Differential association in group and solo offending

The relationship between association with deviant peers and offending is a longstanding interest in criminology, however, the mechanisms that produce the relationship are seldom investigated. As a result, theoretical links between differential association and offending are often speculative. Differential association theorists maintain that interaction with deviant peers results in cognitive changes that make offending more attractive. Others contend that peers' influence on offending is enacted via group situations where associates encourage crime by offering opportunities or situational inducements. Using data from the National Youth Survey (NYS), this study explored the influence of delinquent friends' behaviors and attitudes on general, group, and solo offending for three crimes. OLS regression analyses supported differential association theory as originally written and no evidence was found that its effects were contingent on the presence of co-offenders. Implications of this exploratory analysis for differential association theory are provided along with directions for future research.     

THE ROLE OF PEERS IN THE COMPLEX ETIOLOGY OF ADOLESCENT DRUG USE*

The role of peers in adolescent drug use is analyzed by integrating differential association and situational group pressure notions with propositions derived from social bond theory. The resultant causal model is tested for self-reported use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, amphetamines, and depressants. The model explains 49% of the variation in combined drug use among 768 adolescents. The variables from social learning traditions have the strongest effects in the model, but associations with drug-using parents or with prodrug definitions received from parents or friends have far less impact on drug use than do associations with drug-using friends per se. It is argued that differential association with situational pressure to join others in drug use may be more relevant to adolescent drug use than are social bonds or differential association with a ratio of prodrug to antidrug definitions.     

Community Support and Diversionary Measures for Juvenile Offenders in Hong Kong: Old Legacy, New Age

This paper begins by examining the arguments that led to the change of emphasis from residential training and detention to community-based measures in Hong Kong. Police cautioning and community support services are introduced. An evaluation of the services provided found that the majority of respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with them. It is likely that the services exerted positive influences on the respondents’ deviant behaviour, family values and sense of social responsibility, but one-fifth of them continued to commit deviant acts. Parents’ participation was not high. Young offenders rarely took responsibility for the offence they committed or understood the harm they had done to victims, and victims were not involved in deciding the intervention plan. The conclusions raise issues about the future for Hong Kong. They consider new diversionary strategies for responding to young people and debate the values that should underpin them.

粤港澳出入境管理制度之比较

粤港澳出入境管理制度在体制、模式等方面有各自的特点,三地应相互借鉴和融合,把握今后内地往来港澳管理制度的设置方向,加强出入境领域的合作,方便人员往来,共同打击出入境领域的各类违法犯罪,维护出入境秩序。     

论双轨政治下的香港司法权——宪政维度下的再思考

本文对《香港基本法》实施以来形成的释法权争论进行了回顾与反思,并以宪政主义的视角,重新解读了释法权之争的宪法本质。论文认为,造成当前香港基本法双轨制释法的原因不能简单地从中央地方关系层面理解,而是应当充分认识到香港本地立法、行政和司法权之间缺乏有效的制衡关系。两方面都体现了宪政主义对权力关系的规定。在《基本法》目前的框架下,回应双轨制的适当方法是区别政治问题与法律问题。对政治问题,香港司法机构应当采取审慎的态度,而全国人大常委会则应当考虑通过甄选与任命等政治方法影响司法权的行使。对法律问题,则应当完善法律程序、明确法律范畴。范畴的区别对两地形成共识与进一步沟通也提供了必要的条件。     

祖国大陆与我国香港地区毒品犯罪比较

毒品犯罪是全球性的问题,引起了全世界的关注。如何减少和预防毒品犯罪,各国和地区都在作不懈努力。从香港地区毒品犯罪的历史发展,比较香港和大陆地区在持有毒品犯罪,走私、贩卖、运输、制造毒品罪,毒品原植物犯罪,非法提供麻醉品、精神药品罪等犯罪上的不同,及香港毒品犯罪的综合治疗措施的差异,有助于大陆和香港地区在求同存异的基础上加大司法领域的合作,共同应付毒品犯罪。     

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。     

A TEST OF LATENT TRAIT VERSUS LIFECOURSE PERSPECTIVES ON THE STABILITY OF ADOLESCENT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR*

Latent trait and life-course theories provide contrasting interpretations of the well-established finding that childhood antisocial behavior often precedes adolescent conduct problems and adult crime. Longitudinal data from 179 boys and their parents were used to test hypotheses derived from the two theoretical perspectives. The findings largely supported the life-course view. Oppositional behavior during late childhood predicted reductions in quality of parenting and school commitment and increased affiliation with deviant peers. These changes, in turn, predicted conduct problems during early adolescence. Although there was a moderately strong bivariate correlation between childhood antisocial behavior and adolescent conduct problems, there was no longer an association between these constructs when the effects of parenting, school, and peers were taken into account. Further, there was evidence that improved parenting, increased school commitment, or reduced affiliation with deviant peers lowered the probability that boys who were oppositional during childhood would graduate to delinquency and drug use during adolescence. Together, these findings suggest that the correlation between childhood and adolescent deviant behavior reflects a developmental process rather than a latent antisocial trait.     

Mitochondrial DNA control region variation in a population sample from Hong Kong, China

Entire mitochondrial control region sequences were generated from 377 unrelated individuals from urban Hong Kong. In line with other control region datasets from China, the sample from Hong Kong exhibited significant genetic diversity that was reflected in a random match probability of 0.19% and a mean pairwise difference of 13.14. A total of 305 haplotypes were identified, of which 262 were unique. These sequences will be made publicly available to serve as forensic mtDNA reference data for China.     

论特别行政区制度下的“剩余权力”问题

从香港基本法草拟至今,"剩余权力"问题一直是理论界和实务界的热门话题。本文试图从"剩余权力"概念的内涵入手,展开分析作为保留权力的"剩余权力"和作为遗漏权力的"剩余权力"。通过比较宪法学知识,说明在香港特区高度自治权问题上谈论"剩余权力"问题在宪政理论上、在实定法上都是难以证成的,同时,为香港特区高度自治权的进一步发展和扩充指明合法路径。     

解构香港群体意识形态的文化脉络

意识形态是文化的核心,又离不开文化的形塑.中国传统文化、岭南文化、西方现代文化和商业文化在香港独特的社会历史条件下相互交融的过程,从侧面反映了香港文化的发展历程,又为探讨香港群体意识形态的形成史提供了线索.因此,解构香港群体意识形态的文化脉络,洞察港人观念体系形成的内在规律,有助于内地和香港思想文化的对话与交流.     

LONGITUDINAL PREDICTORS OF SERIOUS SUBSTANCE USE AND DELINQUENCY*

The present study tests the validity of a common-cause model in explaining both serious substance use and serious delinquent behavior among youths. Longitudinal data on 441 male and 441 female adolescents are analyzed. Youths originally tested at Time 1 when they were 12, 15, or 18 years old were retested three years later when they were 15, 18, or 21 years old. The results provide modest support for a common-cause model. While a number of predictor variables drawn from control theory and differential association theory are related to both behaviors, those drawn from the literature on psychological correlates of adolescent deviance tend to be more strongly related to subsequent serious substance use than to serious delinquency. The findings suggest that there is a degree of etiological independence in serious adolescent substance use and serious forms of delinquency. The implications of these results for theory development and policy implementation are discussed.     

中国内地与香港媒体诽谤问题比较研究

诽谤就是损毁名誉,保护名誉不受侵害的法律在国际上通称为诽谤法,中国称为名誉权法。诽谤法最早诞生在英国。鸦片战争后,英国占领香港,并将英国法律移植到香港。1997年7月1日中国对香港恢复行使主权,实行“一国两制”,香港原有法律基本保持不变,在香港延续了一百多年的英国普通法传统得以继续保留。     

The Effect of Variation in Intact Family Forms on Deviant and Antisocial Behavior

Family form sets the stage for a host of adolescent behavioral outcomes. We draw on research, theory, and methodology from within Criminology, Demography, and Family Sociology to examines the effect of variation in intact family form on antisocial and deviant behavior. We find higher antisocial and deviant behavior among youth residing in households where one of the parents has a child from a previous relationship and the parents are currently married but were cohabiting at the time of the birth of their eldest child.     

制度差异与制度创新:多元制度互动下的大湾区改革

在一国两制的背景下,香港、澳门与内地之间的制度差异如何影响粤港澳大湾区的发展?学界对此仍关注不足。论文基于制度主义理论,构建了"制度差异-张力-制度创新"的理论框架,以深圳前海自贸区的工程建设管理制度改革为案例,分析了制度差异推动改革创新的机制。研究发现,不同的制度逻辑形塑行动主体的认知与行为,因此多元制度在互动中能够产生张力,进而激发行为主体的能动性,促使其反思、设计新的制度、采取改革行动,最终促成制度创新。中国内地与港澳的制度在"一国两制"方针下得以多元共存,制度差异在粤港澳密切互动中产生的张力是大湾区改革的创新源泉,使大湾区在国家改革与发展大局中发挥重要作用。     

香港特别行政区的宪制基础

我国宪法和香港特别行政区基本法共同构成香港特别行政区的宪制基础。宪法规范彼此间的形式冲突不足以否认宪法在香港特别行政区的适用,香港特别行政区基本法不足以结构性取代宪法在香港特别行政区的适用。宪法中关涉社会主义制度的内容不适用于香港特别行政区,凝聚和承载着"一国"精神的内容在香港特别行政区具有适用性。厘定宪法适用于香港特别行政区的内容时应秉持"一国"的原则。"占中公投"既违反香港特别行政区基本法,也违反宪法。     

TESTING CONTROL THEORY AND DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION: A REANALYSIS OF THE RICHMOND YOUTH PROJECT DATA*

In what has become a classic work in the field, Matsueda (1982) tested control theory against differential association theory using Hirschi's (1969) Richmond Youth Project data. Matsueda found that measures of “definitions favorable to law violation” entirely mediated the effect of his social control measures and friends' delinquency, and concluded that differential association theory was supported over control theory. We note several problems with Matsueda's specification of control theory, and we reanalyze the Richmond data including measures of commitment to conventional goals and several attachment to parents variables that Matsueda excluded. We also propose and test a new method of measuring the social bond, conceptualizing the social bond as a second-order latent construct. In contrast with Matsueda's findings, we find that the social bond and friends' delinquency retain important direct effects on delinquency, and that these effects are greater than those of definitions. Thus, our results are more supportive of control theory than differential association theory.     

Where are our Daughters, Mothers, Sisters, and Wives?: A Typological Analysis of Missing Women and Girls in Greater China, 1900–2000s

Advancing a typology for missing women and young girls in Greater China (China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) has been a task seldom engaged in by feminist criminologists, specialists in East Asian history, or sociologists specializing in women’s studies in the last decades. Partially because of this situation, people tend to believe that missing women and young girls in Greater China are abandoned or abducted persons, and that it is not difficult to categorize this group. The author of this paper argues that missing women and young girls in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are not merely abandoned or abducted persons. On the contrary, the socioeconomic, political, and/or cultural factors that separate some Chinese/Hong Kongese/Taiwanese females from their families are highly heterogeneous. With this in mind, the theme of this paper is to develop a classification system for missing females in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Three variables are used to construct this classification system: personal choice, slavery, and sociological locus. Each of these factors is divided into two levels: forced/voluntary (F/V) migration for personal choice; involvement/non-involvement (I/N) of economically exploited labor for slavery; and unlikelihood/likelihood (U/L) of family reunification for sociological locus. Based on combinations of these stated variables, missing women/young girls in Greater China are conceptually categorized as FIU, FNU, FIL, FNL, VIU, VNU, VIL, and VNL types.     

香港的海事审判管辖权

根据香港高等法院法令第12条的规定,介绍了香港海事法院的管辖事项的范围、管辖权的行使方式、提出管辖权异议的理由,以及香港海事法院的收费标准等。     

Self-Control and Social Bonds: A Combined Control Perspective on Juvenile Offending

With longitudinal data from a sample of 359 adolescent offenders, we tested three measures of social bonding (conventional moral belief, attachment, and commitment/involvement) and deviant peer association as outcomes of low self-control and as mediators of the effect of low self-control on juvenile offending. Low self-control was negatively related to each bonding measure, positively related to deviant peer association, and positively related to offending at follow-up. Its effect on offending was fully mediated by conventional moral belief and attachment. These results provide modest support for a combination of self-control and social bonding perspectives on juvenile offending.