Routine activity and victimization at work

This paper introduces the idea of domain-specific models of victimization as a means of improving the fit between theoretical concepts in routine activity theory and available data. Peoples' activity and their victimization experience can be divided into domains such as work and leisure. This paper focuses on the work domain. It demonstrates that activities performed as part of the occupational role affect the risk of victimization at work to a much greater degree than demographic characteristics of workers. These findings provide support both for routine activity theory generally and for domain-specific models as a particular approach to testing the theory.     

垃圾邮件探析

垃圾邮件已经成为互联网上难以治愈的顽症。通过对垃圾邮件的产生和人们较关注的几种解决方法的分析,提出了解决垃圾邮件问题不能依靠单一的方法,需要多管齐下的一整套方案。     

The network structure of malware development,deployment and distribution

The Internet is a global infrastructure, connecting individuals, regardless of their proximity to one another. But, the ability to connect on such a large scale has also been leveraged to coordinate illicit activities. This has led to the emergence of online illicit networks that have enabled broader participation in cybercrime. Online stolen data markets have been of particular interest to researchers, though the networks involved in the development, deployment and distribution of malicious software are far less explored, despite being intricately tied to the growing issue of cyber security. The current study identifies community structures within a larger network of hackers, malware writers and market actors and examines the underlying characteristics of these networks. Results suggest that the network is composed of modular communities formed largely of weak, non-redundant ties that follow the ubiquitous structure of complex networks. Implications, limitations and directions for future research conclude this paper.     

信用证欺诈法律救济的理论发展过程及其评述

信用证欺诈的频频发生,引起了人们关于对信用证欺诈的法律救济措施和法律救济理论的关注。本文重点论述了信用证欺诈法律救济理论及其发展的三个阶段,即:“禁止法院干预学说”阶段、“限制法院干预说”阶段和“法院依法救济说”阶段。本文还结合具体的案例对三个阶段的理论进行了具体和深入的分析。     

Routine activities and victimization at school: the significance of gender

Routine activities theory has not fully considered the role of gender in shaping victimization and yet, the research literature clearly demonstrates that gender is associated with an individual's risk of victimization. In addition to the pervasive effect of gender on victimization, gender shapes an individual's daily routines and thus may create a gender-specific relationship with victimization. This article explores the importance of gender in understanding the relationship between student's participation in extracurricular routine activities (e.g., student government, clubs, sports, and etc.) and the risk of victimization. From the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a sample of 10th-grade students was drawn for analyses. Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling was employed to explore the role of gender in the relationship between extracurricular routine activities and victimization at school. The results reveal that students' gender indeed interacts with several of the extracurricular routine activities creating gender-specific risks of victimization. This article highlights the importance of gender in explaining victimization and suggests researchers should consider how gender may interact with other routine activities and victimization.     

Uncertainty about the true source. A note on the likelihood ratio at the activity level

This paper focuses on likelihood ratio based evaluations of fibre evidence in cases in which there is uncertainty about whether or not the reference item available for analysis - that is, an item typically taken from the suspect or seized at his home - is the item actually worn at the time of the offence. A likelihood ratio approach is proposed that, for situations in which certain categorical assumptions can be made about additionally introduced parameters, converges to formula described in existing literature. The properties of the proposed likelihood ratio approach are analysed through sensitivity analyses and discussed with respect to possible argumentative implications that arise in practice.     

提升全国监狱工作整傩水平的新思路和新举措——范方平副部长谈监狱“三化”建设

监狱工作法制化、科学化和社会化(以下简称“三化”),是促进罪犯改造质量不断提高的有效途径,是建设社会主义政治文明中监狱工作的战略性的系统工程,是新形势下监狱工作实现可持续协调发展的根本保障。2003年11月23、24日,司法部在北京召开的全国监狱工作“三化”建设座谈会上明确,下一阶段全国监狱要普遍推进“三化”建设工作。日前,本刊记者就监狱工作法制化、科学化和社会化建设的背景、重要意义、主要内容、与监狱其他工作的关系以及各地“三化”实践等问题走访了司法部副部长范方平。     

Regulating behaviours on the European Union internet,the case of spam versus cookies

This article examines the soft-law politics of regulating behaviours on the internet in the European Union (EU) context. It shows the struggles behind internet standards, and delegation of power to commercial actors, while looking at spam and web-cookies as a case study. This article argues that by creating a false division between private and public spaces on the internet, it was possible to legitimize certain practices over others, despite being similar. In this way, spam was categorized as unsolicited communication associated with private space, whereas web-cookies were categorized as wanted communication in public space. By influencing and lobbying EU legislation and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) technical standards, the advertising industry and tech companies simultaneously authorize and institutionalize their own practices and illegalize people’s ‘problematic’ behaviour and other advertising companies. In this way, EU legislation and internet standards create a naturalized discourse that institutionalizes the roles of different actors in the online market, while emphasizing the central role of commercial actors in creating, defining, managing and enforcing the online market. Thus, spam operates as a regulatory tool applied to any type of behaviour that can interfere with the functioning of the EU e-commerce.     

Studying the correlates of fraud victimization and reporting

Little is known about the correlates of white-collar victimization, and even less is known about white-collar crime reporting. In this article, the extent to which predictors of fraud victimization are the same as the predictors of fraud reporting is examined. Using a national sample of fraud victims, these findings were consistent with prior research in that involvement in risky behaviors and age were found to be important predictors of fraud victimization. Additionally, the specific factors that are influential in predicting fraud victimization appear to vary across offense type. Unfortunately, little was revealed regarding the predictors of the official reporting of fraud victimizations. Future research needs to further unravel the importance of risky behavior in both victimization and reporting, as well as to focus on a broader array of white-collar crimes.     

Mortgage origination fraud and the global economic crisis

Research Summary The study outlined in this article analyzed the responses of 23 subjects previously and currently employed in the subprime lending industry to understand the implications and role of white-collar crime in the contemporary subprime mortgage crisis and to document the rationalizations that offenders use to explain their involvement in mortgage-related crimes. The subjects represented five sectors of the primary mortgage market, including brokerage, lender, escrow, title, and appraisal offices. Secondary sources of data for the study included media accounts, government reports, and industry studies. The research findings detail accounts of mortgage frauds in the subprime lending industry that resulted from inadequate regulation, the indiscriminate use of alternative loan products, and the lack of accountability in the industry. Policy Implications The study results suggest that the problem of mortgage origination fraud would be prevented best by major reform of financial policies and lending practices that characterize the subprime mortgage industry. Several broad recommendations are proposed in this article that highlight the need to recognize the potential for insider fraud, to enhance government regulation and oversight, to tighten loan qualification requirements, and to increase standards of underwriting. Observations are offered concerning the need to highlight white-collar crime in understanding the global financial crisis and to preventing future debacles.     

Danger to public health: Medical devices,toxicity, virus and fraud

The recent scandals involving the sale and manufacture of defective medical devices such as the PIP breast implants and the De Puy Implants have resulted in the long-awaited modernisation of the Medical Device Directive. Taking cognizance of the increasing integration of medical devices and technology, as well as the importance of electronic information, the proposed EU Regulation on Medical Devices promises greater European control on Notifying Bodies and more transparency to ensure patient's safety. This paper discusses the current directives and proposed legislation as well as the liabilities of manufacturers and software vendors for product failure.     

Publication of OIG Special Fraud Alerts: home health fraud, and fraud and abuse in the provision of medical supplies to nursing facilities--HHS. Notice

This Federal Register notice sets forth two recently issued OIG Special Fraud Alerts concerning fraud and abuse practices in the home health industry and in the provision of medical supplies to nursing facilities. For the most part, the OIG Special Fraud Alerts address national trends in health care fraud, including potential violations of the Medicare anti-kickback statute. These two Special Fraud Alerts, issued directly to the health care provider community and now being reprinted in this issue of the Federal Register, specifically address fraud and abuse in the provision of (1) home health services and (2) medical supplies to nursing facilities, including the submission of false claims and anti-kickback violations.     

Routine activity and labor market segmentation An empirical test of a revised approach

This article contends that routine activity theory has virtually ignored the motivated offender construct in terms of its measurement. We extend previous research testing routine activity theory by more accurately modeling the effects of labor market segmentation and other structural sources of offender motivation on variation in crime rates. A revised routine activity model is tested using data for the 100 largest cities in the US in 1980. The findings suggest that as secondary labor markets grow, urban crime can be expected to rise.     

Discriminatory decision making at the legislative level

This paper is an analysis of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. Consistent with value-conflict perspectives, previous research on the social origins of drug legislation suggests that coercive laws occur when the behavior of minority and other subordinate groups become threatening. Liberalizing drug legislation is enacted when the interests of dominant groups seem juxtaposed to existing punitive legislation. The present analysis explores the process of legislative decision making when both subordinateand superordinate groups engage in drug-related behaviors which run counter to dominant norms and values. To do so, a detailed analysis of the congressional committee hearings and floor debates which preceded enactment of the 1970 Act was conducted. This analysis revealed that Congress did not pass a strictly coercive drug control policy at the risk of stigmatizing superordinate groups. Nor did it choose to liberalize drug penalties across the board. Congress perceived that strictly liberal policies might undermine both the instrumental goal of reducing illicit drug activity, and the symbolic goal of expressing general societal disapproval of illicit drug use. Instead, the legislation that emerged from congressional debates contained both liberal and coercive provisions reflecting the requirements of dealing with two targeted populations: young middle and upper class white drug users who became identified as victims of drug traffickers; and large-scale and professional drug dealers who became identified as enemy deviants—the true source and symbol of the drug problem. Liberal, and essentially discriminatory, provisions permitted the protection of the former from stigmatization as criminal felons. Coercive, but apparently nondiscriminatory, provisions provided the threat and potential for severe punishment of the latter. The discriminatory features of the 1970 Act are identified and explicated. And, the implications of the Act's provisions for race- or class-based decisions in the application of sanctions are discussed.     

How the detection of insurance fraud succeeds and fails

Abstract

Insurance fraud is a serious and growing problem, and there is widespread recognition that traditional approaches to tackling fraud are inadequate. Studies of insurance fraud have typically focused upon identifying characteristics of fraudulent claims and claimants, and this focus is apparent in the current wave of forensic and data-mining technologies for fraud detection. An alternative approach is to understand and then optimize existing practices in the detection of fraud. We report an ethnographic study that explored the nature of motor insurance fraud-detection practices in two leading insurance companies. The results of the study suggest that an occupational focus on the practices of fraud detection can complement and enhance forensic and data-mining approaches to the detection of potentially fraudulent claims.