Book reviews

An Artificial Intelligence Approach to Legal Reasoning Anne Von Der Leith Gardner MIT Press 1987. £20.25

Design—The Modern Law and Practice Ian Morris and Barry Quest Butterworths. 1987. £45

Computers and the Law Richard Mawry and Keith Salmon BSP Professional Books,(Oxford, London, Edinburgh) 1988, £19.95

Television by Satellite—Legal Aspects Stephen de B. Bate (ed.) ESC Publishing Limited. 1987. £32.75.

Computer Software: Legal Protection in the United Kingdom Henry Carr E.S.C. Publishing Ltd 1987, £32.50.

Patents in Chemistry and Biotechnology Philip W Grubb Clarendon Press 1987. £12.50.

The International Handbook on Computer Crime Computer‐related Economic Crime and the Infringements of Privacy Ulrich Sieber John Wiley & Sons 1987. £24.95.

Computer Law: Theory and Practice Naomi Assia Advocate     

Overcrowding and Inmate Fatalities

A number of theorists have suggested that prison overcrowding produces greater tendencies toward violence and interpersonal aggression. Empirical studies of the effects of overcrowding on the prison population have been conducted on individual inmate buffer zones, or have focussed on specific institutions within a state or federal prison system.

This paper reevaluates the relationship between prison overcrowding and inmate violence using official data reported for fifty-one (N = 51) Departments of Corrections reported in the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics.

Results of the analysis indicate that although overcrowding relates to the number of suicides and homicides in expected directions, these connections reverse themselves as indicators of inmate violence are translated into percentages of respective inmate populations.

The number of suicides reported explains a significant (R² = .27) portion of the variance in the number of homicides and clearly suggests that both forms of violence tend to occur together in state reporting areas.     

Book reviews

Computer Law (4th edition) Colin Tapper Longman ISBN CSD 0 582 05932 1 £22.50 PPR 0 582 02491 1 £35.00

Further Computer Contracts M‐T Michèle Rennie Sweet and Maxwell 1989. ISBN 0 421 40330 6

Formalism in AI and Computer Science Philip Leith Ellis Horwood 1990. ISBN 1 3325549 2

Electronically Recorded Evidence ‐ A Guide to the Use of Tape and Video Recordings in Criminal and Civil Proceedings Sybil Sharpe Fourmat Publishing 1989. ISBN 1 85190 071 3

Computer Law Chris Reed(ed) Blackstone Press Limited 1990. ISBN 1 85 431037 2

EDI and American Law: A Practical Guide Benjamin Wright Electronic Data Interchange Association 1989. ISBN 0 96 238750 9

Computer Software Protection and Semiconductor Chips Dr Dirk Schroeder (Butterworth's Current EC Legal Developments Series) 1990. ISBN 0 406 04021 4

Computers and the Law David I Bainbridge (Pitman) 1990. ISBN 0 273 03170 8     

Book reviews

Electronic Contracting, Publishing, and EDI Law Michael S Baum and Henry H Perritt, Jr Wiley Law Publications 1991. ISBN Q 471 53135 9

The Law of Electronic Commerce: EDI, Fax and E‐Mail Technology, Proof and Liability Benjamin Wright Little, Brown and Company 1991. ISBN Q 316 95632 5 $95

Crime and the Computer Martin Wasik Oxford University Press 1991. ISBN 0 19 825621 3 £35

Broadcasting: the New Law Nicholas Reville Butterworths ISBN 0 406 001375 £16

Regulating the Media Thomas Gibbons Sweet and Maxwell ISBN 0 421 37450 0 £27.50

Legal Protection of Computer Software Ranald Robertson Longman 1991. ISBN 0 851 21684 6 £35

The Computerised Lawyer: a Guide to the Use of Computers in the Legal Profession Philip Leith Springer‐Verlag 1991.

Winning with Computers: Trial Practice in the 21st Century John C Tredennick Jr, Editor ABA Section on Law Practice Management 1991. ISBN 0 89707 658 3 $90

The Age of Information Stephen Saxby Macmillan 1990. ISBN 0 333 54832 9 £25

Computer Security: Hackers Penetrate DOD Computer Systems: Testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Information and Regulation, Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate (A General Accounting Office Report) James Brock, Jr 1991. GAO/T‐IMTEC‐92–5

Computer Contracts Morgan and Stedman (4th Edition) Longman Commercial Series 1991. ISBN 0–85121–6854 £60     

Crime and Delinquency Prevention in Some European Countries

As part of a larger study on crime and delinquency prevention programs in North America, the authors visited four European countries, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland in order to compare prevention programs and their evaluation.

The authors found that the systematic study of the programmatic effectiveness and efficiency of crime and delinquency prevention is unknown to European practitioners and researchers.

The authors describe in this article six European crime and delinquency prevention programs: family case-work, leisure activities, community organization, crisis intervention centers, information for victims and prevention police activities.     

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.     

Detention Short of Arrest For Questioning in England: An Update

This research sampled 163 nations of the world to determine the use and non-use of capital punishment for 1980–85. The first conclusion was that the majority of the nations do have a legal device to administer capital punishment (77% with Yes; N = 126). The 22 nations who executed averaged 4.2 executions, per year. When the other nations are factored in, the average is 1.57 “official executions” per year (N = 163). Many nations have the legal device to execute, but few do. The top nations reporting were South Africa with 111, and Mauritius with 25 (per year 1980–85).

The average age for execution for the 42 reporting nations was 18. The United States of America was the only nation reporting for less than 16 years old. The following “methods of execution” were reported:

1.

Hanging (N = 26, 57%)

2.

Shooting (N = 11, 24%)

3.

Beheading (N = 7, 15%)

Nations also excluded from the death penalty for the following reasons:

1.

Mental Illness

2.

Juveniles

3.

Pregnant Woman

Only 7 nations reported “open” or “public” executions.     

Analysis and counter‐policies on elderly criminals in Korea

The second counter‐policy is an establishment of a proper network of legal systems, including the establishment of accurate statistical data and well‐structured criminal law and defense systems for the elderly — comparable to the currently operative systems established to process and to deal with crimes of teenage and female offenders.

Research on indigence, health, recreation, housing and other welfare areas of the elderly is common in Korea, but research on elderly criminals is rare. Projecting that their crime rates will rise, this preliminary research was conducted in order to understand their crime status and to establish proper counter‐policies.

This research focuses on the analysis of the present elderly population and changes of their status, in addition to criminal theories and criminal trends. Analysis on criminal statistics is done through classifying criminal offenses and special offenses according to the present governmental criminal classification methods of Korea. Criminal offenses are further separated into serious and estate‐related offenses.

The result of analysis on elderly criminals in Korea indicates that the most common crimes are assaults and related offenses, including battery and bodily injuries. Most assaults or related charges were, however, not decidedly serious. Among estate‐related offenses, misappropriation and property‐damage were the most common. Among special offenses, constructional violations have the highest rate. The majority of estate related offenses were less serious and produced less than W‐ 1,000,000 (approximately $1150 US dollars) in damages.

Destruction of traditional society is the major source of criminal activities. While younger generations demand less authoritarian and more interdependent relationships, the elderly insist upon adhering to their traditional ways of thinking. The elderly commit crimes out of the animosity and exasperation created from a perceived incompatibility with modern society. Their diminishing social and family hierarchies, along with carelessness and lack of recreation, lead the elderly into feeble or fatuous life styles, eventually leading to various offenses.

There is no simple solution to prevent the elderly from committing crimes since complex social and/or personality problems cause these deviant behaviors. The government needs to understand the overall problems and establish necessary counter‐policies with regard to the elderly. Even if their present crime rates seem insignificant now, the numbers are growing rapidly.

Conclusively, the first counter‐policy is to eliminate the source of the problems. Some specific policies that can be adopted to eliminate these sources include the expansion of employment and related educational opportunities to improve their economic conditions; realignment of medical benefit systems; broader access to effective recreational activities through volunteer and other civic programs; and social adjustment programs that can guide the elderly to better adjust to the evolving social changes.     

Book reviews

Handbook of Legal Information Retrieval Edited by J Bing, Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law, Oslo, in co‐operation with T Fjeldvig, T Harvold and R Svoboda North‐Holland 1984, US $96.25

Information Technology: The Challenge to Copyright. James Lahore, Gerald Dworkin and Yvonne Smyth Sweet & Maxwell and The Centre for Commercial Law Studies 1984, £12.00

Data Processing and the Law Edited by Colin Campbell Sweet and Maxwell 1984, £20.00

Le droit des Contrats Informatiques — Principes — Applications Centre de Recherches informatique et droit des Facultes Universitaires de Namur Maison Ferdinand Larder (Brussels), 1983, 45 FB

Computer Insecurity Adrian R.D. Norman Chapman and Hall 1983, £14.95

The Data Protection Act Richard Sizer and Philip Newman Gower Publishing, 1984, £16.95

The Data Protection Act 1984 Professor Bryan Niblett Oyez Longman Publishing, 1984, £18.00

The Data Protection Act 1984 — A Guide to the New Legislation J. A. L. Sterling CCH Editions, 1984, £15.00

Privacy and Data Protection — An International Bibliography Professor David H. Flaherty Mansell Publishing, 1984, £23.50

Computer Contracts R Morgan & G Stedman Oyez Longman Publishing 1984, 2nd Edition, £27.50

Computer Contracts Handbook Michele Rennie Sweet & Maxwell 1984, £15.00

Computer Contracts — An International Guide to Agreements and Software Protection Hilary Pearson Financial training 1984, £14.95     

Book reviews

Transborder Data Flows (Proceedings of an OECD Conference) Edited by Hans‐Peter Gassmann North Holland (Elsevier Science Publishers) 1985, US$74.00

Plastic and Electronic Money: New Payment Systems and Their Implications Patrick Frazer Woodhead Faulkner Limited 1985 £35

A User's Guide To Computer Contracting: Forms, Techniques and Strategies Davis, Allen, Bowman and Armstrong Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1985, $75

Legal Protection of Computer Programs and Data C. Millard Sweet & Maxwell/Stevens 1985, £24

Piracy of Phonograms Gillian Davies ESC Publishing Ltd. 1986. 2nd edition. £17.95.

Biotechnology and Patent Protection—An International Review F. K. Beier, R. S. Crespi and J. Straus O.E.C.D. 1985, £5

Protecting Privacy in Two‐Way Electronic Services David H. Flaherty Mansell Publishing Company 1985, £23.50

High‐Tech Espionage Jay Tuck Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd 1980, £10.95     

Corrections in Israel and the United States: A Comparative Analysis

The general underlying philosophical intent of corrections in both Israel and the United States is the restoration of the offender to a productive role in the community. Since the correctional intent is essentially the same, it is not surprising that the systems established to implement this aspiration are rather similar and exhibit many of the same ambiguities, weaknesses, and frustrations. The focus of the paper is on two correctional alternatives: incarceration and probation.

As in America, Israel's prisons are overcrowded; most of the correctional facilities are unfit for human habitation; sanitary conditions are poor; occupational, vocational, and educational opportunities are virtually non-existent; and rehabilitation exists in name only. The recidivist rate of criminal offenders is as high in Israel as in the U.S. Various Israeli commissions in recent years have decried the prison conditions and have called for reform but, again as in the U.S., the problem has defied an acceptable solution.

Israel's probation services are part of the country's social services delivery system rather than the penal or judicial systems. That is the case because, unlike the U.S. conception, probation in Israel is not considered a punishment. Probation services are utilized by the Criminal Justice System, but organizationally they are not part of it. Still, the functions carried out by the Israeli probation officers very much resemble those of their counterparts in the U.S. Probation services in Israel have not expanded in recent years, even though the number of incarcerated offenders has increased.

Corrections has never been a priority in Israel and will not be so long as the country remains preoccupied with security matters. On the other hand, the crime rate continues to increase and so does the prison population. Consequently, the country's correctional problems and policies, in all their dimensions, should be re-examined, and the sooner the better.     

Islamic courts and corrections

This paper explores Islamic Criminal Law and Procedure. There are some differences among Islamic states but these differences are relatively minor. Muslims are tried in Sharia Courts for offenses found in the Quran. Non‐Muslims can not be held to the same standard (Apostasy). All people are subject to the jurisdiction of Mazalim Courts which handle taxation, traffic, and other administrative functions.

Islamic Law has three major divisions of crime: 1. Hadith Crimes (most serious); 2. Quesa Crimes and Diya (restitution); and 3. Tazir Crimes (least serious).

Islamic Law has many similar “defenses to crime” as the Common Law nations. They use puberty of a juvenile as the age of accountability. Police must obtain a search warrant for property. The punishment philosophies are similar to western views in theory, but they do apply these ideas in much different ways. Many punishments are public and done as a deterrent for others. Islamic judges have more freedom for sentencing options than western judges. They have mandatory sentences for only a few of the most serious Hadith Crimes. Some in the popular media point to the harshness of Islamic Law, and conclude that it must be wrong. They have very low crime rates and few social problems. We conclude that Islamic Law is not wrong, only different.     

From Dictatorship to Democracy: Crime and Policing in Contemporary Spain

Francisco Franco's death in 1975 ended nearly forty years of fascist dictatorship in Spain. In the next decade the country underwent substantial and dramatic change: The political structure was democratized under King Juan Carlos. Rapid industrialization and commercial development, especially on the northeastern areas, altered the economic nature of Spain. Internal migration, particularly from the more impoverished South to Madrid and Barcelona, altered social arrangements as well.

Crime and disorder also increased rapidly. All crime rates and imprisonment rates grew. Drug use and abuse became a major problem. Basque pressure for a separate state often resulted in a terrorist war in which the main casualties were policemen.

Attempts at reforming the police occurred almost immediately after Franco's death. The old Armed Police—a repressive agency that policed cities over 20,000 populations-was substantially demilitarized and became the National Police. Although transformations are incomplete, the National Police can be seen as a symbol of the new era. The more rural police, the Civil Guard, has been less responsive to change and may be seen as a symbol of the old dictatorship.     

Criminal Justice in Soviet Russia

Compared to American criminal justice, the fabric of Russia's system is a tightly woven structure operating under centralized co-ordination. During recent history, the goals of Russia's criminal justice system have shifted from repression by terrorism to crime prevention through education and an emphasis on individual duty in peace-keeping matters.

The militia (police), created in 1917, has been mandated to prevent crime through intelligence activities, direct intervention, and citizen education. In 1966, it was given the responsibility for the supervision of offenders newly released from correctional institutions. Peoples Volunteer Brigades and the DRUZHINNIKS aid the militia in crime prevention.

The courts also make use of non-professionals in the persons of lay assessors to insure that the accused is judged by his “peers.” The court system itself is inquisitorial in nature as opposed to the American accusational model. As the accused person moves through pre-trial and trial procedures, one can see how his “rights” may be legally abridged at every step.

Russian courts have a variety of sentences from which to choose, ranging in harshness from public censure to death by shooting. Deprivation of liberty may be applied by degree from “education” to compulsory labor to strict incarceration. The Soviets are attempting an organized plan of diversionary sentencing, in order to reduce prison populations to all but the most dangerous offenders.

Correctional facilities depend on inmate commissions to keep order and motivate good behavior through group influence and peer pressure. Inmates as well as civilians have “a national duty to mind other people's business.”

In the United States, justice is fragmented into a variety of jurisdictions: municipal, county, state, and federal, each with its own law enforcement agencies, courts, and correctional agencies. Further, there is only limited coordination among the various segments of the system. There is little argument to the proposition that the American “system” of criminal justice is inefficient.

Unlike America's disjointed system, the Russian Criminal justice system is unified; militia (police), procurators (prosecutors), courts, and correctional facilities operate under a centralized coordinating body. This body is characterized by a unity of purpose and a high degree of systemic integration (Juviler, 1979, p. 1).     

Participation of the Public in the Prevention and Control of Crime and Delinquency

[Editor's Note] No criminologist today would deny the importance of public participation in crime control. Public involvement—through the family, neighborhood, schools, private businesses and public agencies—are potential assets in curbing rising crime and delinquency rates. In this article the basic concerns are two in nature: 1) how to best utilize community resources, including meaningful participation of citizens; and, 2) how public and community organizations can effectively participate in preventing, treating and controlling offenders on parole or probation. In all these endeavors, public support—moral, financial and otherwise are necessary for success.

What is more important is to achieve the most salutary form of public participation, and to obtain the most beneficial balance between local participation and the actions of many government agencies involved. Not all pure local participation is at all times positive, as is illustrated by the actions of a lynch mob. It is also true that the closer one is to local institutions, the more difficult it is to achieve any degree of impartiality. On the other hand, highly centralized judicial and law enforcement structure often tends to be arbitrary and impersonal. This balance although essential, is difficult to achieve. The community agency (welfare boards, citizen's groups, parole boards), independent of the judicial and law enforcement institutions, plays an increasing role in enlightened public participation. Other important factors include education for crime prevention and reporting of offenses, and the relative closeness individuals feel toward their local groups (family, clan, school, neighborhood), as well as the efficiency of the police and judicial organs. No effective public participation in crime control programs can be achieved when there is a wide divergence between the value systems of local and national groups, and when there are great differences of opinions as to exactly what the public can do to prevent crime.

Broadly speaking, there are four ways in which community groups can participate in crime prevention: 1) political support for social defense programs; 2) public co-operation with social defense programs; 3) delegation to community groups of elements of social defense programs; and 4) provision by community groups of autonomous social defense programs.

Much more work must be done to collect reliable data and make significant critical analyses and evaluations of the myriad ways of public participation in crime prevention throughout the world. [Source: “Participation of the Public in the Prevention and Control of Crime and Delinquency,” Fourth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (Tokyo, Japan, 17–26 August 1970)]     

Singapore justice

Singapore was brought to the world's attention in the spring of 1994, when it sentenced Michael Fay to six lashes with a cane. Many debated the issues presented by that case and there were many half‐truths released about Singapore and the eighteen year old male from Ohio. This research does not raise the issues of caning or corporal punishment. Rather, the research was done to explore ‘'Justice in Singapore'’ and how its system of justice really operates.

More specifically, this research will focus on this city‐state consisting of many divergent peoples, races, cultures, languages, and its thriving economy. The major part of the research focuses on crime related matters. The research compares U.S. and Singapore crime rates, and has found the overall U.S. rates to be 200% to 380% higher in the 1980s. Violent crime rates for ten years were also compared, and the U.S. rates range from 749% to 1,405% higher than Singapore. The paper also examines the ‘'drug problem'’ in Singapore and its response to it.

The last section of this paper explores why there is generally very strong support for police in Singapore (little corruption and few acts of police brutality). The court structure was also explored and an analysis has been done on how it functions. Lastly, the prison system is examined and its operations are presented. Justice in Singapore works very well, but it is also very different from other nations of the world.     

Coping With Crime in a Developing Country: The Fear of Crime in Port Moresby,Papau New Guinea

The purpose of this article is to describe the various responses to the crime problem in Port Moresby and to compare the fear of crime among three groups living in Port Moresby (college staff, college students, and senior level managers).

Urban crime has become a major problem and a public issue in Port Moresby and the various responses to it are similar to those found in the U.S.: individual strategies for maintaining security, ad hoc collective measures among neighbors, pressure group demands, and political proposals.

Three groups were compared on their levels of fear of four types of crime and the security precautions they took in order to protect themselves. It was found that the group with the most economic resources and greatest community cohesiveness had the lowest level of fear of crime. The group with the most fear tended to rely more on neighbors for assistance and took greater security precautions than the “low-fear” group. Also, the findings suggest that expatriates may have a lower level of fear than nationals. Proposed policy responses include neighborhood organization and youth development.     

Traumas of a child victim of rape in India: A diagnostic study

The study reveals (a) incidences of sexual abuse of minor girls is a global problem, (b) minor victims experience severe traumas which often remain unexpressed, and (c) in the absence of proper family and social support, minor rape victims have difficulty in coping with their daily lives. Rehabilitation programs are essential for them. A specific law is needed in the country to deal with such cases separately and justly.

This study discusses the trauma of rape of minor children, first giving a macrolevel view of sexual abuse, such as rape of minor girls in India and other developing countries, then at the microlevel, analyzing the impact of rape through a few individual cases. The data is based on crime statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau for the years 1993–99 which give the figures of rapes of minor girls in the age ranges of 10 years and younger, and between 10 and 16 years.

The paper is divided into two parts. The first explores various studies of the extent of rapes of minors in different countries and gives a graphic representation of the incidence of rape and kidnapping in India. Traumas suffered by the minor victims of rape are discussed in detail and supported by few cases. The second part gives suggestions on how to rehabilitate these minor rape victims.     

Measures Tending to Combat Recidivism Among Women Offenders

[Editor's Note] Traditionally crime has been the domain of males for a number of reasons, chief of which is the fact that they have had more responsibility in both domestic and occupational areas. In the administration of justice differential treatment has been practiced in accordance with age, sex, social status, race, ethnicity, wealth, education, prestige, and other idiosyncrasies of individuals. Females have a distinct advantage over males in the following areas: 1) the public's report to the police; 2) police arrest; 3) the court's sentence; 4) incarceration. There is evidence to show that because of this males not only risk becoming offenders more than females, but also risk becoming victims of that offense.

To cite some examples, in 1972 male arrests outnumbered female by almost six to one in the United States, and only 18 percent of the arrests for Crime Index offenses were women. According to an F.B.I. report approximately 20 per cent of total property crime arrests in 1972 were female. Yet it should be noted that some crimes are committed more by females than by males, such as offenses against chastity and common decency, prostitution, embezzlement and fraud, forgery and counterfeiting, larceny and theft. Recently the F.B.I. reported a rise in female offenses, particularly among those under the age of 18. According to this report, well over half the runaways apprehended are young women.

As a result of a higher educational level among women, more women remaining single due to professional and occupational interests, and the Contemporary Women's Liberation movement, a gradual increase in criminality among women is anticipated, although this is disputed by the French correspondent in the following article who argues for a reverse trend. Yet with more women competing with men in the future and becoming more active politically to achieve equality, crime as a predominantly male pattern of behavior may change.

Crime among women has yet to be thoroughly studied. Some criminologists maintain that female criminality is “masked” or “suggestive” behavior because to a great extent female criminals are hidden or unreported, or in some instances men commit crime on behalf of women. Any meaningful assessment of female criminality must take into account complex physiological, psychological and socio-cultural factors.

The meeting of the International Council of Women in conjunction with the Third United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1965 marked only a small beginning in the understanding of this segment of criminal behavior. This article deals only with recidivism among women offenders, and readers are advised to discover how other societies treat female criminals. Although several recommendations are made as to how women offenders can best be served, much more research into female criminality must be done before reaching any definite conclusions. Some causal factors paralleled the male counterpart, but before this segment of criminality can be treated effectively, causal elements of a more general nature must first be established. [Source: “Measures Tending to Combat Recidivism Among Women Offenders,” article submitted by the International Council of Women, Standing Committee for Social Welfare to the 3rd United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Stockholm, A/CONF. 26/NGO/2, 4 May 1965.]