Roadblocks and drunk driving: A time series analysis

Deterrence theory suggests that drunk driving can be reduced when the certainty of apprehension is improved. Sobriety checkpoints or roadblocks have been implemented in several jurisdictions to increase both the number of drunk drivers apprehended and the public’s perception of the risk of apprehension. The present study was conducted to obtain additional information on the effectiveness of such checkpoints as implemented in a medium sized urban community. A time series design consisting of 126 weeks of data was utilized to measure the impact of sobriety checkpoints on the number of alcohol related crashes. The research methods utilized, results obtained, and suggestions for further research are presented.     

Crime prevention participation:An exploratory analysis

Most past research on crime and crime prevention has focused on their occurrence in urban settings. Relatively little attention has been given to crime and citizen crime prevention in small town/rural areas. The present study uses secondary data from the National Crime Survey: Victim Risk Supplement, 1983 to investigate citizen participation in five crime prevention domains within large urban areas and small town/rural areas. The results suggest that, while there are some similarities in citizen participation, various factors have different degrees of impact in different locations. Further, differences in crime prevention participation are more a function of the type of crime prevention than of the size of the local population.     

清代侵占罪之认定与盗窃罪之认定的纠缠——兼与现代侵占罪与盗窃罪的认定比较

清代侵占罪(拐带财物罪)与盗窃罪往往撕扯不清,其关键区分就在于事主是否由于信任而将财物托付给行为人照管。信任而托付照管在现代就是交由别人占有。这和现代刑法中侵占罪和盗窃罪的认定关键在于是否由行为人占有财物基本一致。古今刑法理论在某些领域内是相通的。     

Crime prevention strategies by the United Nations: A global perspective

Most of the studies on crime show that no society is immune from crime and organized crime. Large or small, complex or simple, developed or underdeveloped, every society faces the task of controlling crime and organized crime. Furthermore, recent events reveal that the so‐called ‘'domestic crime'’ has become more globalized, or internationalized. Unless dramatic changes take place, collectively, e.g., by the United Nations, no single nation can expect to control or regulate illegal activities. In particular, crime prevention and criminal justice has been a long standing agenda item of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council; the two principal legislative bodies governing the United Nations program of work in the criminal justice field. The Council is, after the Assembly itself, the major legislative and policy‐making organ of the United Nations. The field of criminal justice is an important component of social and economic affair, the Economic and Social Council determines policy and initiates activities. Within the United Nations system, the most direct responsibility for international efforts toward crime prevention and control is borne by the recently created Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (which has replaced the expert subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, namely, the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. The establishment of the Commission, by the Economic and Social Council in February 1992, ushered in a new era in United Nations involvement in crime prevention and criminal justice. The commitment of the Member States to the prevention of crime and the promotion of justice through strengthened international cooperation has been clearly spelled out in numerous General Assembly and Economic and Social Council resolutions. Those resolutions are indicative of the Member States’ heightened awareness and concern that crime, in its internationalized form, has to be tackled by a multilateral approach including international cooperative measures, and that interdependent efforts are urgently required. The Commission provides a means by which Governments can be directly involved in the determination and supervision of the program of work of the United Nations in crime prevention and can clearly manifest their political will. Its establishment was the result of a long process of review of the functioning and program of work of the United Nations in crime prevention and criminal justice, and was seen as an indispensable condition of a structural reorganization of United Nations activities in this field. For further information on CRIME PREVENTION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE, and THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON CRIME PREVENTION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE, see UN Newsletter, Numbers 22/23, July, l993. Further information on Operational Activities of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch since the First Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in April 1992 (on Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe Western Europe and North America and Global aspects, see the same documents, pp. 22–26 for more detail.     

Crime prevention through mass media: Prospects and problems

This article examines some social scientific issues relating to the operation and evaluation of crime prevention through mass media programs. It is argued that the efficacy of such programs is dependent upon the successful application of several empirically based communication principles. In addition, the attempt is made to analyze several general problems concerning the meaning and measurement of program success. Issues relating to both the operation and the evaluation of crime prevention through mass media programs are discussed in terms of their practical implications for public policy.     

Crime,time, youth and punishment

This paper examines current developments in the social control of youth crime and delinquency in England and Wales. It argues that the usual critical explanations of these developments, in the form of the dispersal of discipline or the social authoritarianism thesis are inadequate. Instead, it is suggested that the punishment has taken on a more effective and efficient format in the management of this problem group than either of the above would have made possible.     

The Burglary Boost: A Note on Detecting Contagion Using the Knox Test

Objectives

A large body of literature in quantitative criminology finds that the spatio-temporal clustering of burglary is greater than one would expect from chance alone. This suggests that such crimes may exhibit a “boost” effect, wherein each burglary increases the risk to nearby locations for a short period. In this study, we demonstrate that standard tests for spatio-temporal dependence have difficulty distinguishing between clustering caused by contagion and that caused by changing relative risks. Therefore, any estimates of the boost effect drawn from these tests alone will be upwardly biased.

Methods

We construct an agent-based model to generate simulated burglary data, and explore whether the Knox test can reliably distinguish between contagion (one burglary increases the likelihood of another burglary nearby) and changes in risk (one area gets safer while another gets more dangerous). Incorporating insights from this exercise, we analyze a decade of data on burglary events from Washington, DC.

Results

We find that (1) absent contagion, exogenous changes in relative risk can be sufficient to produce statistically significant Knox ratios, (2) if risk is changing over time, estimated Knox ratios are sensitive to one’s choice of time window, and (3) Knox ratios estimated from Washington, DC burglary data are sensitive to one’s choice of time window, suggesting that long-run changes in relative risk are, in part, driving empirical estimates of burglary’s boost effect.

Conclusions

Researchers testing for contagion in empirical time series should take precautions to distinguish true contagion from exogenous changes in relative risks. Adjusting the time window of analysis is a useful robustness check, and future studies should be supplemented with new approaches like agent-based modeling or spatial econometric methods.

     

The Moral Mirror Image of Crime: A Comparison of Recorded Crime and Crime Recorded in Fiction

Moral and ethical aspects of crime are often ignored in most criminological research. In order to probe these two dimensions, crime recorded in fiction was compared with statistically recorded crime. Two hypotheses were tested: the first suggested that crime fiction portrayed the “reality” of actual statistics, while the second suggested that crime fiction was totally unrelated to crime statistics. Comparing data obtained from a North American literary journal and crime statistics obtained from a Canadian province, the results of the study supported the second hypothesis and indicated that crime fiction was totally unrelated to recorded statistics. Crime fiction seemed to represent a moral pacemaker of the perceived fears of the public, while crime statistics seem to represent the criminal pulse of society.

The negative correlation between fiction and recorded statistics is a significant find in that it indicates the reading public's preoccupation and fascination with a very small segment of criminal activity in society—an unrealistic fear of serious injury or death due to violent crime, far out of proportion with reality especially when impending doom is much more probable on the highways in automobile accidents.     

Crime and Crime Control in an Age of Globalization: A Theoretical Dissection

This article examines theimpact of globalization on both crime and crimecontrol at the national and global levels. Tomake conceptual sense out of the transformingnature of these activities at the turn of the21st century, a threefold analysis ispresented: (1) an overview of the threetraditional developmental models of crime andcrime control – modernization, world system,and opportunity; (2) a characterization ofcrime and crime control in relationship to themore recently emerging models of globalization;and (3) a discussion of the implications of thedialectical relations between the models ofdevelopment and the models of globalization.Assessments of the models and other provisionalconclusions are drawn based on a survey of bothcrime and crime control in 15 developed,developing, and post-traditional nation-states.     

政府犯罪：研究国家国际犯罪的新视角

基于国际社会面对国家犯罪与国家刑事责任的争论,简要介绍政府犯罪观念产生的背景、初步概念、独立性及政府刑事责任双罚制;着重分析政府犯罪与国家犯罪的关系;得出尽管政府在国家不法行为和国际犯罪中扮演重要的角色,但政府犯罪不能完全等同于国家犯罪这一结论.在现有的国家责任体系中,建立政府刑事责任制度,具有法理和实践层面的可行性,符合国际社会现实状况.     

Computer Crime: A Technology Gap

A review of current industrial practices, litigation trends, and the growing use of computer data banks and networks leads to the following conclusions about computer crime: data security and integrity are frequently compromised by lax security practices and operating procedures. Frequently the perceived but erroneous assumption that the inherent difficulty of the computer operating system will detour would-be violators is the only security a system has. This article describes methods commonly used to attack data bases and operating systems. The conclusion is that computer crime is an international phenomenon and investigation and prosecution are complex matters. For example, an examination of the copyright laws as they relate to computer crime indicates that there are frequent violations. International violators of the copyright laws frequently distribute bootleg copies of software worldwide. The article concludes that there is a gap between technology and law in the field of computer crimes. International cooperation is needed to define copyright laws and promote investigation and prosecution of international violators.     

Crime statistics: A mathematical perspective

This paper compares the crime statistics generated by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) to those generated by the National Crime Survey (NCS), collected by the Census Bureau for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. The crime reporting process is described for both the UCR and NCS to determine the nature of their respective biases. Events within the processes are analyzed to develop a new estimate of crime incidence based on both the UCR and NCS. Numerical examples are then developed to point out the deficiencies in the NCS, and to make suggestions for the improvement of its accuracy.