PREDICTING THE VIOLENT OFFENDER:THE DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY OF THE SUBCULTURE OF VIOLENCE*

This study tests the extent to which an adherence to the subculture of violence uniquely predicts a tendency to favor violence or instead predicts a more generalized offending repertoire, of which violence is part. Specifically, we use a unique analytic technique that provides the opportunity to distinguish empirically between the “violent offender” and/or the “frequent offender.” The results suggest that holding values favorable toward violence consistently predicts general offending but do not identify youth who systematically favor violence over nonviolence. This discussion considers the impact of these findings for the continued utility of the subculture of violence perspective.     

DOES ECONOMIC ADVERSITY BREED CRIMINAL COOPERATION? CONSIDERING THE MOTIVATION BEHIND GROUP CRIME

The fact that most offenders have accomplices at some point in their criminal career is curious, given the risks associated with criminal cooperation. McCarthy, Hagan, and Cohen ( 1998 ) offered the first formal theory of the decision to co‐offend, which addressed explicitly the uncertainties attached to the decision to engage in group crime. They posited that when offenders experience adversity, they become more risk seeking and oriented toward the chance for potential gain, which essentially outweighs the uncertainties attached to criminal cooperation. McCarthy, Hagan, and Cohen's analysis of street youth offered some empirical support for their premise but left open many important questions. The current study uses data from two different samples of incarcerated felons in Nebraska (N = 321 offenders) and Colorado (N = approximately 1,120 observations nested within approximately 640 offenders) that provide information on different forms of economic adversity. Logistic regression models provide some evidence for the association between adversity and co‐offending, but they are inconsistent. In contrast, a preference for excitement is a consistent and powerful predictor of offending.     

试评韩国《集合建筑物法》第三次修订

虽然韩国《民法》中的土地和建筑物属于不同的所有权客体,但两者基本上适用相同的物权变动法理。然而,就部分所有权而言,土地和建筑物之间存在一定差异。土地可仅依当事人的意思及分割登记而实现对其一部分之所有。相比之下,建筑物却不能仅凭当事人的意思对其一部分进行分割和所有。只有当建筑物的相应部分具备独立性时,才能在将该建筑物的一部分登记为独立所有权的客体后,实现受法律保护的区分所有。上述内容所涉及的规定建筑物部分所有权的韩国法律,即为《关于集合建筑物的所有及管理的法律》。但由于韩国法院担心区分所有权的泛滥可能造成不动产所有权秩序的混乱,因此对《集合建筑物法》项下建筑物之一部分的独立性要件采严格审核原则,其结果导致区分所有权不会轻易得到认定。但是,综观区分所有的具体事例,从平衡性和比例性的角度来看,则会产生法院拒绝提供保护是否正确的疑问。正是基于对这种情况提供保护之必要性的考虑,遂有《集合建筑物法》第1条之2的新设,以便将此等情形中的一部分作为法律所保护的对象。但即使在法律修订后,韩国法院基本上仍对区分所有权的认定持消极态度。对此,试将区分所有权的保护问题与因韩国不动产物权变动登记主义造成的事实所有权的保护问题相联系,提出扩大保护之必要。     

America's “Maginot Line” Defense Against Terror

Though anti‐American terrorism springs these days as much from Yemen and the “virtual ummah” as from Afghanistan, President Obama has nontheless further committed US troops to stabilizing a country well‐known as the graveyard of empires. What can the only Muslim country that belongs to NATO offer by way of advice? How best can the US keep its focus on the terrorist threat despite its diversion in Afghanistan? Turkey's former envoy to Afghanistan and two of Europe's leading experts on Islamist terrorism offer their views.     

PARENTHOOD AS A TURNING POINT IN THE LIFE COURSE FOR MALE AND FEMALE GANG MEMBERS: A STUDY OF WITHIN‐INDIVIDUAL CHANGES IN GANG MEMBERSHIP AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

The impact of parenthood on leaving a street gang is not well understood. This is likely because researchers in prior studies have not accounted for multiple dimensions of gang exit, possible gender differences, and potential selection bias. In this study, we use a sample of 466 male and 163 female gang members from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 to consider the within‐individual relationship between changes in parenthood and changes in claiming gang membership and offending. These data offer the opportunity to consider gender differences and birth parity (i.e., first or second child). The results from a series of fixed‐effects models reveal that motherhood is associated with enduring reductions in both the odds of claiming gang membership and the rate of offending, whereas fatherhood has a temporary beneficial impact on gang membership and offending only for those fathers who reside with their children. In most cases, the beneficial effect of having a child rests in becoming a parent for the first time. On the whole, our study findings demonstrate that parenthood serves as a turning point for a particular group of noteworthy offenders—gang members.     

Why the BBC Matters: Memo to the New Parliament about a Unique British Institution

The new Parliament will be asked at some point to make critical decisions about the BBC's future at a time when it is facing full‐frontal assaults from competitors who view the BBC as a major barrier to their own advancement. Whether it be newspaper groups seeking to monetise their online activities, commercial children's channels, terrestrial competitors or the owners of music radio stations, media conglomerates rail against the BBC's size and public funding with increasing regularity. Our aim is to remind our legislators of the vital contribution this institution makes to British life: from a journalism inscribed with values of fairness, integrity and impartiality—and valued throughout the world for its professional engagement with foreign affairs—to its creative commitment to British story‐telling, music, comedy, arts and children's programmes, the BBC's contribution to our democratic and cultural welfare is immense. It is a beacon for Britain, which provides social glue for its citizens at a time of fragmenting audiences and identities, within a uniquely non‐commercial space, accountable to both Parliament and its licence payers. It may distort the market, much as the National Health Service distorts the market for health care, but is held in high esteem by the British public and is admired throughout the world. This article explains why the BBC is a national treasure that underpins our creative economy as well as our cultural vitality, and argues that it must be protected from those who argue self‐interestedly for its diminution.