Comparison of the criminal statistics of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany

A systematic procedure for comparing the criminal statistics of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany is presented. The procedure was developed after (1) reviewing and translating applicable paragraphs of the Federal Republic of Germany's Penal Code and (2) reviewing both the formal and informal processes used in both countries for recording crime statistics. Subsequently, a detailed comparison of criminal statistics was made using this comparative procedure.     

A further look at long cycles and criminal justice legislation

This article builds on the work of Barlow and Barlow, who use models based on the long economic cycle as a theoretical and empirical means for reorientating examinations of criminal justice trends. Empirically, using factor-analytic and multivariate logistic and OLS procedures, we find some support for long-cycle-model interpretations of trends in federal criminal justice legislation. Equally important, we find no support for a connection between federal criminal justice legislative trends and levels of crime. Our analysis suggests that economic processes exist independent of economic long cycles and crime trends, and that these also should be considered in discussing trends in crime control. In conclusion, we argue that alternative economically situated, contextualized models which look beyond the crimejustice nexus are needed if criminal justice theory and research are to be revitalized.     

Toward a criminal justice epidemiology: Behavioral and physical health of probationers and parolees in the United States

Objective

This study explicitly articulates a criminal justice epidemiology by examining the behavioral and physical health of probationers and parolees derived from a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States.

Methods

Using public-use data from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this study employed binary logistic regression with adjustments for complex survey sampling and compared probationers and parolees to the general population with respect to past-year substance use, risk perception, treatment experiences, and health.

Results

After controlling for the effects of age, gender, race, income, and education probationers and parolees are far more likely to report using alcohol and drugs in the past year, have reduced risk perception, and are far more likely to have had some kind of treatment for substance abuse or dependence. Probationers and parolees are also significantly more likely to experience anxiety and depression, asthma, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Conclusions

This criminal justice epidemiology study indicates that the behavioral health of probationers and parolees hamper efforts to increase public safety goals. Forging closer ties between criminal justice and public health systems is necessary to reach these goals.     

Adaptations of Aboriginal justice in the United States

Aboriginal justice in the United States is unique for two reasons. First, Aboriginal Natives subscribed to the Harmony Ethos, a system whereby Natives did not detach themselves from nature. Unlike Western cultures, they lived cooperatively with ‘Mother Earth’, ‘Father Sky’ and everything these two entities represented. Secondly, no other group in US history has been subjected to the magnitude of deliberate policies aimed at their destruction. Manifest physical genocide towards Native peoples was exercised and sanctioned by the US government until the 1890s while the more subtle practice of ‘cultural genocide’ continues to the present. Yet, in spite of these assaults on Native culture, attributes of their Aboriginal ways have not only survived but have experienced a resurgence within the past decade. Unfortunately, it appears that the more Native traditions survive, the more adamant are local, state, and federal efforts towards destroying any remnants of traditional values and customs including tribal autonomy.     

Publication productivity of criminal justice faculty in criminal justice journals

An important dimension of university faculty life is publication expectation. Often the level of publication productivity is used to assess general program prestige or to evaluate individual faculty performance. The publication rates of faculty in PhD and master-level programs have been unclear. This study examined the publication rates using a general list of criminal justice journals, and a select list of the leading journals, over a five-year period. The faculty members were located in criminal justice programs that granted PhD and master degrees. Publication productivity rates were established for the two different degree level programs, and the institutions with the strongest publication rates were identified. Publication rates are only one factor used in the assessment of program quality and the relationship of publication rates to other program features is discussed.     

Developments in criminal law and criminal justice

LL.B., Victoria University of Wellington 1969; J.S.M., Stanford University 1972.     

Developments in criminal law and criminal justice

Conclusion It follows from what has been said above that history, principle, and authority combine to compel the conclusion that § 80's guarantee of trial by jury precludes a verdict of guilty being returned in a trial upon indictment of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth otherwise than by the agreement or consensus of all the jurors. That being so, § 57 of the Juries Act, 1927, cannot, consistently with § 80, operate to authorize the conviction of either of the appellants by a majority verdict. Their convictions were unconstitutional and must be set aside.The appeal should be allowed. The orders of the South Australian Court of Criminal Appeal should be set aside and in lieu thereof it should be ordered, in the case of each appellant, that the appeal to that court be allowed, that the conviction be quashed and a new trial ordered.B.A., Columbia University 1972; J.D., Hofstra University 1975.     

Developments in criminal law and criminal justice

Developments in criminal law and criminal justice     

Dealing with the holocaust and collaboration: The Dutch experience of criminal justice and accountability after World War II

This paper addresses the problem of ``settling accounts' after periods of armed conflict in a given society (be they civil war, insurrection or occupation by foreign forces), when those who took the losing side have come to be defined as collaborators, a process now known as transitional justice. More specifically, it looks at the way in which Dutch citizens who collaborated with the Nazi occupation forces in deporting and murdering about 80% of the Jewish population of the country, were dealt with after the Second World War. There are generally assumed to be three ways of coming to terms with such traumatic events: prosecution and criminal trial, truth and reconciliation commissions or a combination of both. Under present international law, states have a duty to use the criminal law and to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crimes againt humanity and war crimes, specifically because it is felt that prosecution will bring some measure of recognition and healing to victims. After the Second World War in the Netherlands, the emphasis was indeed on criminal law and the manifest aim was swift and just retribution. The author shows how this was frustrated by political considerations; but – and perhaps this is a more important lesson for the future – also by the fact that criminal law, by its very nature, is unable to deal with the problems of collective guilt or to recognise the suffering of collective victimhood.     

Domestic violence and criminal justice training needs of social services workers

Domestic violence is a multifaceted problem that requires various agencies to work together to serve victims. Among other agencies that are involved in this collaborative effort, criminal justice officials must work with social services workers to ensure that cases are handled effectively. At the root of this collaborative effort, it is natural to question whether various parties have the knowledge needed to effectively respond to specific cases of domestic violence. In this study, attention was given to whether social workers possessed enough knowledge about various aspects of domestic violence, including information required to process domestic violence cases in the criminal justice system. In all, 186 social services worker supervisors in the Commonwealth of Virginia were asked to rate the level of knowledge they believed social services workers had regarding specific domestic violence topics with the level of knowledge workers they believed social workers needed regarding each domestic violence topic. Findings suggested that social services workers might have more problems dealing with the interpersonal nature of domestic violence cases than they do with the legal issues. At the same time, the supervisors suggested the workers knew less about specific legal options than they needed to know. Based on this, the authors suggest changes in training for all human services workers, including criminal justice officials and social workers.     

Crime and justice in Tudor-Stuart England and the modern United States

This paper surveys the criminal justice system in 16th and 17th, century England, for the purpose of pointing out important similarities between its workings and the operation of the criminal justice system in the modern United States. Topics covered include (1) the nature and incidence of crime; (2) citizen participation in and cooperation with the criminal justice system; and (3) the disposition of persons and cases. The authors conclude that, contrary to popular opinion, early modern England was not a halcyon period of law and order. That the English criminal justice system was beset by problems similar to those faced today seems to indicate that the interaction between law and society is inherently problematic.     

The criminal justice system in a social justice society would look very different from the current system

I learned my most important lessons about criminal justice reform more than 30 years ago while working on what has become known as the Attica Prison rebellion. The Attica Prison rebellion took place in September 1971 in the maximum security prison in upstate New York. Led by prisoners with a broad social justice agenda, the prisoners’ demands were focused on basic human rights, including the right to organise, the right to be free from abuse from prison guards and the right to basic living conditions – health and sanitary conditions among others. The rebellion was ended when then Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent in state troopers to retake the prison by force, resulting in the death of 39 prisoners and prison guards. A political and legal struggle to defend prisoners charged in the uprising ensued, eventually resulting in the dismissal of the charges against the prisoners. In 2000, the people who had been prisoners at Attica during the 1971 rebellion were awarded an $8m settlement from the State of New York.     

Criminal justice education in the United States: A profile

Various commissions from the Wickersham (1931) to the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police (1978) have called for the upgrading of police educational levels. Junior colleges, colleges and universities have responded by creating a plethora of educational programs. However, currently, little is known about the nature, form, or practice of criminal justice education in the United States. In attempting to fill this void, data from the Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) are presented concerning the number of students, criminal justice majors, and degrees awarded as well as institutional control, location, and type. These previously unpublished data are presented in a primary form (frequency distributions and cross-tabulations) to allow the reader to draw conclusions about the nature and scope of criminal justice education. Brief interpretations, however, are provided.