Exploring the trend of violence against women in India

ABSTRACT

India is witnessing growing violence against women including horrific rapes even in major metropolitan areas that have attracted considerable media attention. Insecurity and physical threat to women is real and a major concern. Justice Verma Commission that examined the Delhi rape case has recommended several measures including changes in laws involving crimes against women, yet little has changed. In this paper we conduct a variety of qualitative and quantitative analyses using open source data to understand the nature and extent of crimes against women in India. Police records indeed suggest a growing escalation in serious crimes against women. The paper also critically examines the efforts of the police and others, particularly non-governmental groups to combat such crimes. A number of policy recommendations are made for prevention including comparative efforts in Korea where crimes against women are similarly serious.     

IT-related Crime – Old Crimes in a New Guise,But New Directions Too!

This article constitutes an attempt to describe the nature of IT-related crime and how it is likely to evolve in the future. By means of a number of empirical studies, the authors have attempted to estimate the prevalence of a number of different IT-related incidents and offences in Sweden during the period 1997-1998. The article shows that IT-related crime consists to a large extent of less serious offences. One might say that everyday crime has expanded into a new technological environment. Parts of the study nonetheless indicate that there are more serious IT-related offences being committed. In this regard the authors' focus is on offences related to the most valuable commodity in modern society, information. On the basis of the empirical studies, two different developmental patterns are identified; the first of these involves everything carrying on much the same as before, with no real evidence of any radical shift taking place; the second involves society going through a period of relatively comprehensive structural and technological change, which in turn is creating new and dangerous opportunity structures for crime.     

Nature and Impact of Criminal Victimization in Barbados

ABSTRACT

This article examines the nature and impact of crime through the survey of victims who reported crimes against them to the Barbados Police Force in 1998. The study shows that the victims reported serious concern about the high level of crime in Barbados. Further, the study found that concern about crime was influenced by many factors including the type of crime, age, gender, and occupation. In addition, the findings of the study pointed to physical injuries, economic cost, and emotional impacts on the victims, even though many victims underestimated the economic cost of their victimization.     

Hate,Threats, and Violence. A Register Study of Persons Suspected of Hate Crime

This article focuses on individuals suspected of hate crimes with xenophobic, Islamophobic, and homophobic motives. The objective is to fill a gap in the knowledge left by existing research, which has primarily focused on victims and definitional problems. This article's genuine contribution to new research is the comparative perspective and the study of co-offending and specialization in offences for persons suspected for hate crimes. To find persons suspected for hate crimes, register data relating to hate-crime-motivated assault and unlawful threats/molestation offences from 2006 have been used. The study is based on a total of 1,910 offence reports together with information from the Registers of Suspected and Convicted Offenders for 558 persons suspected for hate crimes. Xenophobic hate crimes are over-represented in the material by comparison with homophobic and Islamophobic hate crimes. In the reports that have information about the relation between victim and perpetrators, it is more common for the perpetrators to be known than unknown to the victims. In cases where a suspected person has been identified, males are in a clear majority. Those suspected of homophobic hate crimes have the lowest mean age. Only a small number of offence reports include information on suspected co-offenders. Fifty-five per cent of the suspected people have prior registered convictions. It is very uncommon for them to be specialized in violent offences or unlawful threats/molestation, however. It is not possible to generalize the results to perpetrators of hate crimes, because 70% of the offence reports did not have information of suspected persons.     

Bullying behaviour and criminality: a population-based follow-up study of adolescent psychiatric inpatients in Northern Finland

The recent school shootings in Europe and the USA have raised the question of whether victims of bullying run an increased risk of committing violent crimes later in life, but scientific research in this area is scarce. The aim of this work was to investigate whether bullying behaviour is associated with later criminal offences committed in adolescence and young adulthood. We studied a sample of 508 Finnish adolescents (age 12-17 years) admitted to psychiatric inpatient care between April 2001 and March 2006. Data on crimes committed and the age of onset of criminal activity were extracted from the official criminal records of the national Legal Register Centre in October 2008. The Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, Present and Lifetime (K-SADS-PL) was used to define bullying status, and to obtain DSM-IV-based psychiatric diagnoses for the adolescents. Violent crimes were statistically significantly associated with bullying behaviour, but not non-violent crimes. Furthermore, being a bully was predictive of an early onset of severe violent offences. When controlled for the psychiatric diagnoses of the adolescents, we observed decreased likelihood of criminality among victims. Thus bullying others may increase the risk of violent offences, while being a victim is not a risk factor for criminality.     

农村基层组织人员职务犯罪特点与侦查研究——以贪污贿赂案件侦查为视角

作为当前社会主义新农村建设的骨干力量,农村基层组织人员职务犯罪的情况日趋严重,打击与防范农村基层组织人员职务犯罪已迫在眉睫。要准确打击农村基层组织人员职务犯罪,首先应当在法律层面上准确界定农村基层组织人员的主体范围及其职务活动范围。在准确界定法律概念的基础上,通过对当下农村基层组织人员职务犯罪状况的实证研究,发掘农村基层组织人员职务犯罪的内在规律与特点,以此进一步分析农村基层组织人员职务犯罪的深层次原因,并有针对性地制定相应的侦查对策,以形成打击和防范此类犯罪的高压和长效机制。     

Remorse and neutralization among violent male offenders

Expression of remorse by an offender to his or her victim represents healing in the aftermath of a crime. Thus, it is important to consider what may influence or impede remorse. This article analyzes interviews with 27 men who committed serious violent crimes to examine their talk about victims, responsibility, and remorse. Most of the men excused or justified their crimes using cultural discourses about violence and blameworthy victims. They spoke of feeling sorry for themselves, not for their victims. Men who expressed remorse perceived their victims as morally blameless. They humanized their victims, and their victims humanized them.     

Few convictions in rape cases: Empirical evidence concerning some alternative explanations

This paper examines several explanations for the low rate of conviction for rape arrests made in the District of Columbia from 1971 to 1976. Discrimination against female victims does not appear to be a major cause of the problem, nor do rape victims appear more likely than victims of other serious crimes to cause case attrition due to their own unwillingness to continue. Questioning of the victim's credibility, on the other hand, does seem to be more of a reason for case dismissal for rape cases than for other serious crimes. A multivariate analysis of the types of rape cases that do result in conviction yielded eight statistically significant variables. A new perspective on rape cases emphasizing the issues of consent and credibility is presented.     

Trends in Police-recorded Offences

This article presents 10-year trends (1998–2007) on some common crimes: homicide, assault, rape, robbery, car theft, domestic burglary and drug offences. In addition, a few less common offences in police statistics, such as money laundering, corruption, offences against computer data and systems are discussed, even though trends of these crimes are not available. Trends are shown from Western, Central and Eastern Europe, where significant sociopolitical changes have occurred. Although police data actually describes more the recording practices of the officials than the amount of crime, police data is highly valuable for research purposes. Most countries continuously collect information about police activity, and the police is mostly the starting point for proceeding with a case in the criminal justice system. In the USA, all common offences recorded by the police have decreased during the recent years. In Europe, property crimes, homicide and robbery have decreased in most countries, but violence and drug crimes have increased. According to the crime victim surveys, the increase in assault cannot be explained by the increasing reporting activity of victims; the increase seems real. The level of crime differs considerably in different areas: for instance, homicide is most common in Eastern Europe, but assault is much higher in Western Europe.     

Explaining the Effectiveness of Heroin-assisted Treatment on Crime Reductions

This study examines the relationship between heroin-assisted treatment versus methadone maintenance and the criminal activity of 1,015 individuals participating in a German model project. The main objective is to investigate how these treatments contribute to a decline of criminal behavior. The analyses are based upon self-reported criminal offence and police data on alleged criminals. Logistic regression is employed to explain the variance in the 12-month prevalence 1 year after program admission. The results clearly show a decline of criminal offences among participants receiving maintenance treatment; this decline was significantly greater in the heroin group with respect to property crimes and drug offences. The multivariate analysis reveals that the effects are due to a decrease of illegal drug use and absence from the drug scene.     

犯罪本质特征新说 --社会学与刑法学立场分野下的认识

行为具有严重的社会危害性,在社会学意义上无疑是犯罪。但在刑法学意义上讲,却并非如此。刑法上的犯罪,离不开法律的规定。刑事违法性,是立法者将那些具有严重社会危害性的行为纳入犯罪圈的标识,是判定罪与非罪的惟一标准。在个罪成立与否的判定中,既要考虑刑法分则的规定,也要考虑刑法总则规定的犯罪定义,以防止形式的犯罪构成解释论。在刑法学中,犯罪的本质特征应该是立法者选定的行为的严重社会危害性,而非仅为行为的严重社会危害性。     

Consistency in crime site selection: An investigation of crime sites used by serial sex offenders across crime series

PurposeKnowing sites used by serial sex offenders to commit their crimes is highly beneficial for criminal investigations. However, environmental choices of serial sex offenders remain unclear to this date. Considering the challenges these offenders pose to law enforcement, the study aims to identify sites serial sex offenders use to encounter and release their victims and investigate their stability across crime series.MethodsThe study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to identify victim encounter and release sites used by 72 serial sex offenders having committed 361 sex offenses. Additional LCA are performed to investigate the stability of these offense environments across offenders' crimes series.ResultsDistinct profiles of crime sites that are recurrent across crime series are found, suggesting that serial sex offenders present a limited diversity of victim encounter and victim release sites. Encounter sites representative of longer crime series are also identified. Specifically, the use of sites known to "attract" potential victims decreases over series and offenders become more risk-taking in regard of sites used to encounter their victims.ConclusionsThe study identifies patterns of site- selection for the victim encounter and release in cases of serial crimes. Implications for crime linkage and police investigations strategies are discussed.     

The link between recurrent maltreatment and offending behaviour

This article considers recurrent maltreatment and offending behaviour. The sample was 60 males and 19 females (11 to 18 years) resident within a secure institution in England and considered a risk to themselves and/or others. Overall, 20.8% had not experienced maltreatment, 6.5% had experienced a single incident, 11.7% were repeat victims (same perpetrator), 6.5% were revictimised (different perpetrators), and more than half (54.5%) had suffered both repeat and revictimisation. Of those who had committed a violent and/or sexual crime, 74% had experienced some form of revictimisation, compared to 33% of those who committed nonviolent offences. Those young people most likely to have committed violent and/or sexual crimes were those who had been victims of recurrent extrafamilial maltreatment (many of whom had also experienced recurrent intrafamilial maltreatment). Thus, in this sample, revictimisation was associated with serious crimes. However, these findings are preliminary, and prospective research with a larger sample is needed.     

An operational definition of prior criminal record

A variety of measures of prior criminal record is used to explain differences in incarceration for defendants arrested in New York State. The analysis suggests that (1) measures based upon arrest, conviction, or incarceration data are equally effective at explaining differences in incarceration percentages; (2) measures based upon counts do better in their logarithmic than in their arithmetic scales; (3) prior record is more closely related to incarceration for moderately serious than for serious or minor crimes; and (4) prior record is more closely related to incarceration for crimes that have a theft component than for crimes that do not. A composite prior record measure is developed that combines arrest and conviction data. It is easy to compute, yet it is as effective at explaining variation in incarceration as the most elaborate measures examined.     

Fighting back: Lethal responses to predatory attacks

Each year millions of Americans become victims of predatory crimes. The way victims respond to these attacks varies from complicance with offenders' requests to physically challenging offenders. In some cases, the physical defense of self and property has lethal consequences for the initial offender. While much is known about felony murder victims and typical homicide offenders, little is known about individuals who fight back against predatory attack by using lethal violence. In this paper, we use data from the Homicides in Chicago, 1965–1995 study to describe the characteristics of defensive homicide offenders and to determine how they compare with felony murder victims and defensive homicide offenders. Our results indicate that defensive homicide offenders are more similar to typical homicide offenders than felony murder victims, and are even more likely to have violent criminal histories and to use firearms than typical homicide offenders. Our results challenge the common perception that individuals who fight back against predatory attack are simply “law-abiding citizens.” We conclude the paper with a discussion of the implications of our study for additional research and police practice. Authors' Note: The authors thank editor Dennis Stevens and James Black for their helpful comments on earlier draft of the paper.     

Perception of Seriousness and Concern about White-Collar Crime: Some Results of an Opinion Survey Among Swiss Banks

Scientifically, little is known about white-collar crime in Switzerland or concern about white-collar crime and even less about how concerned bank employees are about this criminality. This article is based on a small opinion survey of Swiss bank employees and tries to explore perceptions of seriousness and concern about white-collar crime among people who, in their position, might have to face this issue regularly. Past assumptions on the public’s indifference towards white-collar crime seem not to be confirmed in this study as the results obtained demonstrate a greater sensitivity with respect to white-collar crime and especially towards crimes perpetrated by corporations. Even though Swiss bank employees do qualify white-collar offences as very serious acts, they are still more punitive with regard to ordinary crimes.     

Procedural Justice for Victims and Offenders?: Exploring Restorative Justice Processes in Australia and the US

Sociolegal research indicates that when citizens perceive that legal processes and procedures are fair, both positive and negative legal outcomes will be viewed as acceptable. However, little is known about perceptions of fairness in informal contexts such as in restorative justice (RJ) practices and with victims (and offenders) who participate in these programs. Drawing on interviews with key actors engaged in post-conviction RJ programs for serious crimes in Australia and the USA, this paper asks, do post-conviction therapeutic RJ programs for violent crimes enhance procedural justice for victims and offenders? The data reveal that RJ is compatible with procedural justice for both victims and offenders. Specifically, RJ aids in correcting the harms created by the formal criminal justice system and, thus, satisfies and even greatly enhances procedural justice goals for both victims and offenders.     

流动人口刑事被害人及被害预防

流动人口构成犯罪被害的高危群体,因此对其进行积极有效的被害预防将对整个社会的犯罪预防和治安状况的好转起到非常重要的作用。从被害人角度看待流动人口在刑事案件中所处的角色从发,结合被害人学的相关理论和流动人口被害的实证统计,分析流动人口被害原因包括社会原因、环境原因和个人原因的基础上,这样的被害预防对策可能更有效。     

Ethnicity and Violent Crime: The Ethnic Structure of Networks of Youths Suspected of Violent Offences in Stockholm

This study employs network analysis in order to study patterns of co-offending among youths suspected of violent offences in Stockholm. The study's objective is to examine the ethnic structure of relations among persons suspected of committing violent offences together. The Swedish media have presented information suggesting that violent conflicts between Swedish youths and youths with an immigrant background, based on ethnic conflicts between these groups, are common. The study also discusses the relevance of this image. The study's findings show that violent offences committed by youths in Stockholm are of an ethnically heterogeneous character. At the same time there is a tendency for marginalized and segregated ethnic groups to join together to some extent. The findings may be interpreted as indicating that youth violence in Stockholm today is characterized by ethnic diversity, but that increased ethnic segregation may lead to an increase in the level of ethnically related violent crime. Apparently there is a perception that ethnic conflicts do occur, which persists despite the fact that such conflicts are not common. It is of concern that the occurrence of such perceptions, not least in the Swedish media, may lead to an increase in the level of conflicts of this kind.1 ¹The author would like to thank David Shannon for his translation of the text.