The Mass Media, Crime and Terrorism

The mass media play a large role in the public perception andacceptance of criminal behaviour by the United States of America.Public acceptance of illegal actions by the US government inthe Iraq War, as well as steps taken to combat terrorism, havebeen influenced by entertainment media content and media logicabout crime and fear. The focus of the article is on the culturaland mass communication contexts that have promoted fear of crimeon the one hand, while also justifying illegal state actionsto combat crime — and now terrorism — on the other.Propaganda and news management (e.g. the military-media complexand the failure of journalism) contribute to a discourse offear and symbolic negation of the ‘other’ —as criminal or terrorist — and, in the process, valorizecriminal conduct as necessary and heroic.     

Organized Crime in Africa

This paper examines the extent to which the crime problem—adult crime and juvenile delinquency—in general and elements of organized crime in particular have surfaced in the 1960's and 1970's in the new states of Africa. That is, it touches on what observers of the African scene used to say about it as a point of departure. The emergence of the crime problem in the 1960's and 1970's is mentioned in order to provide the logical linkage between the existence of the crime problem in general and the emergence of organized crime in particular in some of these states.

The extent to which organized crime in the new states of Africa resembles in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States and in Western European countries, is examined in terms of definition and organizational structure. In the latter case, the examination is done in order to briefly shed some light on such aspects as the scope of legitimate and illegitimate activities and the impact of organized crime on the new states of Africa.

By way of summary, implications of the study of organized crime in the new states of Africa are examined in so far as they have a bearing on the development of African criminology, and the latter, in turn, in its contribution to nation-building.     

Violent Crime in the United States of America: A Time-Series Analysis Between 1960–2000

This paper empirically assesses the effects of socio-economic and demographic variables on violent crime in the United States. Using national-level time-series data over the period 1960–2000, an unrestricted vector autoregressive (VAR) model was estimated for overall violent crime, murder, rape and assault. The results indicate that there is no long-run relationship among the examined variables, but significant short-run relationships hold. Imprisonment growth, income inequality, alcohol consumption, and racial composition of the male youth population are shown to influence the short-run behaviour of violent crime.     

论聚众犯罪的转化犯问题

转化犯是我国刑法规定的一种犯罪形态。以聚众犯罪为视角,结合转化犯的基本原理具体分析聚众犯罪转化犯的特征,聚众犯罪的转化既包括罪与罪的转化,也包括违法行为向犯罪的转化;聚众“打砸枪”虽然不是独立的罪名,但却是多种犯罪的聚合体,其转化罪是法律拟制的犯罪。关于聚众犯罪的转化犯,其在定罪量刑中存在着不同于一般转化犯的诸多疑难问题,对聚众犯罪转化过程中一系列特殊问题的研究,将使转化犯的理论内容更加丰富和具体。     

Mass Media and Politics

Although Howard Becker defines art worlds as networks of cooperating people and a broad range of studies has applied this idea of the network to art markets, research on fairs remains a neglected issue. This article aims to advance the idea of the network and the art fair with regard to the art fair boom, the differentiation of art fairs and their interlinking, and the role of networks with regard to the participating galleries and their interlinking within art fairs. Quantitative and qualitative data are brought forward to shed some light on these issues, including statistical information, along with interviews.     

Burial Patterns during Times of Armed Conflict in Cyprus in the 1960s and 1970s

The island of Cyprus experienced two periods of intercommunal conflict during which c. 2000 individuals went missing. The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus began a program of exhumations in 2005, through which more than 185 burial sites pertaining to the two periods of conflict have been identified and excavated. The aim of this study was twofold: (i) to present a classification of the main types of clandestine burial and (ii) to test the hypothesis that the nature of conflict influences the mode of interment. Burials can be divided into “public burials” and “concealed burials,” based on the possible motives of those involved in the interment and then subdivided into smaller categories based on similarities in archeological context. A comparison of results from the two periods of conflict reveals that there are statistical differences (p < 0.005), which indicate that the mode of interment may reflect the nature, character, and atmosphere of conflict.     

南非:毒品犯罪的危害及防治

南非是非洲大陆毒品危害较为严重的国家。南非突出的毒品犯罪恶化社会治安、危及政治稳定、阻碍经济增长,毒品的滥用也严重损害了民众健康。基于联合国和非洲区域性禁毒公约、禁毒机构的有力推动和国内民众的强烈呼吁,南非政府在完善相关立法、健全禁毒队伍建设、加强国际合作和提高国民禁毒意识等方面作出了努力,并取得了一定的效果。     

论媒体报道涉罪人员姓名的规则

我国理论和实务界对媒体能否报道涉罪人员姓名问题的域外规则有很多误解。比较研究表明,诉讼期间可以报道涉罪人员姓名是大势所趋,但判决后罪犯的姓名除美国外各国都禁止公开。各国对涉罪的公众人物和未成年人姓名公开规定了特殊的规则。我国新闻报道中涉罪人员姓名公开规则的确立应当考虑以下四个方面:对涉罪人员姓名以公开为原则的现行做法值得肯定;禁止对未成年涉罪人员实名报道但不能过于绝对;实名报道涉罪公众人物的做法应当坚持;应当谨慎确立不当公开涉罪人员姓名的行为责任。     

舍法求法与媒体正义--从敬一丹的《声音》说起

一、主持人与主审官 二、舍法求法与天然权利 三、力量与威望 四、道德责任与职业分工 《声音》是敬一丹的一本书。书里的“声音”,由数以万计 “看也不忍,不看也不忍”(第 2页 )的观众来信汇成。来信大约集中在 1997年至 1998年间。那时,敬一丹主持的中央电视台《焦点访谈》和《东方时空》节目火爆空前,用该书编辑的话说:“她是全国被寄予希望最多的一个记者。”(第 381页 )这样一位记者,从原本无声的来信里读出 “声音”,又把同样无声的文字变成 “声音”出版,让我们阅读,的确不同寻常。那么,我们能从中读出什么呢? 一 …     

再谈传媒与司法的关系

传媒自由与司法公正是民主社会最弥足珍贵的两大价值。从应然的层面而言,两大价值应当是良性互动的。即,如果传媒对司法的舆论监督作用发挥得当,可以防止司法腐败、促进司法公正、保障刑事被告人获得合理公正的审判。但如果传媒的舆论监督超越了它应有的限度,则不但会导致司法的威信降低,也会影响刑事被告人获得公平审判的权利的实现,从而阻碍司法公正的实现。因此实然层面的两大价值关系却犹如一柄双刃剑,如何用其利、避其弊也就成了人们普遍关注与探讨的话题。探讨传媒与司法的关系,分析我国传媒与司法处于非良性互动的深层次原因,提出:两者在本质上不是冲突的,在目前我们应强调舆论的监督,并对完善两者的关系提出了一系列的构想和制度设计方案。     

Mass Salmonella Poisoning by the Peanut Corporation of America: State-Corporate Crime Involving Food Safety

Animal feces in food causes outbreaks of salmonella poisoning, whose assault on the body results in several days of diarrhea, vomiting and even death. This paper looks at the massive distribution of salmonella-contaminated peanuts in 2008–2009 that caused nine deaths, 11,000–20,000 illnesses and the recall of 4000 products in the US. The Peanut Corporation of America operated filthy, sometimes unregistered, plants and shipped products to major food manufacturers and schools after receiving test results positive for salmonella. This corporate crime was facilitated by substantial weaknesses in regulation, and is thus a state-facilitated corporate crime. This case study is developed by looking at the peanut plant conditions, decisions of executives, regulatory failure, and overall response. The conclusion asks about the puzzle of the state responding to a crime it facilitated, and how to understand the role a corporation victimizing another corporation plays into the response.     

女性视角下的大众传媒——西方女性主义媒介批判综述

女性主义作为一种学术思潮和重要的研究派别,以它独特的性别视角和文化哲学,对西方学界产生了不可忽视的影响。女性主义在传播领域对性别歧视的批判、对传媒手段和媒介内容表现出的女性价值的研究,业已形成了该学科的中心日程。女性主义指出,大众传媒在社会性别角色观念和女性发展中扮演着重要角色,媒介充当了一个重要的性别偏见传播器。西方女性主义各主要学派均认定,女性价值并非天生,而正是自人类有史以来通过权力话语在社会建构起来的。她们追究了性别歧视的文化根源,并指出媒介对“权力——支配”的传统价值观是通过“话语”来建构和阐释的。女性主义旨在通过打破传播领域内的偏见和歧视,减少大众媒介对传统性别歧视的建构与影响,以促进社会的性别平等。     

Political Opportunities and Local Contingencies in Mass Crime Participation: Personal Experiences by Former Serbian Militiamen

Participation in mass crime is often approached from a top-down perspective that centralizes the actions of the masses under the order of elites and leaders. While there is some evidence to support this approach, a more complete assessment of participation in mass crime must also consider the grassroots contingencies that unite the collective motivation and capacity that induce such actions. Such a bottoms-up approach is developed in this article with a particular focus on the personal experiences of former Serbian militiamen who took part in scenes of mass violence in Croatia and Bosnia–Herzegovina. Interviews with former militiamen illustrate how political opportunities, diverging nationalistic attitudes, proximity to growing violence in increasingly localized killing fields, incentives to participate in parallel criminal activities, and an influence within community networks that were submerged in mass crimes united to legitimize and facilitate their personal commitment to the events that took place in this region during the 1990s.     

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。     

国际犯罪与涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪关系辨析——以基础概念解析为进路

国际犯罪与涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪之间虽然在起源上具有不可磨灭的历史渊源,但它们在内容上并不具有同一或者包容关系,而是一种即相互交叉又彼此保持一定独立性的关系。只有当涉外犯罪、跨国犯罪具有"国际性"时,即它们的危害性达到国际刑法所要求的严重程度时,才能上升为国际犯罪。而在国际犯罪中,除了具有国际性的涉外犯罪和跨国犯罪外,还包括具有国际性的既不属于涉外犯罪又不属于跨国犯罪的单纯的国内犯罪。     

大数据视野下犯罪现场概念及其应用探讨

犯罪现场概念是一个随着社会发展而不断演化的概念.狭义的犯罪现场概念是与犯罪行为有关的场所及载体.广义的犯罪现场概念是与犯罪行为有关的人、物、时、空存在及其内在联系的总和.大数据时代的到来,让我们对犯罪现场广义概念的认知更加具有现实层面的应用意义.树立与大数据模式相应的犯罪现场观,通过各种与犯罪现场构成要素及其联系相关数据库的发掘与应用,可以带来侦查破案思维与工作模式的大变革.