入手,提出使用"非法占用农用地"、"非法倒卖土地使用权"、"暴力威胁阻挠执法"、"玩忽职守"等共计20余个罪名对违法建设定罪量刑,形成打击违法建设的合力,有效遏制违法建设的势头。     

Forensic data recovery and examination of magnetic swipe card cloning devices

Magnetic swipe card technology is used for many purposes including credit, debit, store loyalty, mobile phone top-up and security identification cards. These types of cards and the details contained on them are often relied upon as a form of identification and personal authentication. As such reliance is placed upon them it is surprising that they do not incorporate more stringent security features, and because of this lack of features it is not surprising that they attract the attention of people who wish to exploit them for illegal gain. The paper introduces the type of technology, and range of devices available for manipulating magnetic swipe card data. It proposes the use of Digital Evidence Bags as a suitable format for the evidential storage of information obtained from them, thus further illustrating the flexibility of the format and demonstrating the diverse range of devices that have to be handled within the digital investigation and law enforcement community.     

庭前会议中非法证据排除处理方法研究

2013年1月施行的《刑事诉讼法》中增加了庭前会议程序,其中对于非法证据排除的相关内容引起了法学理论界和司法实务部门的广泛关注,对庭前会议司法实践的实证研究表明庭前会议程序本身还存在法规模糊、制度欠缺等问题,其中对于非法证据的处理更是争议的焦点.在系统分析我国现行法律法规体系中有关庭前会议中非法证据排除的相关条款的基础之上,通过对司法实践以及法学理论界的不同观点的考察,本文从我国当前刑事司法体系发展阶段及特点出发,提出除控辩双方争议较大的情况以外,非法证据排除问题原则上应当在庭前会议中解决,同时法律法规应明确庭前会议中非法证据排除决定的效力.     

卫生监督中违法行为数事形态与处断实证研究(上)

在卫生监督中,对违法行为的连续与继续、牵连与吸收等行为形态的认定与处断,既欠缺明文规则,也未形成可有效指导实务的通说,类似违法行为处断各异给卫生行政处罚法律适用带来了困难.本文以卫生监督中该类典型违法行为形态为例,对其事数认定和处断进行实证分析.     

恶意透支及其刑法规制

恶意透支有一般违法型恶意透支和犯罪型恶意透支,我国刑法规制的是犯罪型恶意透支。在各种类型的恶意透支中,积少成多型和骗领信用卡型是两种最基本的表现形式。刑法规制的恶意透支主体不仅仅限定为自然人,还应包括单位。恶意透支行为是恶意透支犯罪的客观方面,刑法对于恶意透支行为作了法定解释,但如何认定恶意透支行为,对恶意透支犯罪行为的刑法规制采用何种立法例更适宜等问题的探讨,具有重要的现实意义。     

外国人非法就业治理的国外经验借鉴

我国对外国人非法就业管理上存在不足,外国人非法就业成为外国人管理中的一个难题。要着眼于外国尤其是传统的移民国家在治理外国人非法就业的方法和经验,结合我国治理非法就业所面临的形势和问题,探索外国人非法就业治理的措施。     

集体滥用行政权之防范

集体滥用行政权是行政机关以集体之名义作出的表面上合法、实质上严重违法的以权谋私行为,具有欺骗性和巨大的破坏力。行政主体之本位性、行政权力之专制性、对行政权力的法律监督之滞后性,是集体滥用行政权存在的主要诱因。防范集体滥用行政权,有必要科学配置行政权、健全行政公开,并完善对抽象行政行为的司法审查机制。     

检察机关排除非法证据的困境与出路——以非法言词证据为中心

鉴于检察机关的特殊地位,检察机关排除非法证据具有正当性,这也是非法证据排除程序的重要内容。但检察机关排除非法证据的实际效果并不乐观,其原因在于排除主体的定位模糊,非法证据的发现机制不畅,被告人滥用诉权,非法言词证据范围不明确,同步录音录像缺乏监督等。因此,检察机关应当从创新工作机制出发,逐步推动中国特色的非法证据排除规则制度的完善。具体而言,检察机关应当采取建立检察官排除非法证据的激励机制,扩展其发现非法证据的渠道,完善预案机制等措施,以提高检察机关排除非法言词证据的成效。     

知识产权罚款的碎片化及其整合——以《著作权法》、《专利法》修正为背景

行政罚款在我国知识产权行政保护中运用频仍。目前,知识产权领域相关法律文本中的罚款规范,在适用范围、构成要件、设置方式、启动程序等方面呈现出浓烈的碎片化色彩。这种碎片化处理的正当性略显不足,掣肘了行政保护的整体效能。随着知识产权法相继进入修法日程,逸脱知识产权领域樊篱、整合行政罚款规范,迎来了历史契机。基于知识产权的公权化趋势及我国法治生态,行政罚款在知识产权领域内应无差别地适用于一般违法行为和特定侵权行为;为维系行政与民事既有分工,行政罚款对侵权行为的谦抑适用,不宜通过简单附加"造成公共利益损害"要件或"提出请求"的前置程序来实现,而应借助对公益损害的典型描述与具体列举相结合的方式加以表达;鉴于公共利益的抽象性及经济社会发展变迁性,罚款额度宜选择以非法经营额为基数的倍率式罚款为主的一体化配置,同时将违法所得额在特殊情况下作为罚款限额之例外。     

Drug Films,Justice, and Nationhood 1

This paper examines how drug traffickers, enforcement, nationhood, and space are represented in illegal drug films. Drawing from a sample of films produced in the United States between 1916 and 2005, this paper examines several drug films in order to explore how past and contemporary films on illegal drugs reflect conventional ideologies about law and order, the nation, and imperialism. Censorship and illegal drug films that challenge and rupture conventional ideologies will also be discussed.     

On the Resilience of Illegal Drug Markets

This paper argues that the concept of resilience is a fruitful way of understanding the impact of repressive policies on illegal drug markets. For the purpose of this article, resilience is defined as the ability of market participants to preserve the existing levels of exchanges between buyers and sellers, despite external pressure aimed at disrupting the trade. The first part of the paper highlights how some of the core features of illegal drug markets, a decentralized structure and high prices, contribute to increasing their resilience to attacks. The second part develops a framework that can be used to compare markets on the basis of their resilient properties. Some of the empirical and policy implications of the framework are discussed in the conclusion.     

再论非法持有毒品罪

毒品犯罪多以行为人非法持有毒品为前提,即持有行为是一个前后可承继性犯罪的中间环节,这就导致非法持有毒品罪与其他毒品犯罪的区分在理论上并非泾渭分明,在实践中也疑难丛出.从非法持有毒品罪之于其他毒品犯罪来看,其属于兜底性罪名,但这并不能意味为其他许多毒品违法犯罪行为查证出现困难提供解脱.解决这些问题,须立足于不同犯罪之构成要件的细致分析.只有如此,才能正确解决持有假毒品、吸毒者非法持有毒品以及盗窃、抢夺、抢劫毒品等行为的认定问题,才能处理好非法持有毒品和窝藏毒品行为的竞合问题.     

论非法采矿罪的归位与拓展

未取得采矿许可证,是非法采矿罪的基本要件。但多功能的现行采矿许可证就像一个什么都往里装的大筐,这就导致犯罪构成的理论争议和适用的不确定性,也是非法采矿罪包揽非法采矿系列犯罪的成因。采矿许可证的实质性功能是矿业市场进入特许权制度,如此界定才能准确把握非法采矿罪的客体、对象、客观方面和情节等。非法采矿并将矿产品占为己有的结果,构成牵连盗窃犯罪、想象竞犯罪以及共同犯一罪或数罪等系列犯罪,是其他犯罪领域里少见的数罪。     

Illegal finance and usurers behaviour

This paper deals with a stochastic dynamic optimization problem in the context of illegal company financing. Our analysis of the usury phenomenon is conducted by searching for the best interest rate which an illegal financier should apply to a company in order to bring about the firm??s bankruptcy whilst still securing the maximum wealth for the firm??s guarantee. In this case, the company itself can be taken over and used by the financier for illegal activities. Because of the highly complex nature of the problem, the analysis will be performed via simulation studies.