Covering Victims in the News: What Makes Minority Homicides Newsworthy?

The current study builds on the homicide and media criminological literature by examining the newsworthiness of 866 homicide incidents that occurred in Newark, NJ between 1997 and 2007. Recognizing that indicators of newsworthiness may vary by homicide victim gender and race/ethnicity, this study comparatively assesses the effects of suspect, victim, and incident variables on homicides against female, black, and Hispanic victims. A news media distortion analysis is employed which matches specific homicides to their respective local print news coverage. Overall, offense seriousness and victim vulnerability increase the odds of homicides receiving news media attention and being displayed prominently. We also find that different homicide characteristics serve as indicators of newsworthiness depending on victim gender and race/ethnicity. We discuss how cultural stereotypes may shape evaluations of newsworthiness and conclude with implications for theory and future research directions.     

Self-Complexity and Crime: Extending General Strain Theory

General strain theory suggests that a number of conditioning factors affect who is more likely to respond to strain with crime. This study introduces a previously neglected conditioning variable from the social psychology literature, self-complexity (SC). SC refers to (1) the number of identities individuals perceive as important to themselves; and (2) the varied characteristics they ascribe to these identities. The central argument of this study is that those who are lower in SC, or those with fewer identities and more overlap among these identities, should be more susceptible to the negative emotional and behavioral effects of strain. This assertion was tested through a vignette study of undergraduates. Results indicate that those who are lower in SC are more likely to intend to assault another person and drink heavily than those who are higher in SC. The findings suggest that SC should be included among traditional conditioning variables explicated in GST.     

The hunt for an elusive crime – an analysis of Swedish measures to combat sex trafficking

Sex trafficking has been described as an enormous, serious and growing problem that must be combatted, but also as a moral panic based on a very small number of cases. This article explores the measures that have been proposed to combat sex trafficking by politicians, the national police and the National Council for Crime Prevention in Sweden between 2007 and 2017. The analysis shows that sex trafficking is partly used by the actors to justify their own work. The measures that all three actors describe as central are crime victim support, co-operation, information, education and expanded legislation. The underlying problems associated with sex trafficking, according to the three actors, appear to be prostitution, drug use and foreign women crossing Swedish borders. Much of the responsibility for the provision of information and education is delegated from government agencies to a wide range of actors. This desire for comprehensive societal engagement stands in stark contrast to the small number of sex trafficking cases in Sweden. The measures to combat sex trafficking are thus largely characterized by the hunt for an elusive crime.     

A randomized experimental study of sharing crime data with citizens: Do maps produce more fear?

The larger roles of the community in crime prevention and improvements in technology have increased police–citizen communication and the distribution of information from police departments to private citizens. Combined, these changes have led to the current movement among law enforcement agencies toward sharing both summary reports and maps of crime with community groups. Although the dissemination of crime information is intended to benefit community members, there is a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating the effects of crime mapping on citizen perceptions and fear of crime. This experiment compared three formats for disseminating crime data; two popular types of crime maps (i.e., graduated symbol and density) and the traditional tabular format of crime statistics. A randomized experimental design was used to measure residents fear of crime and their perception of the safety of different areas of Redlands, CA. Overall, residents who viewed either type of map reported less fear than those who viewed tabular statistics. Respondents who viewed graduated symbol maps consistently reported less fear than either density maps or tabular statistics. However, there were differences depending on the type of map. While graduated symbol maps were associated with the lowest levels of fear of robbery, theft or assault; density maps produced different reactions depending on the area of the city. Finally, the maps did not stigmatize high crime areas of Redlands. Where statistically significant differences existed, respondents who were given maps were more likely to recommend someone move into an area than those who were given tabular statistics.     

累积犯视域下网络账号恶意注册行为的规制

作为各类网络“黑灰产业”的源头,网络账号恶意注册行为具有行为原子化、推定的“恶意”、原因力的间接性、侵犯法益的广泛性等特征,亟需刑法规制。累积犯理论依据“真实的累积效应”,将轻微不法行为纳入抽象危险犯的规制范围,与网络账号恶意注册行为相契合且为规制后者提供了理论支持。立足于网络社会特点及语用学的发展,通过对刑法解释进行“去中心化”的网络改造,可使帮助信息网络犯罪活动罪的适用更加灵活。对“明知”与“犯罪”的阐释应跳出传统语义的窠臼,扩张至“推定明知”与“不法行为”,进而在恪守罪刑法定原则的基础上实现刑法立法的效用最大化。     

Using Social Media to Measure Temporal Ambient Population: Does it Help Explain Local Crime Rates?

A challenge for studies assessing routine activities theory is accounting for the spatial and temporal confluence of offenders and targets given that people move about during the daytime and nighttime. We propose exploiting social media (Twitter) data to construct estimates of the population at various locations at different times of day, and assess whether these estimates help predict the amount of crime during two-hour time periods over the course of the day. We address these questions using crime data for 97,428 blocks in the Southern California region, along with geocoded information on tweets in the region over an eight month period. The results show that this measure of the temporal ambient population helps explain the level of crime in blocks during particular time periods. The use of social media data appear promising for testing various implications of routine activities and crime pattern theories, given their explicit spatial and temporal nature.     

Criminal Justice “Hollywood Style”: How Women in Criminal Justice Professions Are Depicted in Prime-Time Crime Dramas

With the abundance of prime-time crime dramas on television, it is imperative that researchers examine how female criminal justice professionals are depicted in the world of fiction versus in reality. In this study, a content analysis of 10 prime-time television crime dramas was conducted. Of the 69 characters observed, female criminal justice professionals were portrayed as young, White, and single. Female characters were more provocatively dressed, and they also were more likely to be victims of crime. Unlike previous studies that showed that female characters were underrepresented on prime-time television, here women were overrepresented as crime scene investigators, detectives, and special agents. Stereotypical images of women as subordinate, nurturing, affectionate, and sexually attractive still prevail. However, compared to their male counterparts, female characters were equally assertive, self-confident, and competitive.     

新媒体背景下的诽谤罪认定

新媒体作为现代传播体系中不可或缺的组成部分,在信息传播过程中具有信息传播的即时性与广泛性、信息平台的数字性与多样性、信息交流的自由性与持续性和信息受众的平等性与互动性等特点。因此,在新媒体的背景下,在认定诽谤罪中的散布行为时应考量“公然性”的条件;在认定损害结果时应着重传播手段的严重性;在认定犯罪主体时应根据不同的传播方式区别对待;在认定犯罪主观故意时应当包括间接故意,以此准确认定诽谤罪。     

论盗窃虚拟财产的定性

以非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪定性盗窃虚拟财产的行为虽然符合罪刑法定原则的要求,但该罪名不能反映犯罪目的,盗窃虚拟财产的行为也没有扰乱公共秩序,虚拟财产具有价值,也可脱离受害者的控制,并能被盗窃者实际控制,符合盗窃罪的要求,盗窃者如果具有永久性剥夺受害人虚拟财产的犯罪意图的,应该以盗窃罪追究其刑事责任,域外的实践也将盗窃虚拟财产的行为定性为盗窃罪.盗窃虚拟财产的行为也可能构成盗窃罪、侵犯通信自由罪、非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪与破坏计算机信息系统罪,属想象竞合犯.     

Reconocimiento y ejecución de sentencias mexicanas de divorcio en venezuela

Judges rule their decisions to enforce foreign divorce judgments and therefore to achieve procedural justice. Notwithstanding of that, the enforcement couldface different challenges, not only about its coercive enforcement —lacking of voluntarily compliance of the original decision— but also ju-risdictional/territorial limitations. These limitations are related with the existence of different locations among the place of the original subject matter, the place of its effects and, the place where the enforcement decision will be ruled. However, geographical boundaries should not affect vested rights. Therefore, it is crucial to grant mechanisms that will ensure the enforcement of foreign decisions. Based on two Venezuelan Supreme Court decisions, this document analyses issues related with the enforcement in Venezuela of Mexican divorce judgments, considering both the Inter-American Convention on Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards and Venezuelan domestic rules.     

Cybercrime is whose responsibility? A case study of an online behaviour system in crime

Drawing on Sutherland’s theory of behaviour systems in crime, this study investigates social media fraud (SMF) facilitated by botnets to understand the onset and maturation of this new online offending behaviour. We find legitimate actors in the system – Internet of Things manufacturers, online social networks, hosting companies and law enforcement agencies – share a way of life that prioritises private gains and avoids implicit responsibility for security. They arrive at a Nash equilibrium that provides a weak and disorganised social response to crime. SMF providers, on the other hand, are cleverly organised and exploit weaknesses in security, adapting to change and developing working relationship with those who benefit from their activities and share their lenient behaviour towards fraudulent activities. We conclude that the rise in cybercrime is a result of the behaviours of all actors in the system, not just those who offend.     

The public salience of crime, 1960–2014: Age–period–cohort and time–series analyses†

The public salience of crime has wide-ranging political and social implications; it influences public trust in the government and citizens’ everyday routines and interactions, and it may affect policy responsiveness to punitive attitudes. Identifying the sources of crime salience is thus important. Two competing theoretical models exist: the objectivist model and the social constructionist model. According to the first, crime salience is a function of the crime rate. According to the second, crime salience is a function of media coverage and political rhetoric, and trends in crime salience differ across population subgroups as a result of differences in their responsiveness to elite initiatives. In both theories, period-level effects predominate. Variation in crime salience, however, may also reflect age and cohort effects. Using data from 422,504 respondents interviewed between 1960 and 2014, we first examine the nature of crime salience using hierarchical age–period–cohort (HAPC) models and then analyze period-level predictors using first differences. We find that 1) crime salience varies mostly at the period level; 2) crime salience trends are parallel (cointegrated) across demographic, socioeconomic, and partisan groups; and 3) crime salience trends within every population subgroup are most consistent with the constructionist model. The crime rate does not exert a significant effect in any subgroup.     

信息化背景下经济犯罪预警系统的建立

经济安全是国家安全的重要内容。在新形势下,信息化是经济发展的趋势,电子商务、网上办公已成为新时代的方向。公安机关也开始了信息化的进程,广东省公安厅经侦局应时而需,成立了经侦信息化应用办公室,开始了经侦信息化的具体应用。如何进一步完善经侦信息化的内容,强化经侦信息的价值,就必须在信息化基础上建立有效的经济犯罪预警系统,并充分履行打击、服务、参谋三大职能,发挥经侦信息的作用,实现情报导侦,维护广东经济安全。     

“同案不同判”的反向审视与规则建构——基于刑事责任本体论的思考

理论界与实务界对于"同案同判"的非理性坚守以及"同案不同判"的极端化批判,仅仅是刑事责任虚无化境遇下罪刑之间的"调节器"功能失灵所引致困惑中的冰山一角。绝对的"同案"本不存在,"同案不同判"现象的出现亦有其合理的一面。对此,应当放弃对刑事裁判量刑结果形式化的追求,采用逆向思维模式,将焦点转向对定性与定量"同"与"不同"之间充分的说理论证。同案不同判的规则建构,应当以罪刑法定为底线坚守,程序正义为形式保障,刑事责任功能发挥为实体支撑,其中,刑事责任的量的侧面是核心。     

司法判决“终局性”问题研究——以内地司法判决在香港承认与执行为中心

终局性问题成为内地判决在香港顺利获得承认执行的主要障碍。香港法院通过一系列判决建立起了针对内地司法判决终局性的完整规则体系。通过对普通法法域终局性规则晚近发展的考察,并依据普通法判决理由的确定理论,建议香港法院采纳灵活的终局性标准,即判断终局性的关键应在于内地司法判决是否在当事人之间创设了确定的债权债务关系。