Criminals and the Price System: Evidence from Czech Metal Thieves

Objectives

This paper tests the economic theory of criminal behavior. Specifically, it looks at “the carrot” side of the theory, studying how thieves react to changes in monetary gains from crime.

Methods

Using a unique crime-level dataset on metal theft in the Czech Republic, we study thieves’ behavior in a simple regression framework. We argue that variation in metal prices represents a quasi-experimental variation in gains from crime. It is because (1) people steal copper and other nonferrous metals only to sell them to scrapyard and (2) prices at scrapyards are set by the world market. This facilitates causal interpretation of our regression estimates.

Results

We find that a 1% increase (decrease) in the re-sale price causes metal thefts to increase (decrease) by 1–1.5%. We show that the relationship between prices and thefts is very robust. Moreover, we find that thieves’ responses to price shocks are rapid and consistent.

Conclusion

Our results are in line with the economic model of crime, wherein criminal behavior is modeled as a rational agent’s decision driven by the costs and benefits of undertaking criminal activities. Our estimates are also consistent with recent results from the United Kingdom, suggesting these patterns are more general.

     

Are DNA data a valid source to study the spatial behavior of unknown offenders?

Studying the spatial behaviour of unknown offenders (i.e. undetected offenders) is difficult, because police recorded crime data do not contain information about these offenders. Recently, forensic DNA data has been used to study unknown offenders. However, DNA data are only a subset of the crimes committed by unknown offenders stored in police recorded crime data. To establish the suitability of DNA data for studying the spatial offending behaviour of unknown offenders, we examine the concentration and spatial similarity of detected but unsolved crimes in police recorded crime data (N?=?181,483) and DNA data (N?=?1913) over 27 Belgian judicial districts for four crime types. We established spatial similarity for certain crime types (in some districts). This offers opportunities for DNA data to be used to study unknown offenders' spatial offending behaviour. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Editor's Introduction: Images and Narratives of International Law And Regulation

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

About the Authors

Biography

About the Authors     

Science Is Golden: Academic R&D and University Patents

Many studies have shown indirect effects of academic research by linking academic research to firm patents. However, since the Bayh-Dole Act, universities are allowed to patent inventions that were funded by federal money and to retain the royalties that these patents generate. As a consequence, universities now are interested in protecting their profitable discoveries, just like any commercial firm doing R&D. In this paper, we apply the econometric techniques traditionally used to estimate the patent production function of firms to data on the patents of American universities. We find that more money spent on academic research leads to more university patents, with elasticities that are similar to those found for commercial firms. In addition, we provide estimates of the effect of establishing a Technology Transfer Office on a university's patent output.     

Fatal amphetamine-associated cardiotoxicity and its medicolegal implications

Amphetamines are popular drugs of abuse, particularly among youngsters and at dance scenes. Cardiotoxicity (manifested as cardiomyopathy, acute myocardial infarction/necrosis, heart failure, or arrhythmia) after the recreational (mis)use of amphetamine and its synthetic derivatives has been documented but is rather rare. Amphetamine-related cardiac fatalities are even more rare. We present 6 cases of young persons who died unexpected after the chronic abuse of amphetamines. Death was not attributed to a lethal intoxication but to an acute myocardial necrosis, a right ventricle rupture, a cardiomyopathy, or an arrhythmia. Two of the deceased persons presented prior to their death to the emergency department, but their complaints were not considered (probably due to their young age) to be of cardiac origin. One case was a sport-related fatality where medical screening failed to identify the underlying cardiac pathology or the amphetamine abuse, and 1 case was a so-called idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy where substance abuse was not considered by the treating physician. We think that amphetamine-associated cardiotoxicity is a rare but probably genuine entity that should be considered both in forensic and clinical/emergency medicine because of its potential medicolegal implications.     

Legal Socialization of Children and Adolescents

Research on children and the law has recently renewed its focus on the development of children's ties to law and legal actors. We identify the developmental process through which these relations develop as legal socialization, a process that unfolds during childhood and adolescence as part of a vector of developmental capital that promotes compliance with the law and cooperation with legal actors. In this paper, we show that ties to the law and perceptions of law and legal actors among children and adolescents change over time and age. We show that neighborhood contexts and experiences with legal actors shape the outcomes of legal socialization. Children report lower ratings of legitimacy of the law and greater legal cynicism when they view interactions with legal actors as unfair and harsh. We show that perceived legitimacy of law and legal authorities shapes compliance with the law, and that these effects covary with social contexts including neighborhood. We identify neighborhood differences in this relationship that reflect differential experiences of children with criminal justice authorities and other social control agents. The results suggest that legal actors may play a role in socialization processes that lead to compliance with or rejection of legal and social norms. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Introduction: Legitimating Ideologies

This special issue focuses upon the creation, maintenance, and use of legitimating ideologies by authorities, institutions, and societies. Such ideologies provide normative justifications for existing policies and practices through which they are seen as appropriate, reasonable, and fair and are, consequently, more readily accepted.     

Market-oriented health care reforms and policy learning in the Netherlands

In this article we analyze the evolution of market-oriented health care reforms in the Netherlands. We argue that these reforms can be characterized as policy learning within and between competing policy programs. Policy learning denotes the process by which policy makers and stakeholders deliberately adjust the goals, rules, and techniques of a given policy in response to past experiences and new information. We discern three distinctive periods. During the first period (1988-1994), the prevailing corporatist and etatist policy programs were seriously challenged by the proponents of a new market-oriented program. But when it came to political decision making and implementation, the market-oriented program soon lost its impetus because it was technically too complex and could not provide short-term solutions to meet the urgent need for cost containment. During the second period (1994-2000), the etatist program regained its previously dominant position. In parallel to a strengthening of supply and price controls, however, the government also persevered in creating the technical and institutional preconditions for regulated competition. Moreover, public discontent over waiting lists and the call for more autonomy by individual providers and insurers strengthened the alliance in favor of regulated competition. This led to the revival of the market-oriented program in a 2001 reform plan. We conclude that the odds of these new post-2001 reforms succeeding are substantially higher than in the first period due to the technical and institutional adjustments that have taken place in the past decade.     

Time periods of GSR particles deposition after discharge-final results

The elemental objects of the research study are: determination of time periods corresponding to gunshot residue particles (GSR) deposition after the shot from selected pistols and a revolver, and evaluation of the deposited particles number. For several shooting experiments were used a pistol CZ model 85, caliber 9 mm Luger with common ammunition 9 mm Luger FMJ Sellier & Bellot, a pistol CZ model 70, caliber 7.65 mm Browning (32 ACP) with common 7.65 mm Browning FMJ Sellier & Bellot ammunition and a revolver S&W Modell 60, barell length 2-1/8', cal. .38 Special with common Sellier&Bellot (FMJ) ammunition. The results of the study have indicated the behavior of GSR particles deposited after a single discharge. The overall time interval of GSR particles deposition and the number of deposited particles with the above mentioned arms and ammunition were established. The results can potentially be used for clarifying the situation at crime scenes and for subsequent interpretation of GSR evidential value in caseworks.