Marriage,Cohabitation, and Crime: Differentiating Associations by Partnership Stage

A wealth of scholarship generally finds that marriage protects against crime, but there is less consistent evidence for cohabitation. In this article, we contribute to scholarship on marriage and put forward new evidence about cohabitation by examining marital and cohabiting partnerships as transitions with distinct stages of entry, stability, and dissolution. We use within-person change models with contemporary data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to analyze these stages for the full sample and separately for men and women. The findings show differential protective associations of marriage and cohabitation depending on the stage of the partnership. Both recently formed cohabiting partnerships and stable cohabiting partnerships are associated with reductions in the level of offending, although to a lesser degree than marital relationships. Cohabiting partnerships that are stable, in that they have lasted at least a year, are associated with larger decreases in offending, particularly among women.     

中国古代判词与当代刑事判决书对比研究

中国古代判词作为古代司法官员听讼断狱所制作的司法文书,反映着中国历史上的礼法文化传统。当下中国的刑事判决书改革,不仅需要借鉴国外的先进庭审制度和制判模式,而且需要从我国的本土断案决狱文化中汲取营养,把我国优秀的传统法律文化发扬光大,从而更好地推动司法改革的发展。本文首先对中国古代判词进行分类,继而从古代判词的文学性特征、道德化倾向、天理、人情和法意的兼顾、文本结构和用词的感情色彩等角度探讨了古代判词与现代刑事判决书的差异,并揭示了其对当今刑事判决书改革的启示。古代判词的这些特征不仅有利于实现古代社会的司法目的,对于中国当下的司法改革,尤其是刑事判决书改革也具有现实的参考价值。     

Referrals to a mental health criminal justice Liaison and diversion team in the North East of England

There is growing interest in the health correlates of people detained in police custody, and a number of innovations have been introduced to try to meet the complex needs of detainees. The implementation of Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion (CJL&D) Services commissioned by the Department of Health in England is a substantial part of this investment. In this paper, we describe data from 858 detainees who were referred to the CJL&D service of a busy metropolitan police station in the North East of England. The detainees referred to the service had complex mental health needs, substance misuse and a range of vulnerabilities requiring specific intervention. The effective operation of these teams and how they interface with health and criminal justice systems also depend upon a number of systematic issues that emanate both from within the teams, and from external policy drivers.     

我国刑事被告人品格证据规则之探索

近年来,我国在刑事司法领域开展一系列制度性改革,其中"和谐司法"、"认罪认罚从宽"、"恢复性司法"等缓和性司法理念与制度正在全面铺开。某些缓和性刑事政策需要被追诉方的品格加以佐证支撑,以对其人身危险性进行度量。因此了解和审查被追诉方品格因素就显得很关键。品格证据可以对被告人刑事责任承担产生较大影响。故研究品格证据,可在理论上界定品格证据含义特征,探究域外规则发展路径,归纳我国建立该规则的可行建议,完善我国证据规则体系。     

THE LANGUAGE OF STIGMATIZATION AND THE MARK OF VIOLENCE: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE ON THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF CRIMINAL RECORD STIGMA

After years of stagnation, labeling theory has recently gained new empirical support. Simultaneously, new policy initiatives have attempted to restructure criminal record stigma to reduce reintegration barriers, and subsequent recidivism, driven by labeling. For example, in a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) language policy, person‐first terms (e.g., “person with a conviction”) were substituted for crime‐first terms (e.g., “offender”). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also issued guidelines to structure how decision‐makers use criminal records. Unfortunately, little is currently known about the social construction and use of criminal record stigma or the potential effects of such policy changes. In the current study, we provide two unique empirical tests. In study 1, we examine the social construction of stigma by testing DOJ's language policy with experimental data from a nationally representative sample of American adults (N = 996). In study 2, we use a separate nationwide experiment (N = 1,540) to examine how the contextualization of criminal records influences social exclusion decisions. Across both studies, we find consistent evidence of a “mark of violence.” The public perceives that individuals with violent convictions are the most likely to commit future crimes, and it is more supportive of excluding these individuals from employment. Crime‐first terms exacerbate perceived recidivism risk for individuals with violent convictions.     

Eye Movement Characteristics of Cooperation Degree during Image Completion Test in Psychiatric Impairment AssessmentCSCD

Objective: To explore the difference of eye movement characteristics between uncooperative and cooperative subjects with mental disorder after cerebral trauma. Methods: Thirty-nine subjects which needed psychiatric impairment assessment were selected. According to the binomial forced-choice digit memory test (BFDMT), all subjects were divided into cooperative and uncooperative groups. The subjects were asked to take the image completion test from Wechsler adult intelligence scale. Meanwhile, the data of eye movement track, fixation, saccade, pupil and blink were recorded by the track system of eye movement. Results: There were significantly differences (P<0.05) in the data of saccade between cooperative (10 cases) and uncooperative groups (29 cases). The frequency, time, amplitude, acceleration of saccadic in uncooperative group were significantly higher than cooperation group. The saccade latencies of cooperation group increased more than uncooperative group. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) in total discrete distance, average distance and total time of fixation between two groups, while the average duration time, number and frequency of fixation had no significantly difference (P>0.05) between two groups. And the blink frequency of cooperation group was higher than uncooperative group. Conclusion: Eye movement can be an objective index for the primary judgment of cooperation level. © 2017 by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.     

Factors associated with desistance from violence in prison: an exploratory study

Desistance from crime has been of increasing interest within criminal justice literature, but desistance from offending behaviour whilst in custodial environments has not yet been investigated. Violence within prison establishments continues to be a significant problem; therefore, this study investigated the factors that are associated with desistance from custodial violence in 63 UK Category C adult male prisoners with a record of violence in prison. Participants completed measures of eight social and subjective factors associated with desistance in community samples. Those who had desisted from prison violence for 12 months or more showed greater levels of pro-social attitudes, agency and resilience than those who persisted in violence. Agency independently predicted desistance and this was particularly the case for younger offenders. Internal shifts appeared to be supported by a positive work environment. It is concluded that in custody an internal shift in perspective is especially important for desistance, and that this can be supported by the social environment. Opportunities to intervene may be greater in younger prisoners. It is recommended that current initiatives in developing agency and positive social interaction, such as Psychologically Informed Planned Environments, are further developed.     

Only a Matter of Time? The Role of Criminal Competence in Avoiding Arrest

While prior research has shown that the probability of detection plays a role in the decision-making of many offenders, much less is known on offenders’ relative success in avoiding arrest. In this study, we draw from detailed criminal career data on 172 offenders involved in lucrative criminal activities to examine the role of criminal competence in the probability of being arrested in a given month. We examine a particular aspect of competence, criminal efficiency, which is defined as the ability to earn a relatively large amount of money for each crime committed. Our research design allows us to disentangle the effect of criminal efficiency as a static trait of offenders from the dynamic variations in efficiency that offenders experience over time. Results show that efficiency is a strong, negative predictor of arrest, both at the static and dynamic levels.     

Health characteristics of older police custody detainees in London,UK

The number of older adults involved in the criminal justice system is rising. Little is known about the state of health in older people who are arrested. This study compared characteristics and health care needs of older police custody detainees with their younger counterparts. The health characteristics of 57 police detainees aged over 50 were compared with 543 younger detainees. Older detainees had significantly higher rates of physical illness and risk of alcohol withdrawal. Although there were equivalent rates of mental disorder and drug taking compared with younger detainees, a higher proportion had presentations consistent with cognitive impairment due to possible dementing processes. Over 80% of older detainees were recommended to have a health assessment in police stations based on their presentation. Police detainees over 50 should be considered to have a health assessment as routine procedure. Further investigation should also be conducted into cognitive impairment in this group.