Age structure and crime rates: The conflicting evidence

Because arrest rates are especially high for teenagers and young adults, criminologists have long contended that age structure changes affect crime trends. In recent years, however, this belief has been drawn into question because crime has not declined even though high-crime age groups have shrunk. We argue that the age/crime relationship is probably exaggerated because the high arrest rates for younger persons are due partly to their lesser ability to escape arrest, younger persons commit more group crime, and the age structure of victims should be taken into account. We then review 90 studies that regress crime rates on age structure; only a small minority consistently finds significant relationships. Because of methodological problems in this research, one cannot conclude that the age/crime relationship does not exist, but the weight of evidence shows that forecasts based on demographic trends are not likely to be helpful.     

黑社会（性质）组织犯罪的亚文化分析

黑社会（性质）组织本身就是一个亚文化群,其犯罪行为背后具有相应的亚文化特征。旧中国黑社会犯罪的亚文化特征以传统礼教为基础,通过各种形式的载体表现出来,起到聚集组织力量的作用。当前我国的黑社会性质组织犯罪除了具备旧中国黑社会犯罪的一些亚文化特征之外,也呈现出一些新的特点：追求经济利益、积极寻求“保护伞”并逐步向政治领域渗透。为有效防治黑社会性质组织犯罪在我国的蔓延,有必要营造良好的文化氛围,以消除黑社会性质组织犯罪产生的社会文化根源。     

The collation of forensic DNA case data into a multi-dimensional intelligence database

The primary aim of any DNA Database is to link individuals to unsolved offenses and unsolved offenses to each other via DNA profiling. This aim has been successfully realised during the operation of the New Zealand (NZ) DNA Databank over the past five years. The DNA Intelligence Project (DIP), a collaborative project involving NZ forensic and law enforcement agencies, interrogated the forensic case data held on the NZ DNA databank and collated it into a functional intelligence database. This database has been used to identify significant trends which direct Police and forensic personnel towards the most appropriate use of DNA technology. Intelligence is being provided in areas such as the level of usage of DNA techniques in criminal investigation, the relative success of crime scene samples and the geographical distribution of crimes. The DIP has broadened the dimensions of the information offered through the NZ DNA Databank and has furthered the understanding and investigative capability of both Police and forensic scientists. The outcomes of this research fit soundly with the current policies of 'intelligence led policing', which are being adopted by Police jurisdictions locally and overseas.     

A Note on the Use of County-Level UCR Data

County-level crime data have major gaps, and the imputation schemes for filling in the gaps are inadequate and inconsistent. Such data were used in a recent study of guns and crime without considering the errors resulting from imputation. This note describes the errors and how they may have affected this study. Until improved methods of imputing county-level crime data are developed, tested, and implemented, they should not be used, especially in policy studies.     

“罪与罚”主题价值内涵的变迁

“罪与罚”是欧洲学史的一个重要母题,作为欧洲学两大源头的希腊学和希伯莱学在表现这个母题时体现出鲜明的化差异性：希腊学中我们看到的是对“我在”的求证,而在希望伯莱学中我们看到的是对“他在”的求证。中世纪“罪与罚”作为一种宗教理念对人的思想和行为产生深刻的影响,理性的、有节制的生活成为人们的一种自觉选择。陀斯妥也夫斯基则通过对罪的虚化、弱化,强调对罚的自觉担当,强调人面对不合理的外部世界的一种自主选择。至此,罪与罚主题完成了一个循环,由哲学命题回归为哲学命题。     

贪污罪量刑基准体系的构建及回归分析

应当根据刑法规定,通过贪污罪的犯罪结果与处刑数量之间的线性关系,把定量分析方法应用于贪污罪的处刑实践,并依此建立了贪污罪的量刑基准体系,以准确确定被告人应当承担刑事责任的数量,这样,可以减少司法实践中法官个体之间对贪污罪行为处刑的差异。     

ENTER THE DRAGON: INSIDE CHINESE HUMAN SMUGGLING ORGANIZATIONS*

This paper examines the inner workings of Chinese human smuggling organizations. Contrary to widely held conceptions about Chinese organized crime, most alien smugglers are otherwise ordinary citizens whose familial networks and fortuitous social contacts have enabled them to pool resources to transport human cargoes around the world. They come from diverse backgrounds and form temporary alliances to carry out smuggling operations. With the exception of a shared commitment to making money, little holds them together. The smuggling organizations mostly resemble ad hoc task forces and are assembled for specific operations. These organizations have clear divisions of labor with limited hierarchical structures. We discuss the theoretical implications of their unique organizational characteristics.     

Measuring the impact of law enforcement on organized crime

This article explores the possibility of measuring the impact of law enforcement on organized crime in a reliable and accountable manner, both in general terms and with a practical focus on the Canadian context. In considering measures to combat organized crime, a focus on process measurement has obscured the more substantial question of progress as regards the dependent variable itself: the bottom line of reducing the impact of organized criminal behaviour. While outcome measures are more challenging to identify than process measures, this fact alone does not minimize the need to demonstrate the connection between organized crime enforcement and its presumed outcomes to a greater degree of certainty. To date, this has not been realized to any significant degree, as revealed by a review of existing international approaches to measuring the impact of enforcement activity. The article argues that a multidisciplinary focus on community level indicators of crime, if initially less accessible than process measures of impact on organized crime groups, offers promise as a measurement of absolute and relative impact of state investment in enforcement.

The ‘Perils’ of an Identity Politics Approach to the Legal Recognition of Harm

In the past, and it still remains the case, people with learning difficulties who are victims of violence have been cast as being in need of protection rather than rights and justice. Such an approach belies an institutionalised perspective of harm that does not readily engage with criminal justice structures or solutions. At the same time, Sect. 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 gives the court the power to pass enhanced sentences where it can be proven that a crime was motivated by hostility towards someone because s/he is disabled. However, this provision may simply remain a symbolic pledge to equality that fails to tackle the complex and deep rooted causes of violence and oppression in modern society. The consequences of automatically turning to hate crime ‘solutions’ have yet to be explored. This article will draw from the ideas of a number of thinkers in the context of diverse activism to construct a bridge between current debates about how to theorise and tackle violence and oppression in the modern world and the campaigns fought by people with learning difficulties and their supporters. The hope is that this exercise will not only help people with learning difficulties to access the current debate but will further develop current thinking about how to understand and tackle violence in the modern world.

地下金融经济犯罪的风险与防范

地下金融是潜伏在繁荣经济活动中的一股暗流，尽管对某些地区经济发展有一定程度的积极作用，但其中蕴合巨大的经济犯罪风险。地下金融潜在着经济犯罪风险，应从调整金融体制、加重对此类犯罪的打击和加强金融监控三个层面防范地下金融经济犯罪的风险。