There's Regulatory Crime, and then there's Landlord Crime: from 'Rachmanites' to 'Partners'

This article considers local authority strategies towards the regulation and prosecution of private landlords who commit the criminal offences of unlawful eviction and harassment. Generally, local authorities operate compliance-based strategies, rarely (if ever) resorting to prosecution. In seeking to explain this approach, the article draws upon the literature concerning regulatory crime, but also distinguishes local authority responses to landlord crime from regulatory crime as more typically conceived. Broadly, it is argued that, while there are clear parallels with other areas of regulatory activity, there is much that is different about landlord crime, particularly as a result of central government strategies towards the private rented sector, the legislative background to landlord crime, and the motivations behind local approaches to regulation.     

Calculating the frequency of occurrence of a blood type for a 'random man'.

A scheme is offered for the calculation of blood group frequencies for mixed racial populations. The issue of which population to model is discussed. Consideration is also given to the racial composition of the desired survey and to the rule of mutual independence. The scheme can in many cases be applied to existing data.     

Eyes wide shut: the police investigation of safety crimes

This article reports the results of an empirical research project on the police investigation of harms caused by occupational safety crimes in Finland. It begins with a theoretical discussion of how those harms are excluded from mainstream criminal justice discourse by a range of obscuring mechanisms and the role that policing plays in maintaining and constituting a social order that marginalises safety crime. The paper uses an empirical study of safety crimes reported to the police in Finland. The study, located in a rare case of a jurisdiction in which safety crimes are the responsibility of mainstream policing agencies, will be used to explore the possibilities for stretching the legitimate parameters of criminal justice intervention. In order to do so, the analysis explores features of the ‘structural’ readiness of the state and the ‘conceptual’ readiness of police officers to criminalise those harms. The paper concludes on the value of those findings for understanding how safety crimes might be mainstreamed into policing systems more generally.     

Operational parameters in the stolen property system

The operational steps involved in the theft of property are identified and discussed with central attention being given to the criminal receiver of stolen goods—the “fence”. Both the likely and unlikely divisions of labor in the stolen property marketplace are analyzed as are the functional progressions of events in the theft industry. The analysis is based on a field research project.     

One Way or Another? Criminal Investigators’ Beliefs Regarding the Disclosure of Evidence in Interviews with Suspects in England and Wales

The research base concerning interviews with suspects remains to be comprehensively developed. For example, the extant literature provides differing views regarding how best to undertake the important interview task of disclosing evidence. In the current study, using a self-report questionnaire, 224 investigators based in England and Wales were asked as to their own preferred methods. Most respondents advocated a gradual method of disclosing evidence, stating that this approach would better reveal inconsistencies and obtain a complete version of events (similar to the reasoning of those who preferred disclosing evidence later). Those who advocated revealing evidence early stated this approach would more likely elicit confessions. Several respondents would not commit to one single method, arguing that their chosen strategy was contextually dependent. The study’s findings suggest that it remains arguable as to whether there is one best approach to evidence disclosure and/or whether particular circumstances should influence interviewing strategies.     

Comparison of the variables affecting the recovery of DNA from common drinking containers

As the boundaries of forensic DNA profiling continue to expand, less obvious sources of biological evidence are being collected at crime scenes for DNA profiling. One example is the recovery of biological evidence from common drink containers, such as bottles and cans, which have been found at crime scenes. There are many variables that may have an impact on recovering a DNA profile from such exhibits. In this research, the effects of person to person variation, time, type of drink (including alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages), and type of drink container, were assessed for their impact on the major analytical outcomes of the DNA process. The results show that the alpha-amylase activity varies from individual to individual and is reduced in the presence of some alcoholic drinks. A reasonable DNA yield was obtained from all samples, however, the concentrations exhibited significant person to person variation. The type of drink container influenced the DNA yield with cans giving a higher yield than bottles of the same drink type. To a reduced extent the presence or absence of alcohol affected the overall DNA yield and when partial or failed DNA profiles were produced they were more likely to be associated with alcoholic drinks than non-alcoholic drinks.