四十九个命案诉讼失败的原因剖析

本文基于公安部刑侦局进行的第三次"剖析命案讲教训"活动,通过对全国各级公安机关上报的近几年四十九份诉讼失败命案卷宗的剖析得出几点教训:一是事实不清,证据不足;二是定性不准确;三是犯罪嫌疑人死亡或者有精神障碍;四是犯罪情节显著轻微,目的是切实提高命案侦办质量.     

STRUCTURAL FACTORS AND BLACK INTERRACIAL HOMICIDE: A NEW EXAMINATION OF THE CAUSAL PROCESS*

This study evaluates the assumption that deprivation among African Americans and racial inequality lead to black interracial homicide due to racial conflict and antagonism. Using refined race‐adjusted Supplemental Homicide Report data, Uniform Crime Report data and census data, we test an alternative hypothesis that draws on the macrostructural opportunity theory to assess and more accurately specify the relationship between structural characteristics and black interracial homicide. We find that first, the relationship between economic factors and black interracial homicide can be explained in large part by high rates of financially motivated crime such as robbery, and second, that economic factors are associated with financially motivated but not expressive black interracial killings. Analyses of black intraracial killings are performed for comparison purposes. Collectively, the findings suggest that conflict‐based explanations rooted in racial antagonism and frustration aggression may be premature.     

Measuring the severity of physical injury among assault and homicide victims

Criminologists seldom have attempted to measure the severity of physical injury to victims of aggravated assault and homicide, even though it is significant to many of their research efforts. Previous attempts have been neither medically accurate nor medically acceptable. In this paper the author discusses the shortcomings of these efforts and introduces an alternative method which is valid, reliable, and medically acceptable. In addition, the author discusses its applicability to research the impact of medical intervention on violent criminal assault, on factors which contribute to the severity of assaultive injury and the lethal outcome of violent assault, on specific questions regarding the patterns of offending and victimization, and on the administration of criminal justice.     

Internet mediated crimes and theoretical approaches

Purpose: in the literature, the term ‘Internet crime’ has been coined to indicate the scenario in which a victim of homicide or other crimes is met through a chat room, and lured to death at the hands of the murderer. Various criticisms have been made of this new concept, on the grounds that the outcome is no different from that of other crimes committed without the use of Web resources, and so the method used has no particular influence. Indeed, it has been claimed that informatic crime just reflects a technological change in the nature of crime rather than a new form of criminal behavior attributable to the use of the Internet for criminal purposes. Method: our reflections were prompted by our experience as expert forensic psychiatry witnesses in three cases in which the aggressors had confessed to having had an exclusively virtual relationship with the victims, in which they spent a lot of time daily in a chat room. Conclusion: this scenario offers points for reflection on the nature of Web-mediated victim–aggressor interactions, to assess the effects on the planning and commission of the crime. Discussion. it’s our opinion that there really is such a thing as Internet-correlated crime, because in this case the quality and quantity of the Internet interactions progressively altered the men’s perception of the real relationship between themself and their victims.     

The Homicide–Suicide Phenomenon: Findings of Psychological Autopsies

Homicide–suicide represents a single episode of violence which may decimate an entire family. This study aimed to further describe motives and context of these tragedies. Psychological autopsies were completed for 18 homicide–suicide cases in Dallas, Texas. This included postevent interviews with surviving family members and review of police and coroner records. Two‐thirds of perpetrators had made either verbal or written threats prior to the homicide–suicide. A simplified typology describing victim–perpetrator relationship and motive type is suggested for future studies and clinical ease. Two‐thirds of perpetrators fell into the category of Intimate‐Possessive, most of whom were depressed men who were abusing substances and undergoing separation. Additional categories included Intimate‐Ailing, Filial‐Revenge, Familial‐Psychotic, and Friend‐Psychotic. Further, implications from this psychological autopsy study regarding risk assessment include use of collateral interviews regarding threats and past violence.     

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.     

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND VIOLENCE: A SUB‐NATIONAL TEST OF INSTITUTIONAL ANOMIE THEORY*

Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory is grounded in the assumption that relatively higher crime rates in the United States are due to (1) the overwhelming influence of economic motives and institutions in society, and (2) the subjugation of all other social institutions to cultural economic interests (e.g., the American Dream). Our analysis is designed to extend the limited body of empirical research on this theory in several ways. First, we seek to test the utility of institutional anomie theory for predicting crime rates across aggregate units within the United States (counties). Second, we draw out the theory's emphasis on instrumental crime and suggest that measures of noneconomic social, political, familial, religious, and educational institutions will be particularly relevant for explaining instrumental as opposed to expressive violence. Third, in contrast to prior research, we develop conceptual reasons to expect that these factors will primarily mediate (as opposed to moderate) the relationship between economically motivating pressures and instrumental violence. Our negative binomial regression analyses of data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports and various censuses indicate that the measures of noneconomic institutions perform well in explaining both instrumental and expressive homicides, but that these measures mediate the impact of economic pressures (as measured by the Gini coefficient of family income inequality) to commit instrumental violence most strongly. Further, we find only very limited support for the more popular moderation hypothesis.     

When parents kill their young children: Detroit 1982–1986

The population of 36 parents or parent figures arrested for killing their children or charges, who were under the age of 6 years in Detroit, Michigan, between 1982 and 1986, are described in the context of their deadly acts. This profile of parent-on-child homicide includes demographic and social characteristics of offenders and victims, circumstances of offense, andarrest and court dispositions.     

Cross-national comparison of homicide: Age/sex-adjusted rates using the 1980 U.S. homicide experience as a standard

Cross-sectional studies of crime have typically relied on crude crime rates when making comparisons between countries. Crude rates control for population size but implicitly assume that all members of the population are equally at risk. Empirical studies have shown that, cross-nationally, risk varies by age and sex. Standardization of crime rates removes the confounding effects of variable age and sex population distributions. Since age/sex-specific crime rates are generally unavailable for many countries, the method of indirect standardization is the most desirable technique. Age/sex-adjusted homicide rates for 76 countries are presented, and two comparative measures are suggested. It is shown that while the United States has a higher homicide rate than all but 15 countries; in most cases, the magnitude of the difference, not controlling for age/sex differences, is overestimated. Crude rates underestimate differences between the United States and countries with higher rates of homicide.