SITUATIONAL CAUSES OF OFFENDING: A FIXED‐EFFECTS ANALYSIS OF SPACE–TIME BUDGET DATA

Situational theories of crime assert that the situations that people participate in contain the proximal causes of crime. Prior research has not tested situational hypotheses rigorously, either for lack of detailed situational data or for lack of analytical rigor. The present research combines detailed situational data with analytical methods that eliminate all stable between‐individual factors as potential confounds. We test seven potential situational causes: 1) presence of peers, 2) absence of adult handlers, 3) public space, 4) unstructured activities, 5) use of alcohol, 6) use of cannabis, and 7) carrying weapons. In a two‐wave panel study, a general sample of adolescents completed a space–time budget interview that recorded, hour by hour over the course of 4 complete days, the activities and whereabouts of the subjects, including any self‐reported offenses. In total, 76 individuals reported having committed 104 offenses during the 4 days covered in the space–time budget interview. Using data on the 4,949 hours that these 76 offenders spent awake during these 4 days, within‐individual, fixed‐effects multivariate logit analyses were used to establish situational causes of offending. The findings demonstrate that offending is strongly and positively related to all hypothesized situational causes except using cannabis and carrying weapons.     

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.     

The Eu's Response to 9/11: A Case Study of Institutional Roles and Policy Processes with Special Reference to Issues of Accountability and Human Rights

ABSTRACT

The challenges of 9/11 required a wide ranging response across all three of the broad divisions of EU policymaking competence: the economic and monetary union, common foreign and security policy and internal security. These policy divisions make up the ‘three pillars’ of the EU's political architecture. This article reviews general issues of accountability and human rights protection in the EU's policymaking and implementation process, the evolution of the EU's response to terrorism, and the general response to 9/11. It then considers, in detail, the implications of the various response measures adopted under each ‘pillar’. The article demonstrates the emphasis that the Member States have placed on security measures and the wider concerns that their content and speed of adoption left little scope for other views to be heard. The article lays stress upon the fact that the effectiveness of the response measures are crucially dependent on the variable implementation capacity of the Member States. The article concludes by noting how the 2004 EU Constitution [Article I-42] requires Member States to ‘…?act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if a Member State is a victim of a terrorist attack….’     

Being British: A Crisis of Identity?

An assumed decline in Britishness has rekindled concern over the 'break up of Britain'. The creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 is taken as the cause and the effect of Scots having come to feel more Scottish and less British. Using data on public attitudes from British, and Scottish Social Attitudes surveys, this paper shows that, despite a strengthening sense of Scottishness over the last thirty years, the sense of being British is still widespread and similar in Scotland and in England. Even those who describe themselves as Scottish and not British are not hostile to the idea of Britain. The relatively weak association between national identity, party support and views on constitutional change suggests that being Scottish is more cultural than political. Recent attempts by politicians and others to mobilise Britishness ignore the complexity and diversity of meanings it has both north and south of the border.     

PERSUASION AS GOVERNANCE: A STATE‐CENTRIC RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Debates about governance and the relationship between governance and government have focused upon markets, hierarchies and networks as principal modes of governance. In this paper we argue that persuasion constitutes a further and distinctive mode of governance, albeit one which interpenetrates other modes of governance. In order to assess the nature, limitations and scope of persuasion and the complex relationships between markets, hierarchies, networks on the one hand and persuasion on the other, we interpret persuasion through the prism of two theoretical perspectives on governance. We argue that the society‐centred perspective usefully draws our attention to the role played by non‐state actors in the exercise of governance through persuasion but that a state‐centric relational account can help us to better understand important facets of persuasion as a mode of governance.     

INDIVIDUAL STABILITY OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD: TESTING THE STABILITY POSTULATE OF MOFFITT'S DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY*

This paper presents a test of Moffitt's (1993) prediction on the stability of longitudinal antisocial behavior, using data from the South‐Holland Study. Aggressive (overt) and non‐aggressive antisocial (covert) behaviors were measured when subjects were 6–11 years old, and at follow‐ups when they were 12–17 years old and 20–25 years old. In accordance with the postulate, we did find a higher level of stability of overt behavior from childhood to adulthood, compared with childhood to adolescence, especially in combination with early manifestations of status violations and/or covert behavior in childhood. Results related to the stability of covert behavior were not in accordance with the prediction, but did support the recently proposed adjustment to the starting age of the adult phase.     

AUTHOR'S RESPONSE

Books reviewed in this article:
Book Reviewed in this article:
Tracy Dobson, Book Review, ENVIRONMENTALLY INDUCED CANCER AND THE LAW: RISKS, REGULATION AND VICTIM COMPENSATION. Frank B. Cross, Quorum Books, 1989. Pp. 229, published in 29 AMERICAN BUSINESS LAW JOURNAL xxx (1991).