The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention: a Short Presentation

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet, BRÅ) is a centre for research and development work within the justice system and is to provide assistance to the agencies of the criminal justice system in improving their knowledge and developing their methods to combat and to prevent crime.

In this article a summary of the operations of the Council – with a focus on the year 2004 – is presented. It is shown that a great number of evaluation projects have been conducted (e.g. of electronic monitoring of offenders). Another way in which the Council can contribute is working to develop various instruments that can be used to measure the effects of different parts of the criminal justice system. As an example, a routine measure of repeat victimization at the regional and local level for different crime types, is being developed.

In order to maintain a national centre of expertise in the broad area of economic and organized crime, a special secretariat has been established. Its focus is directed at the area of prevention, ranging from strategies to methods. Finally, the Council has the responsibility to support local crime prevention work and mediation at the local level.

The article also points out some challenges for the future.     

有组织犯罪--全球关注的问题

随着经济全球化、全球信息化的快速发展 ,有组织犯罪活动日益猖獗 ,并已成为全球关注的问题。从世界范围来看 ,不仅对什么是有组织犯罪及其范围引起了广泛的讨论 ,而且从立法和司法的角度对有组织犯罪进行了大量的对策研究 ,特别是从国际合作层面上加强刑法的一体化 ,共同打击跨国有组织犯罪越来越引起人们的关注。就我国而言 ,无论在立法上还是司法上尚存很大缺陷 ,需要进一步加以完善。为促进对这一问题的深入探讨 ,特请我国著名刑法学家、刑法学泰斗马克昌先生主持并组织了本组稿件     

国际合作--打击跨国有组织犯罪的基石

随着经济全球化、全球信息化的快速发展 ,有组织犯罪活动日益猖獗 ,并已成为全球关注的问题。从世界范围来看 ,不仅对什么是有组织犯罪及其范围引起了广泛的讨论 ,而且从立法和司法的角度对有组织犯罪进行了大量的对策研究 ,特别是从国际合作层面上加强刑法的一体化 ,共同打击跨国有组织犯罪越来越引起人们的关注。就我国而言 ,无论在立法上还是司法上尚存很大缺陷 ,需要进一步加以完善。为促进对这一问题的深入探讨 ,特请我国著名刑法学家、刑法学泰斗马克昌先生主持并组织了本组稿件     

论有组织犯罪的社会对策

随着经济全球化、全球信息化的快速发展 ,有组织犯罪活动日益猖獗 ,并已成为全球关注的问题。从世界范围来看 ,不仅对什么是有组织犯罪及其范围引起了广泛的讨论 ,而且从立法和司法的角度对有组织犯罪进行了大量的对策研究 ,特别是从国际合作层面上加强刑法的一体化 ,共同打击跨国有组织犯罪越来越引起人们的关注。就我国而言 ,无论在立法上还是司法上尚存很大缺陷 ,需要进一步加以完善。为促进对这一问题的深入探讨 ,特请我国著名刑法学家、刑法学泰斗马克昌先生主持并组织了本组稿件     

Evidence-Based Approaches to Crime Prevention in Developing Countries

The purpose of this paper is to review the present state of the evidence base on the effectiveness of crime prevention programmes and practices in developing countries and to consider the prospects for its improvement. The paper summarises the findings from a scoping review of the literature and develops some suggestions about how the void it finds might be filled. A key focus is on the quality of the methodology used in the research from which the findings are drawn. Against this background the paper considers the degree to which findings about effectiveness, even where they are derived from high quality research on the impact of a criminal justice intervention, are likely to be generalisable from the location of an experiment or pilot to other settings or countries. Building an evidence based on the effectiveness of crime prevention or crime reduction interventions for developing countries would clearly be a major task. Many kinds of political, social, economic and other forces, which vary from country to country, may mediate the impact of criminal justice interventions. The result may be that what works well in one country may not work at all well elsewhere for all kinds of reasons. The principal challenge in creating an evidence base is to develop inclusion criteria when making cross-country comparisons that strike an appropriate balance between the costs and benefits of greater methodological rigour and generalisation.     

How Situational Crime Prevention Contributes to Social Welfare

Situational crime prevention has been met with considerable scepticism from academic criminologists primarily for its indifference to social welfare. It has been seen as contributing to a law-and-order agenda with its focus on making public places secure for business and as supplanting social welfare policies as means of responding to crime. But situational crime prevention contributes more to social welfare than sceptics allow and its advocates (may) believe. Situational crime prevention has enjoyed its fullest and robust expression, not in the free-market, neo-liberal environment of America, but within the leading welfare states of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. This essay considers the politics of the situational approach, the alleged benefits of social crime prevention, criminalisation of social policy, unplanned social welfare benefits, assumptions about the role of business, and concerns about privacy, surveillance and control. The discussion centres on the European experience: the UK, France, The Netherlands and the Nordic countries.

Preventive Policing and Security Plans: The Reception of New Crime Prevention Strategies in Three Finnish Cities

In Western countries today, security is seen predominantly as a problem of public places. This has given rise to a growing demand for new strategies of governing public places, the most popular of which are crime prevention, community policing (e.g., zero tolerance) and partnership. Their aim is to encourage the public sector, voluntary organizations and market actors to work more closely with the police in a local effort to create and maintain a safe living environment. This article looks at what kind of reception the new methods of governing public places have received in three Finnish cities (Helsinki, Lappeenranta, and Tampere) by reviewing their newly formulated security plans and programmes. The analysis of this document material makes use of the concept of moral regulation. The analysis focuses on the kind of local security problems that are identified in these security plans as targets of moral regulation; what kinds of techniques they propose for addressing and resolving these problems; and in what kind of crime prevention role they position the subjects of moral regulation (police officers and police partners) and the objects of moral regulation. The analysis shows that Helsinki aims to regulate the problems occurring in public places by emphasizing a neo­liberal ethos. Lappeenranta, on the other hand, walks a tight­rope in its security plan between communitarian and welfare state ambitions. Tampere, for its part, responds to the security threat in public places by adopting a neo­leftist stance (cf. the Third Way).     

Crime and Reactions to Crime in Scandinavia

This short overview of available statistical data on crime and penal systems in Scandinavia indicates that the level of traditional forms of crime in Scandinavia is on a par with or lower than that found in many other European countries. As elsewhere in western Europe, Scandinavia experienced a substantial increase in crime rates during the post‐war period—indicating that these recorded increases may have common structural roots. The 1990s witnessed a stabilization of theft rates, albeit at a high level. Increasing equality between women and men may have contributed to an increase in the reporting of violent and sexual offences against women (and children), making these offences more visible. The system of formal control in the Scandinavian countries is characterized by relatively low police density; a clear‐up rate that has declined; above‐average conviction rates; the imposition of fines in a high proportion of criminal cases; and relatively low prison populations. The implications for crime policies are discussed.     

Italian Organised Crime: Mafia Associations and Criminal Enterprises

The article reviews the different forms of organised crime in Italy. To begin with, it focuses on the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, Italy's two largest and most powerful mafia associations. With their centuries-old histories, articulated structures, sophisticated ritual and symbolic apparatuses and claim to exercise a political dominion, these associations have few parallels in the world of organised crime. In its second section, the article considers other groups and networks that are--with varying degrees of justification--also routinely described as organised crime: these range from the Neapolitan camorra to Apulian organised crime and the so-called new 'foreign mafie' and other criminal entrepreneurs. Whereas the new Italian and foreign players are likely to expand their activities on Italy's illegal markets, the future of Cosa Nostra and the 'Ndrangheta is more uncertain and largely depends on the decisions made by the public administrations.     

试论刑事一体化模式下的犯罪预防

犯罪预防是刑法学尤其是犯罪学中的一项重要命题,对犯罪预防的研究一直都为刑法学家和犯罪学家所重视。而且,开展犯罪预防工作也是刑事立法和司法活动中的重要环节。要行之有效地进行犯罪预防,最重要的莫过于犯罪预防体系的建立。刑事一体化主要是一种认识和处理犯罪和刑罚问题的刑事法研究思路,这种思路付诸于司法实践就要求综合运用刑事法所涵盖的诸多学科知识全方位、多角度地对犯罪和刑罚做出整体的透视,以期获得全面科学的认识,其中就必然包含了犯罪预防方面的内容。     

我国青少年犯罪及其防治探讨

本文认为由于对青少年犯罪问题没有足够重视,致使青少年教育工作存在不少问题:青少年违法犯罪增多,且呈低龄化、团伙化、暴力化,手段残忍,社会危害大。在此,笔者探讨了青少年犯罪率上升的原因,并提出了防治犯罪的几点对策。     

犯罪黑数及其控制

犯罪黑数是指由于各种原因而没有记载在刑事统计中的具体犯罪数据 ,也就是刑事统计犯罪个数与实际发生的犯罪数之差。犯罪黑数存在的原因相当复杂 ,而要控制这一现象 ,也需要从其产生的社会原因、法律原因以及主体因素等方面加以考虑。     

"犯罪治理"作为刑事诉讼目的的若干思考

学界的主流观点以及现行立法对我国刑事诉讼目的皆持“二元论”的立场,即一方面为惩罚犯罪,一方面为保障人权,并没有把“犯罪治理”作为刑事诉讼的一个目标。从刑事政策的视角来看,这样的程序设计并不妥当。未来的刑事诉讼法修改,应该考虑赋予诉讼程序在治理犯罪方面的制度功能。     

跨境证券犯罪刑事管辖及法律适用探讨

境内与境外的证券市场适用不同的法律监管体制,跨境证券犯罪的跨境特征可能使境内境外对相关证券犯罪均具有刑事管辖权,从而引发刑事管辖冲突。对于跨境证券交易的监管和法律适用,无论是在法律规定层面还是在司法实践层面,均应遵循“主场原则”。应明确监管职能上的分工以避免适用不同法律法规的混乱情况,应体现最大的监管效能并减少区际法律冲突。跨境证券犯罪的刑事管辖权归属应充分尊重行政监管原则和考虑前置性法律的适用,并与行政管辖权归属保持一致。跨境证券犯罪的刑事管辖权归属应考虑犯罪行为社会危害的主要发生地。以内幕交易为代表的跨境证券犯罪的主要行为是“交易”,根据区际刑事管辖冲突的解决规则,应由交易行为的发生地管辖,按照交易地的刑法对相关行为进行刑事评价。     

论我国经济犯罪的刑事政策

科学的经济犯罪刑事政策是有效应对当前经济犯罪高发态势的关键,我国经济犯罪刑事政策在总体上呈现"厉而不严"的特点,过于依赖刑罚的作用。对经济犯罪刑事政策的调整应坚持广义的刑事政策观,以科学发展和社会和谐的社会经济政策作为经济犯罪刑事政策的基础,在立法上犯罪化和非犯罪化并重并注重刑罚的轻缓化,在司法上抓大放小。     

刑事被告人脱逃犯罪防控策略探析

刑事被告人脱逃是侵犯国家司法权、严重妨害刑事司法活动秩序的犯罪行为。通过对近十年来人民法院频繁发生的刑事被告人脱逃案例进行分析总结,可以发现新时期此类犯罪行为具有非暴力性、被告人脱逃前涉嫌罪名较为集中、实施犯罪方式相对单一、脱逃事前多有预谋等特点。针对这些特点,迫切要求人民法院加快司法改革的步伐,从立法、警务保障体制、应急预案体系、防控理念和强化教育培训等方面进行全方位改革和完善。     

International Norm Diffusion and Organised Crime Policy: The Case of Greece

The premise of this paper is that a section of the Greek policy-making elite responsible for formulating policy against organised crime has taken advantage of an internationally-developed programme of action on this issue to strengthen perceptions of the Greek state's legitimacy amongst both domestic and foreign audiences. Although positive reaction to foreign pressure for policy change has tended to be made at the risk of losing further legitimacy in the eyes of domestic public opinion, in this case the issue of organised crime has presented an opportunity to the policy-making elite to develop policy that also aims to bolster the domestic legitimacy of the state by dealing with criminality and presenting the state as a clean and neutral body acting for the common public good.     

论视频监控的犯罪预防功能及犯罪侦查价值

各国的犯罪预防理论发展至今,已经形成了比较完善的犯罪预防体系,主要包括司法预防、社会预防和情景预防三种模式。在我国的犯罪预防体系中,向来重视司法预防和社会预防,而对情景预防关注不够,情景预防措施尚不完善。作为一种对犯罪的干预,视频监控是一种对情境犯罪的干预,研究发掘其在犯罪预防中的作用对完善犯罪预防体系具有重要意义。同时,视频监控系统在犯罪侦查方面也具有重要作用。