Risky remote purchasing and identity theft victimization among older Internet users

The low self-control/risky lifestyles perspective posits that people deficient in self-control engage in certain risky behaviors that increase their exposure to motivated offenders in the absence of capable guardianship, which in turn elevates their risk of victimization. Using survey data from telephone interviews conducted in Florida and Arizona with individuals aged 60 and over, the current study tests whether this theoretical framework partially explains risky remote purchasing and identity theft victimization among older Internet users. Results from the two-stage probit models conform to expectations: Individuals with lower levels of self-control have a significantly higher probability of making a purchase after receiving an unsolicited email from a vendor with whom they have not previously done business. What is more, making a risky remote purchase significantly increases the probability of identity theft victimization. The findings not only speak to the generality of the low self-control/risky lifestyles perspective, but also indicate that older Internet users can reduce their victimization risk by taking specific precautions.     

Transience and the disposition of theft cases in China

This research examines the relationship between transience and the disposition of criminal cases in an inquisitorial system. We describe the distinctive features of socialist legal theories, the justice process, and recent structural changes in China. The results of multivariate tobit analyses for a sample of court cases involving theft in China reveal that defendants' residency status has significant effects on pretrial detention, but not on sentencing outcomes. Further analyses of the possible conditional effect of offenders' residency status on case processing reveal that extralegal factors are weighed more heavily in detention decisions for transients, while legal factors are considered more strongly for residents. Pretrial detention influences sentencing outcomes, but only for transients. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed.     

Organized crime and the theft of Iraqi antiquities

Amid the chaos following the downfall of Saddam Hussein, thousands of treasured artifacts from Iraq’s museums and ruins disappeared. Many were trafficked out of the country and into auction houses in the West. This occurrence highlights the often-overlooked role of organized criminal networks in the collection, smuggling, and sale of illicit antiquities. By taking advantage of the breakdown in social order that surrounded the U.S.-led invasion in {dy2003}, criminals were able to profit from Iraq’s heritage and deprive its people of their past. This report examines the looting of Iraqi museums and archaeological during the fighting of 2003. Details of the antiquities theft that accompanied the chaotic aftermath of that conflict are investigated for signs of infiltration by organized criminal actors. In addition, the role of organized crime in the international trade in illicit antiquities is examined to shed further light on this obscure aspect of international criminal activity. Finally, the international response is evaluated to determine its effectiveness in combating both the theft of Iraq’s archaeological treasures and the increasing power of criminal actors in the country.     

Exploring the psychological and somatic impact of identity theft

Identity theft is a new and growing form of white-collar crime. This exploratory study examined the psychological and somatic impact of identity theft and coping methods utilized by victims. Thirty-seven victims of identity theft participated in regional victim focus groups. Participants completed a victim impact questionnaire designed by the authors and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18). The majority of participants expressed an increase in maladaptive psychological and somatic symptoms post victimization. Results on the BSI indicated that identity theft victims with unresolved cases, in contrast to those with resolved cases, were more likely to have clinically elevated scores when compared with a normative sample. Relatively similar coping mechanisms were utilized across victims. The results from this study suggest that victims of identity theft do have increased psychological and physical distress, and for those whose cases remain unresolved, distress is maintained over time.     

On the application of CRAVED to livestock theft in Malawi

Livestock theft is common in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Experience of theft can deplete household assets and food resources. This article reports the findings of an exploratory study to investigate whether livestock theft patterns in Malawi reflect variations in the extent to which different animals are “CRAVED” (Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable, and Disposable), Clarke's mnemonic to explain preferences for items to steal. Measures of the elements of CRAVED were correlated with self-reported levels of theft for seven species of livestock using data from a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of 11,280 households. Higher availability and disposability of livestock were significantly associated with higher levels of theft. Livestock displaying more CRAVED attributes were also stolen in greater numbers. The findings are cautiously interpreted as suggesting that livestock theft in Malawi is largely opportunistic. Implications from and for the application of CRAVED to livestock theft in Malawi are discussed.     

From the economy of deficit to the black-market: car theft and trafficking in Bulgaria

Official and victimisation data show that despite falling rates for motor vehicle thefts, much of the EU ‘organized crime’ related thefts have remained almost stable. Nevertheless, the car-theft market in the EU has changed, and so has the role of traditional destinations for stolen vehicles, such as Eastern Europe. The paper examines the demand, supply, and regulation factors that shape the structures of the vehicle theft market in Bulgaria, and smuggling patterns and offender behaviour in source countries, in particular Spain. We argue that such nuanced historical approach that takes into account a wider range of factors in destination countries can help explain the recent transformations in Europe’s vehicle-theft markets.

Criminology and the sociology of organizations

The sociology of organizations offers conceptual tools that can be used bycriminologists. The logic of crossing intra-disciplinary boundaries to borrowconceptual tools rests in the analogical properties of structure and processacross social settings that are fundamental aspects of all social organization.Analogy itself is underrecognized and used as a tool for conceptual thinkingand analysis in sociology. In this article, I give examples of theories andconcepts from the sociology of organizations that can usefully be appliedto substantive criminological problems. Then I compare family violence andcorporate crime as examples of organizational misconduct, foregroundingthe organizational setting in order to examine links between micro-, meso-,and macro-levels of analysis. These two exercises demonstrate thatincorporating organization theory into criminological research can providenew insights in data analysis of substantive problems, build toward generalsociological theory, and toward integrative general criminological theorythat escapes the levels of explanation problem.     

Criminal organizations and the policymaking process

ABSTRACT

What role do criminal organisations play in policymaking? Evidence presented in this paper from Latin America and the Caribbean points to the complex ways that various types of criminal groups influence the policy process. Based on the structure of the criminal organisation and the relationship between these groups and state officials this article illustrates the different types of dynamics criminal groups contribute to the policy process. In some cases, these dynamics increase the costs of policies while in others they alter the content of policies and strengthen the position of criminal groups in the neighbourhoods where they operate. The article identifies three dimensions along which criminal groups intervene in the policy process: friction; division; and mediation. The article shows these dynamics by looking at how criminal groups intervene in the policy process in various gang-controlled neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro, Medellín, and Kingston.     

Mistaken identity,identity theft and problems of remote authentication in e-commerce

The problem of mistaken identity in e-commerce transactions brings together seemingly unrelated issues: privacy, network security, digital signatures – and classic contract law. Combining an academic exercise with the practical implications of the insecurity of the Internet, this paper draws some unexpected conclusions regarding cases of mistaken identity and exposes flaws in popular legal arguments on the subject. Problems of mistaken identity must be analysed afresh with a number of factors in mind: the more widespread use of fictitious identities in on-line transactions, the higher incidence of identity theft and the greater difficulty of authenticating the other transacting party. The trend to preserve the privacy of Internet users indirectly clashes with efforts to ensure transactional security in e-commerce. An indispensable prerequisite of the latter is the ability to identify the other party to the contract. The problem of mistaken identity is not new – but it assumes a different scale in e-commerce transactions.     

Privacy and procedural justice in organizations

This paper advances the argument that individual privacy is a procedural justice issue in organizations. A review of the organizational privacy literature supports this argument, and new directions for procedural justice research are suggested. In addition, it is argued that a focus on individual privacy highlights the political and paradoxical implications of procedural justice issues in organizations.     

Caracci and the valuation of exempt organizations

In Caracci v. Commissioner, the Internal Revenue Service faced an important test in its application of Excess Benefit Taxes to disqualified persons of a nonprofit corporation that converted to for-profit status. This Article, written by the taxpayers' valuation expert, details the difficulties in the IRS case and demonstrates the reasons for the Fifth Circuit's reversal of the Tax Court's judgment in favor of the IRS. The author concludes with a number of lessons that taxpayers can take from Caracci.     

德国民间组织监管体制的特点与启示

悠久的结社传统使得德国民间组织的发展极为成熟.众多的民间组织在德国的政治、经济、社会、文化等领域发挥着极为重要的管理和调节作用.在其发达的民间组织背后,是一套由健全的法律制度框架、政府管制方式以及民间组织自律机制所共同构成的、特殊的德国民间组织监管体制.     

Law reform in the UK

This article reports on several developments in 2003: the implementation of the European Communities Framework Employment Directive, the introduction of a private member's Equality Bill, and the publication of the National AIDS Trust's report on UK anti-discrimination law.     

Bodily memory: Introducing immigrant organizations and the family

This is an article about war survivors who ended up in migration in the aftermath of World War II: former Division soldiers from Poland and former Ostarbeiterinnen from the Soviet Union who settled in Belgium. It analyzes how these migrants dealt in their post-war lives with experiences of harm to their bodies undergone during the war. Often, attempts to ascribe meaning to the physical and/or psychological remnants of this harm were not made through words, but through non-verbal performances. However, such bodily memory could also, consciously or not, become socialized. In this article, I investigate the performance of bodily memory over time within two of the migrants' social entities: immigrant organizations and families, focusing in particular on their interaction.