Co-offending between criminal enterprise groups

Rather than examining networks of individuals as prior research has done, this study systematically examines the structure and composition of co-offending among types of criminal enterprise groups. Using social network analysis, the authors show that different types of crime groups tend to have unique co-offending patterns as measured by network composition and structure. The results also support the countercurrent of criminologists who suggest that ethnically derived categories may be misleading when trying to classify criminal enterprise groups.     

The organisation of London's street gangs

This article examines a grossly neglected area of the street gang literature: the nature and extent of gang organisation. Based upon fieldwork with gangs in London, UK, this article illustrates how recreation, crime, and enterprise are not specific gang ‘types’, but rather represent sequential stages in the evolutionary cycle of gangs. This article demonstrates not only how gangs typically begin life as neighbourhood-based peer groups, but also how, in response to external threats and financial commitments, gangs grow to incorporate street-level drug distribution businesses that very much resemble the multi-level marketing structure of direct-selling companies. Gang organisation, in turn, becomes a function of gang business. Gang organisation is conceptualised here on three levels: internal, external, and symbolic. This article examines, respectively, the presence of subgroups, hierarchy and leadership, incentives, rules, responsibilities, and punishments within gangs; how gangs interact with the local and larger community; and how gangs associate with symbolic elements of popular culture in order to convey reputation and achieve intimidation.     

Family history in canada

Life-cycle service was an essential institution in early-modern England that slowly died during the transition from a pre-industrial to a fully industrial economy. A socially pervasive and culturally broad movement of young people from their parental homes to live and serve in the homes of others, life-cycle service was integral to the demographic, economic, and social framework of the era and could not survive when that framework changed. This article examines the institution of life-cycle service, some of the underlying demographic, economic, and social structure that supported it, the changes in that structure that led to its demise, and the ramifications for young people of that demise. Although inevitable, the loss of life-cycle service with its broad social base denigrated service as an institution and was not without other costs especially for young women.     

Kinship,ritual kinship and political milieus in an alpine Valley in 19th century

In my paper I will present some results about ritual kinship and political mobilization of popular groups in an alpine Valley: the Val de Bagnes, in the Swiss canton of Valais. There are two major reasons to choose the Val de Bagnes for our inquiry about social networks: the existence of sharp political and social conflicts during the 18th and the 19th century and the availability of almost systematic genealogical data between 1700 and 1900.

The starting point of my research focuses on this question: what role did kinship and ritual kinship play in the political mobilization of popular groups and in the organization of competing factions? This question allows us to shed light on some other uses and meanings of ritual kinship in the local society. Was ritual kinship a significant instrument for economic cooperation? Or was it a channel for patronage or for privileged social contacts? The analysis highlights the importance of kinship and godparentage for the building of homogeneous social and political networks.

If we consider transactions between individuals, the analysis of 19th century Val de Bagnes gives the impression of quite open networks. Men and women tried to diversify their relations in order to avoid strong dependency from powerful patrons. Nevertheless, when we consider the family networks, we can notice that most relations took place in a structured social space or a specific “milieu”, were intense contacts enhanced trust, although political allegiances and social choices were not fully predictable on the basis of such preferential patterns.

In a politically conflictual society, like 19th century Bagnes, ritual kinship interacted with kinship solidarities and ideological factors shaping dense social networks mostly based on a common political orientation. Such milieus sustained the building of political factions, which show surprising stability over time. In this sense, milieus are important factors to understand political and religious polarization in 19th century Switzerland.     

A Special Youth Sanction

Under the label ‘youth sanction’ (ungdomssanktion) a new type of sentence for juvenile offenders has been enacted by a 2001 amendment to the Danish Penal Code. The study reported here is an analysis of the 55 sentences imposed over the first year. Widespread disparity and disproportionality in sentencing was found. Statutory requirements regarding the seriousness of the individual case have not in all instances been satisfactorily established. The emergence of the new sanction implies a considerable increase in the intensity of intervention. Being based on a revitalized treatment ideology, the new criminal sanction legitimizes a vast widening of the control measures directed against troubled youth, in particular such offenders who has another ethnic background than Danish. No comprehensive programme or coherent vision regarding treatment methods has been stipulated, and professionals are bewildered and in disagreement regarding such issues. Nothing indicates that the costly efforts will prove to be adequate as rehabilitative and crime preventive tools. The introduction of the youth sanction is part of a contemporary criminal policy agenda dominated by a broad political coalition with an urge to demonstrate ability and readiness to cope with juvenile street crime by employing more ‘consequent’ measures, involving tougher and swifter punishment combined with coerced rehabilitation.     

Prostitution as Vagrancy: Sweden 1923–1964

This article argues for the need of a historical perspective when discussing the construction of social and criminal state policy and legislation. The article discusses prostitution and women in prostitution as these were perceived in different commissions in Sweden during 1923–1964. During the period women in prostitution went from being characterized as ‘normal’ but a menace to society, to having hereditary deficiencies, to psychopathological and later to be seen as sociopaths. They should be corrected for the sake of the nation and society but also for their own sake. This article also shows that the conceptualization of prostitution as a question of male demand rather than female supply could be seen as early as in the 1950s. This demand of a change of policy, unheard for decades but then picked up again, has to be seen as a liberal feminist legacy rather than as a social democratic welfare development.     

Violence at Work—The Emergence of a Social Problem

This article analyses trends in violence at work on the basis of victim surveys, work-environment surveys, and press material. It proceeds from the two most common explanations of why violence at work appears to have increased over recent decades. These emphasize shifts in working conditions that have increased employees' victimization risk, and a broadened view of what is regarded as work-related violence. The empirical analyses provide support for both these explanations, and the various dimensions examined—increased reporting propensities, expanded definitions, a reduced tolerance of violence, and altered working conditions—are linked to one another.     

Social Control and Emancipation ? Ambiguities in Child Welfare

Child welfare may be regarded either as a tool used by the authorities to exercise social control over family life, or as a weapon supporting the cause of children, striving to emancipate them from both parental and societal neglect or oppression. Research into Norwegian child welfare in the period since the Second World War reveals an ambiguous picture: the intervention of the state into family life signals both tightening social control of all family members and emancipation of the less powerful from patriarchal rule. As the rights and needs of children are considered more important, the control of parents, especially the mother, is increased. The central position of children and their interests have been strengthened in child welfare legislation. However, it is not the child, but the child welfare officials who define what is 'in the best interest of the child'. Post-war development has not granted children autonomy. Child welfare legislation is still mainly paternalistic. In child welfare casework, there is a danger that the lived experience of the child never emerges from the shadows cast by the interaction between adults. In relation to older children who came in contact with child welfare primarily because of their own problem behaviour, the ambiguity of emancipation and control has taken a somewhat different shape. The authorities wanted to keep these children out of prison. Humanitarian considerations, however, have been coupled with hopes of more effective crime prevention. In the postwar years, misbehaving children were also embraced by the increasing importance of 'the best interest of the child' as the main objective in child welfare decisions. In order to secure both emancipation and control, 'the best interest of the child' and the state's interest in preventing crime had to be understood as one and the same.     

Healthy voting: The effect of self-reported health on turnout in 30 countries

Based on five rounds of European social survey (ESS), we examine both the direct and indirect effect of health, channelled by social connectedness, on turnout in 30 countries. Our analysis is the first attempt to make a comprehensive account of the magnitude of health in electoral participation. The results show that health has an effect on turnout and that it is notably larger among older people. The impact of health is partly mediated by social connectedness, which suggests that attenuated health may weaken an individual's social network which in turn depresses voting.     

Opportunity,responsibility and the market: interrogating liberal equality

This article scrutinizes the claim that liberal egalitarians are now the last real torchbearers for the principles of egalitarian reform. This claim might appear eccentric on the surface, but is increasingly common in leftist circles following the recent abandonment of such principles by formerly socialist parties. Programmes of 'social inclusion', for instance, are now widely criticized for substituting a desire to tackle economic inequalities with an incitement for us to become obedient, productive citizens. Focusing here on the claim that liberal egalitarians pose a radical alternative to this kind of discourse, I show that the real deficiencies of much liberal egalitarianism not only resemble but in many ways actually provide the sort of discourse within which parties like New Labour operate.