Delinquency and Justice

Abstract

In an attempt to demonstrate the value of case study research on delinquency in American Indian communities, Tribal Court juvenile records from one western American Indian community, 1991 through 1998, were analyzed and interviews conducted with community members. Most arrests of juveniles were for alcohol possession and consumption, conduct offenses and status offenses. The most severe offense was simple assault. Youths were more likely to be detained for underage consumption than youths off reservation. Few bookings (26%) resulted in court hearings and all cases resulted in dismissal, deferred adjudication, or deferred sentencing. Girls had higher rates of arrest and detention than males. Interviews identified alcohol consumption and erosion of the extended family as correlates of delinquency.     

Factors related to recidivism for youthful offenders

Little is known about youth who were previously placed in a detention facility and what factors predict a subsequent recidivism to placement. This study of a two-county juvenile offender population (one urban and one rural) investigates what demographic, educational, mental health, substance dependence, and court-related variables predict recidivism to detention placement. Findings from logistic regression analysis indicate that seven variables significantly predict juvenile offenders’ recidivism placement, some expected and some unexpected. Predictors that made recidivism more likely include youth with a previous conduct disorder diagnosis, a self-reported previous suicide attempt, age, and number of court offenses. Conversely, predictors that made recidivism less likely include race (Caucasian), a previous attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis, and a misdemeanor conviction. These findings indicate that the use of a community-based suicide and mental health screening and referral approach may help to identify and assist these high-risk youth in receiving needed services prior to juvenile court involvement or during delinquency adjudication.     

The effectiveness of interactive journaling in reducing recidivism among substance-dependent jail inmates

The present study sought to evaluate the influence of interactive journaling on criminal recidivism and identify significant predictors of recidivism among a sample of 183 male inmates incarcerated in a local jail facility randomly assigned to either an interactive journaling condition or a control group. All participants met DSM-IV-TR criteria for substance dependence, had their current offense indicate substance involvement, and had a minimum of one previous arrest in the prior 12 months. The recidivism rate (51%), in terms of subsequent bookings within a 12-month period, for the journaling group was significantly lower than the recidivism rate (66%) for the control group, χ(2)(1, 183) = 4.13, p < .05. The three most significant independent predictors of subsequent bookings were severity of posttraumatic stress disorder, group assignment (journaling vs. placebo), and employment status. Interactive journaling appears to show promise as a brief treatment intervention strategy for substance dependence in local jail settings and may have the potential for reducing recidivism.     

Ten Ways to Reduce Detention Population

“Juvenile detention is regularly overlooked, maligned, and misunderstood. Its embattled condition is best described as severely abused and neglected. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded and largely ignored.”¹ “Detention caseloads increased 38 percent between 1987 and 1996. The increase in the number of delinquency cases handled by the courts has driven the growth in the number of juveniles in the detention system. In 1987, 1.2 million delinquency cases were disposed of in juvenile courts. By 1996, this number had risen 49 percent, to almost 1.8 million. This increase in the volume of juveniles in the justice system resulted in a 38 percent increase in the number of delinquency cases that involved the use of detention. The number of juvenile delinquency cases detained in 1996 was 89,000 more than in 1987. This has resulted in increased demand for juvenile detention bed space across the country.”² “Changes in statutes allowing more detainable offenses have significantly increased the number of youths admitted to regional detention centers.”³ “Although minority youth constituted about 32 percent of the youth population in the country in 1995, they represented 68 percent of the juvenile population in secure detention…⁴     

Reducing lockup crowding with expedited initial processing of minor offenders

This article assesses the effects of one jurisdiction's attempt to control its lockup population through creation of a separate processing center designed to expedite initial processing of individuals charged with misdemeanors and minor felonies. In the new center, cases were screened and initial hearings held around-the-clock, seven days per week. “Before” and “after” samples of arrestees are compared on prosecutorial screening time, time to court, and time in custody. The results show significant reductions in case screening and length of time to initial court hearing. Individuals released on recognizance and those with no charges filed spent significantly less time in custody and saved considerable bed space for the jurisdiction. Individuals with bond set experienced no reductions in length of custody. Collateral consequences of the new facility included improved procedural justice, expanded detention capacity in the county, and an end to part of the federal litigation.     

想象竞合犯处断原则的困境与重构

目前关于想象竞合犯的三大处断原则均存在不足。对此,必须以全面评价原则与禁止重复评价原则为指导,以行为无价值、结果无价值、主观罪过三要素为核心,构建新的想象竞合犯处断规则,即想象竞合犯的处刑应当是数罪中最重之宣告刑加上余罪之宣告刑的2/3。该处断规则必须在《刑法》第69条之下运行,即遵守限制加重原则,且如果数罪中有死刑或无期徒刑的,采取吸收原则,执行死刑或无期徒刑;如果数罪中有判处有期徒刑和拘役的,同样采吸收原则,执行有期徒刑;数罪中有判处有期徒刑和管制,或者拘役和管制的,采逐次执行原则,有期徒刑、拘役执行完毕后,管制仍须执行。     

Punishment

The main previous analyses of punishment by Hart, Feinberg and Wasserstrom are considered and criticized. One persistent fault is the neglect of the idea that in punishment the person subjected to it is represented as having no valid excuse for wrongdoing. A new analysis is proposed which attempts to specify in what sense punishment by its very nature is retributive, as Wasserstrom has asserted. Certain problematic cases such as strict liability offenses and pre-trial detention are considered in light of the new analysis.     

Punishing the Innocent: Children of Incarcerated and Detained Parents

Abstract

About 2 million minor children in the U.S. have at least one parent incarcerated for criminal offenses. There are about 33,000 undocumented persons detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in jails and federal detention centers around the country, and 79% of the minor children of these detainees are U.S. citizens. There are few government programs that measure and respond to the harm caused to these children by the incarceration and detention of their parents, and the negative effects on these children are largely ignored in public policy debates about incarceration and immigration detention. I argue that we have an obligation to these children based on (1) the special status of children, (2) the harm caused to children by the arrest, detention and incarceration of their parents, (3) current incarceration and detention policies even in the presence of alternatives that would, on balance, create less harm.     

GENDER AND IMPRISONMENT DECISIONS

Guidelines sentencing data from Pennsylvania for the years 1985–1987 are analyzed to assess the influence of gender on judges' imprisonment decisions. These data provide detailed information on offense severity and prior record, permit statistical controls for other variables thought to affect imprisonment decisions, cover a fairly comprehensive list of common-law offenses (with adequate sample size), and contain judges' dispositional-departure reasons for sentences outside the guidelines schema. The data—analyzed with additive and interactive models–indicate that gender (net of other factors) has a small effect on the likelihood of imprisonment toward lesser jailing of female defendants but has a negligible effect on the length-of-imprisonment decision. Observations and interview responses from selected judges help to clarify the ways in which judges' sentencing practices are gender linked. Together, the statistical and the qualitative data suggest that the sentencing practices of judges are driven by two main concerns, blameworthiness (e.g., as indicated by prior record, type of involvement, remorse) and practicality (e.g., as indicated by child-care responsibility, pregnancy, emotional or physical problems, availability of adequate jail space). Based on our findings, we suspect that when men and women appear in (contemporary) criminal court in similar circumstances and are charged with similar offenses, they receive similar treatment. A major question from a policy perspective is, when gender disparities in sentence outcomes do arise, are the disparities warranted or unwarranted?     

Comparing Self-Report to Official Measures of Inmate Misconduct

Studies have revealed systematic measurement errors in self-report data on crime and deviance resulting from poor recall and/or underreporting by certain groups of respondents. Official crime data have also been criticized, but for different reasons (e.g. gross underestimations of less serious offenses). Very similar observations have been made in studies of inmate crime (misconduct committed by prison inmates). Despite these criticisms, official data on inmate misconduct continue to be the most frequently used data in related studies. This study compared self-report and official data on inmate assaults, property thefts, and drug offenses for samples of inmates from 46 correctional institutions for adults in Ohio and Kentucky. Findings revealed that officially recorded misconduct underestimates the total volume of inmate crime. Analyses designed to uncover sources of the divergence between self-reported misconduct and officially recorded misconduct revealed far more consistencies than differences in the magnitude of inmate and facility effects on the different types of offenses. A few important differences did emerge in the magnitude of effects such as amount of time served (at the individual level) and facility population size (at the aggregate level).     

Patterns of prior offending by child abductors: A comparison of fatal and non-fatal outcomes

Our study examines the prior offending of 750 individuals who are known to be responsible for the abduction of a child under the age of 18 years. The first group comprised of 311 offenders (42%) who had abducted a child that was later located alive (found alive, referred to as FA). The second group was comprised of 439 offenders (58%) who had abducted a child that was either found murdered or was still missing and presumed dead (found murdered, referred to as FM). While males perpetrated the majority of the abductions, women perpetrated 31 (10%) of the offenses in the FA group and 10 (2%) of the offenses in the FM group. The average number of prior offenses as reflected in the NCIC criminal history of each offender was seven with these occurring over an average of 12 years. Seventy-five percent of the offenders had prior arrests for an assortment of different crimes while 25% had no known criminal history, a finding that was consistent across both the FA and FM groups. Of those with a criminal history, 41% had been arrested for assault, 40% for larceny, 35% for burglary/breaking and entering, 33% for forcible sex offenses, 25% for drug/narcotic offenses, 21% for weapons law violations, 17% for motor vehicle thefts, 15% for robbery, and 14% for kidnapping. Our findings are congruent with the theme of criminal diversity among child abductors and argue against the specificity in offending that is often assumed with this type of sexual offender. This information is relevant to our understanding of the progression in criminal offending that is manifested by offenders who abduct children and will hopefully be used by law enforcement in helping to direct and focus their investigations.     

Examining the Criminal History and Future Offending of Child Pornography Offenders: An Extended Prospective Follow-up Study

We examined police occurrence and criminal records data for a sample of 201 registered male child pornography offenders originally reported by Seto and Eke (Sex Abus J Res Treat 17:201–210, 2005), extending the average follow-up time for this sample to 5.9 years. In addition, we obtained the same data for another 340 offenders, increasing our full sample to 541 men, with a total average follow-up of 4.1 years. In the extended follow-up of the original sample, 34% of offenders had new charges for any type of reoffense, with 6% charged with a contact sexual offense against a child and an additional 3% charged with historical contact sex offenses (i.e., previously undetected offenses). For the full sample, there was a 32% any recidivism rate; 4% of offenders were charged with new contact sex offences, an additional 2% of offenders were charged with historical contact sex offenses and 7% of offenders were charged with a new child pornography offense. Predictors of new violent (including sexual contact) offending were prior offense history, including violent history, and younger offender age. Approximately a quarter of the sample was sanctioned for a failure on conditional release; in half of these failures, the offenders were in contact with children or used the internet, often to access pornography again.     

关于对现行犯适用先行拘留的思考

现行犯是指正在预备犯罪、实行犯罪或者犯罪后即时被发觉的人。刑事诉讼法规定对现行犯可以适用先行拘留。对刑诉法所规定的"先行拘留",理论和实践中众说纷纭,诸如立案前拘留、逮捕前拘留、无证拘留和有证拘留等等。这些观点均有违立法精神,造成了司法实践中对拘留的适用无所适从。先行拘留和拘留是有区别的,对现行犯可以先行拘留,应当理解为"先抓获后拘留"。     

Significant Gender Differences in Factors Related to the Detention of Youthful Offenders

An important priority of the U.S. juvenile justice system is to reduce the number of youthful offenders who are placed into secure detention placement. Though significant research examining these predictors exists, there is limited analysis of gender-specific predictors. Using existing juvenile court and mental health assessment case records of 433 youthful offenders from two Midwestern U.S. counties, this study sought to identify separately for males and females the legal (including number of delinquency adjudications, age at first delinquency adjudication, number of court offenses, and type of offense) and extralegal (including demographic, maltreatment, mental health, and school-related disabilities) factors that impact recidivism to detention placement. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the predictors of recidivism leading to repeat secure detention placement were indeed different for males and females, although there were some shared predictors. For both genders, the number of court offenses and having a previous suicide attempt were significant predictors. In addition, for females, having a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a misdemeanor offense were protective against recidivism. For males, three other variables significantly predicted recidivism: age, race, and a conduct disorder diagnosis.     

Nonsex offenses committed by child molesters: findings from a longitudinal study

This study, which used a prospective as well as a retrospective methodology, examined the criminal records of 30 child molesters prior to, and up to 10 years after an index event of sexual abuse for which they were convicted: 73% had convictions for other offenses, 60% had convictions for offenses other than sex offenses, 50% had convictions for property offenses, 27% had convictions for offenses involving violence, and 23% had convictions for drug offenses. Offending levels for nonsex offenses were significantly higher than the general adult male population. Any theory concerning the dynamics of sex offending against children needs to account for the level of nonsex offenses committed by child molesters.     

The role of prior punishment in preventive detention decisions

ABSTRACT

Preventive detention legislation allows for ongoing detention or supervision following completion of an offender’s sentence. Consideration of public protection should drive the administration of preventive detention, however research has indicated retributive concerns also drive decision making. Two studies were conducted to examine the motives driving preventive detention decisions, and how contextual variables affected the balance between retributive and public protection motives. In Study 1, participants were presented with information about an offender’s remorse, prior punishment, and risk of re-offence. In Study 2, participants were presented with information about an offender’s prior punishment and offence type, and the relative strength of various potential mediators was tested, to determine factors driving effects of prior punishment information. Overall, results demonstrated participants were driven by both retributive and public protection motives, as well as personal characteristics (e.g. political orientation, prejudice against offenders) when making preventive detention decisions. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for preventive detention legislation.     

THE PREVENTIVE EFFECTS OF ARREST ON INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: RESEARCH,POLICY AND THEORY*

Research Summary: This research addresses the limitations of prior analyses and reviews of five experiments testing for the specific deterrent effect of arrest on intimate partner violence by applying to individual level data consistent eligibility criteria, common independent and outcome measures, and appropriate statistical tests. Based on 4,032 cases involving adult males who assaulted their female intimate partners, multivariate regression analyses show consistent but modest reductions in subsequent offenses targeting the original victim that is attributable to arresting the suspect. Although the reductions attributable to arrest are similar across all five studies, other factors, such as the suspect's prior arrest record, are stronger predictors of subsequent offenses. The effect of arrest is also modest compared with the general decline in offenses toward the same victim during the follow‐up period. Policy Implications: These results lend limited support for policies favoring arrest over informal police responses to intimate partner violence. However, the analyses also show that despite police intervention, a minority of suspects repeatedly victimize their partners and that factors other than formal sanctions play larger roles in explaining the cessation or continuation of aggressive behavior between intimates. These findings suggest that new policies replacing or enhancing arrest that target potential repeat offenders might produce larger reductions in intimate partner violence.     

Is less better?: Boot camp, regular probation and rearrest in North Carolina

Using official data, 331 boot camp participants and a stratified random sample of 369 regular probationers were tracked for rearrests over a threeyear period. Chisquare tests and logistic regression analysis indicate that participation in boot camp was significantly associated with rearrest for drug offenses, offenses categorized as “other,” and all types of offenses combined. Contrary to most prior research, which suggests that boot camp participation has no effect on subsequent criminal behavior, the results in this study indicate that participation in the boot camp program had a detrimental effect on its participants.     

论微罪体系的构建--以醉酒驾驶型危险驾驶罪研究为切入点

近年来,我国活跃的刑事立法中呈现出法定最高刑为一年有期徒刑以下(含拘役)的微罪类型,这在我国刑罚结构明显趋重的刑法体系中显得尤为特殊。我国刑罚附随后果的严重性和广泛性,使微罪在司法适用中受到了质疑,其中最为明显的当属醉酒驾驶型危险驾驶罪。微罪的正当性建立在法益保护原则以及比例原则的基础上。在立法设计方面,微罪入刑应当严守“非实害犯”的界定,并以故意这一主观要件对刑事可罚性予以限制;同时应配置轻缓化的处遇措施,注重与行政处罚的衔接。在司法适用方面,微罪一律起诉、一律判刑的思维不可取。为实现个案公正,应当充分发挥现有刑事诉讼制度框架内的相对不起诉制度功能,并激活我国《刑法》第37条定罪免刑条款,以达到微罪的轻缓化处罚效果。     

(Dis)order in the Court: Examining Neighborhood Disorder Prosecutions in Miami-Dade County

Abstract

This study examines race, space, perceptions of disorder, and nuisance crime prosecution in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Research has examined nuisance policing, yet little attention has been devoted to nuisance crime prosecutions, especially at the neighborhood level. Aggregating data on defendants arrested for nuisance offenses from 2012 to 2015 up to the neighborhood level, we estimate count models for pretrial detention, case acceptance, conviction, and sentencing outcomes in neighborhoods. We find two patterns of nuisance crime prosecution. Drug disorder prosecutions are concentrated in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods with large Black defendant populations, suggesting a more suppressive treatment of these “marginalized” spaces. In contrast, greater enforcement of homelessness and alcohol nuisance crimes in White non-Hispanic neighborhoods suggests disorder prosecutions are also used to impose order and containment in more economically “prime” spaces. These countervailing patterns highlight the spatial contingency of nuisance enforcement, whereby prosecutors differentially enforce nuisance crimes in prime and marginalized spaces.