Maras Morphing: Revisiting Third Generation Gangs

Third generation street gangs are a crime and security problem in many global cities, internationally linked ethnic Diasporas, and cross-border regions where insecurity and criminal non-state actors reign. Widely known as third generation gangs (3 GEN Gangs), complex gangs operate with broad reach—often across borders—and can develop mercenary and at times political and potentially terrorist objectives. The typology of the three generations of gang evolution (based on the interaction of politicization, internationalization, and sophistication) is recounted, recent trends in transnational street and prison gangs are explored and future potentials are suggested.     

浅谈通过技防手段打击街头犯罪

近几年来,抢劫、抢夺、盗窃、诈骗等街头犯罪比较突出。遏止街头犯罪已成为公安机关面临的一项重大课题。在加大街面警力部署的同时,建立街头电视监控系统,是打击街头犯罪最为有效的途径。     

关于流浪儿童的需求及其服务模式的评估报告——对北京市未成年人救助保护中心志愿服务的评估分析

评估表明,流浪儿童在救助中心的需求是多方面的,除了吃住等需求外,他们还有心理健康需求、受教育的需求、回归与发展的需求。专业社工志愿者的介入提升了救助中心的整体服务品质,流浪儿童的心理状况得到改善,不良行为与习惯明显减少。今后应进一步完善评估体系,加强评估工作的理论建设,推动未成年人救助保护工作的制度性创新。     

论战后台湾街头运动的演化及成因

作为众多个体因共同或相似的利益诉求而采取的体制外聚合抗争与集体施压,街头运动在战后台湾经岛内外经济与社会环境变迁,以及对立面意识博弈等因素的交互作用,大致经历了从“2·28”后的沉寂到1970年代初重新萌动并迅速勃兴,至世纪之交趋于成熟等三个阶段的渐进转型,突出反映为参与主体多元化、运动策划组织化、抗争对象分散化、诉求主题民生化和手段方式理性化等发展趋势。     

Enhancing responsiveness and consistency: Comparing the collective use of discretion and discretionary room at inspectorates in England and the Netherlands

Discretion used to be considered a feature of individuals, but growing literature shows that it has collective features as well. To develop an understanding of the individual and cooperative work of inspectors in using discretion and the discretionary room granted to them, we compared two inspectorates: the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England and the Joint Inspectorate for Youth (JIY) in the Netherlands. Our analysis reveals that inspectors engage with colleagues, managers, and stakeholders to include other perspectives, gain mandate, and broaden their repertoire. At the CQC, inspectors use their discretion collectively; on their own initiative, they involve others in balancing and interpreting rules to reach judgments. At the JIY, teamwork is central and regulatory teams are granted collective discretionary room. We argue that collective work permits both responsiveness and consistency. In studying the judgments of inspectors and other street‐level bureaucrats, it is vital to look at collective work and how it combines consistency and responsiveness.     

Commercial graffiti: self-expression,the allure of danger,or graffiti made “pretty”?

The visual stylistic elements of graffiti are increasingly being used in the commercial world of advertising and marketing, as backdrops for music videos, and in merchandise and packaging. This market-oriented graffiti constitutes the mainstreaming of a subculture, that is, selling the stylistic subcultural elements as a new fad. Subsequently, commercial graffiti has been criticised for undermining the essence of real graffiti as the very aspect it seeks to oppose is now served, and in the process graffiti is robbed of its resistance identity. This article engages critically with this view by enquiring how Johannesburg commercial graffiti writers make sense of their commercial graffiti work. In a qualitative study, 11 commercial graffiti writers, who are engaged in small commercial contracts or who are freelancing for well-established consumer brands, and full-time graphic designers, were interviewed. Reoccurring themes that arose included self-expression and simplifying graffiti styles to be more accessible and “pretty” for general public consumption. Albeit in a different way, the recognition the graffiti writers gained from the public through their commercial work echoes some elements of the recognition gained through graffiti crews. Probably the most astounding finding of the study is that they felt that the commerciality of graffiti is simply a temporary phase that will eventually fade.     

DIFFERENTIAL COERCION,STREET YOUTH,AND VIOLENT CRIME*

Using a sample of 300 homeless street youths, this study examines differential coercion theory and the role that coercion and the socialpsychological deficits of anger, low self‐control, coercive modeling, coercive ideation, and control imbalances play in the generation of violent crime. Results from cross‐sectional and prospective offending models that examine the individual mediators reveal that coercion has a direct relationship with violent offending as well as a relationship that is mediated by low self‐control, anger, coercive modeling, and coercive ideation. Although control imbalances have a direct relationship with crime, they do not mediate the relationship between coercion and crime. In the cross‐sectional model that contains all the mediators, coercion, low self‐control, anger, coercive modeling, and coercive ideation are associated with crime. In the prospective model that contains all the mediators, only anger, coercive modeling, and coercive ideation remain associated with crime. Results are discussed regarding future theory development and policy implications.     

街面巡警见警率的制度分析

巡警作为警方生产街面公共秩序的主力军,提高巡警街面见警率是一种基本趋势。正如理性公民在行为选择时要考虑其行为的成本和收益,巡警及其组织在生产公共安全产品的过程中也要考虑其行为的成本和收益。因此,建立科学合理的警察绩效制度,构建一个多元化的警察绩效评估体系,是提高巡警见警率和巡警生产效用的根本保证。     

Developing regulatory standards for the concept of security in online dispute resolution systems

Online dispute resolution (ODR) has improved access to justice in the digital world. ODR users benefit from faster and cheaper dispute resolution mechanisms compared to traditional litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. There are few and quite varied regulatory systems for ODR.This research aims to develop a set of standards to measure the concept of security and to increase the consistency of security in ODR systems. An exploratory mixed method approach is used, involving a quantitative (survey) and mainly qualitative approach (face-to-face interviews) for gathering data. We identify three elements of information security, privacy, and authentication as standards for an appropriate ODR legal framework. Finally, these findings led to practical implications for policy makers and regulators.     

Culture and Formal Social Control: The Effect of the Code of the Street on Police and Court Decision-making

Objectives. Drawing on several interrelated lines of scholarship, we argue that cultural beliefs at individual and neighborhood levels may affect police and court decisions. We hypothesize that individuals who more strongly adhere to the code of the street or reside in areas where the street code culture is more strongly embraced will be more likely to be arrested and convicted, and that neighborhood-level effects will amplify the effect of street code adherence. Methods. To test these hypotheses, data from the Family and Community Health Study are examined using multilevel modeling. Results. Blacks who more strongly adhered to street code beliefs were more likely to be arrested and convicted; this effect was greater among those who resided in areas where the code of the street belief system was more entrenched. Conclusions. The findings highlight the potential usefulness of a focus on culture for understanding the exercise of formal social control.