The Emergence of Crime Victims as a Target Group in the Swedish Social Services Act

This article examines the political motives behind the introduction of crime victim support provisions in the Swedish Social Services Act. The findings derive from a case study of the preparatory material that prefaced the legal changes that were adopted in 2001. The result shows that the explicit purpose of the provisions was to consider measures to improve the support to crime victims. To some degree the provisions can also be explained by symbolic factors. In fact, most actors in the law-making process indicate that their motives were communicative and symbolic. Support to crime victims was presumably a complicated issue for the social democratic government. Because of the economical crisis in the early 1990s, there was no scope for reforms that implied high increased costs. Yet expanding the crime victim's rights in relation to the offender, such as toughening the penal law and promoting victim impact statements, was not in line with social democratic ideology. By enacting the provisions in the Social Services Act the government demonstrated that support to crime victims was an important area of concern. At the same time, the provisions did not involve any increased costs or strengthen the crime victim's rights in relation to the offender. In this way, the provisions became a mediator that solved a difficult political dilemma for the government.     

流动人口刑事被害人及被害预防

流动人口构成犯罪被害的高危群体,因此对其进行积极有效的被害预防将对整个社会的犯罪预防和治安状况的好转起到非常重要的作用。从被害人角度看待流动人口在刑事案件中所处的角色从发,结合被害人学的相关理论和流动人口被害的实证统计,分析流动人口被害原因包括社会原因、环境原因和个人原因的基础上,这样的被害预防对策可能更有效。     

Nature and Impact of Criminal Victimization in Barbados

ABSTRACT

This article examines the nature and impact of crime through the survey of victims who reported crimes against them to the Barbados Police Force in 1998. The study shows that the victims reported serious concern about the high level of crime in Barbados. Further, the study found that concern about crime was influenced by many factors including the type of crime, age, gender, and occupation. In addition, the findings of the study pointed to physical injuries, economic cost, and emotional impacts on the victims, even though many victims underestimated the economic cost of their victimization.     

加拿大华人新移民的变迁

1980年至2001年间加拿大华人新移民,与以往的加拿大华人移民相比,呈现出明显的异质性特征。在加拿大移民史上,华人新移民的特征变迁,不仅反映了加拿大的移民政策,同时也被这些移民政策所塑造,华人新移民异质性与加拿大政府的依时性移民选择政策密切相关。另外,华人新移民的阶段性流动特征,是华人移民史上的特殊推力因素所造就的。不同的华人移民次群体之间,在社会性和人力资本方面具有多样性差异,不同的华人新移民群体的阶段性流动导致加拿大华人新移民的异质性本质。加拿大移民选择政策和华人新移民的阶段性流动,共同对加拿大华人新移民的异质性变迁产生了双重影响。     

构建刑事被害人救助机制的必要性

刑事诉讼中,犯罪人和被害人相伴而生,过去我们把人权保护的目光更多的聚焦在被告人身上,然而对遭受犯罪行为直接侵害的被害人的保护和救助,却被忽视。建立刑事被害人救助制度,不仅是对犯罪人和被害人权利平衡保护的现实需求,也是构建社会主义和谐社会的必然要求。     

重大灾害中的集体行动及类型化分析

面对繁琐复杂的灾害表层现象时,如何进一步与主流社会学理论对话,这是未来灾害社会学研究重要的议题和努力方向.通过引入集体行动视角,将灾害中的集体行动具体化为“灾区内灾民集体行动”与“灾区外志愿者集体行动”两种类型.灾民的苦痛及重建的困境越大,对灾害的解读就越倾向“人祸”因素,并通过“搜索信息行动”、“定义情境行动”和“咎责行动”,引起大量的抗争性负向集体行动,甚至威胁到政府的政治安全目标以及社会的公正和稳定性.政府应通过灾害信息的及时颁布、专家诠释等策略影响灾害情境定调取向,将灾害导向“天灾”而非政府的疏失.灾后资源缺乏并非负向集体行动产生的主要原因,更重要的是弱势群体的受灾风险偏高.灾害治理的最高境界就是通过对媒体和民间力量的监督以及公平性机制的建构,将灾害情境中的集体行动整合成救灾和灾后复原的正向行动而规避其负面风险.     

刑事附带民事诉讼对被害人救助的不足及解决路径

刑事法律制度缺乏对刑事被害人的充分关注。刑事附带民事诉讼制度并未充分发挥保障刑事被害人合法权益的作用。虽然刑事和解制度在一定程度上缓解了刑事被害人获得赔偿的问题,但囿于刑事和解的适用范围,遭受严重伤害的刑事被害人的赔偿仍存在较大困难。且在媒体报道案件的过程中,往往侧重关注犯罪人,忽略被害人,从而加大了社会大众对被害人救助的不确定性。故此,应当探索和完善刑事被害人救助制度,以形成对刑事附带民事诉讼制度的有益补充,以为将来刑事诉讼法正式确认刑事被害人的求偿权作出有益的探索。     

Victims of Sexual Violence in the Canadian Criminal Courts

The literature on victims of sexual violence in the criminal justice system has overwhelmingly pointed to the negative impact of these encounters. This research project sought to explore various aspects that might contribute to harm by conducting in-depth qualitative interviews and collecting limited quantitative data on 31 victims who had encountered various processes in the justice system. Results indicated a wide range of experiences, indicating that no interactions within the system were universally harmful or helpful. Victim experience was shaped by the attitudes and behaviors of specific people within the system demonstrating the importance each individual plays in their official capacity. In the final analysis however, victim satisfaction with the jail term was key to understanding experiences of harm.     

UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE OF VICTIM GENDER IN DEATH PENALTY CASES: THE IMPORTANCE OF VICTIM RACE,SEX‐RELATED VICTIMIZATION,AND JURY DECISION MAKING*

Using data from the Baldus, Woodworth, and Pulaski (1990) study of Georgia's death penalty system, we examine the influence of victim gender in death penalty cases. Furthermore, to improve our understanding of the meaning of victim gender, we consider 1) the joint effects of victim gender and victim race, 2) victimization characteristics that might explain victim gender effects, and 3) the impact of victim gender at different decision‐making stages in the death penalty case process. We find that both victim gender and race are associated with death sentencing outcomes and that an examination of the joint effects of victim gender and race reveals considerable differences in the likelihood of receiving a death sentence between the most disparate victim race–gender groups. In particular, it seems that black male victim cases are set apart from all others in terms of leniency afforded to defendants. We also show that the effect of victim gender is explained largely by gender differences in the sexual nature of some homicides. An examination of prosecutorial and jury decision making reveals that although victim gender has little impact on prosecutorial decisions, it has a meaningful impact on jury decisions.