Hate,Threats, and Violence. A Register Study of Persons Suspected of Hate Crime

This article focuses on individuals suspected of hate crimes with xenophobic, Islamophobic, and homophobic motives. The objective is to fill a gap in the knowledge left by existing research, which has primarily focused on victims and definitional problems. This article's genuine contribution to new research is the comparative perspective and the study of co-offending and specialization in offences for persons suspected for hate crimes. To find persons suspected for hate crimes, register data relating to hate-crime-motivated assault and unlawful threats/molestation offences from 2006 have been used. The study is based on a total of 1,910 offence reports together with information from the Registers of Suspected and Convicted Offenders for 558 persons suspected for hate crimes. Xenophobic hate crimes are over-represented in the material by comparison with homophobic and Islamophobic hate crimes. In the reports that have information about the relation between victim and perpetrators, it is more common for the perpetrators to be known than unknown to the victims. In cases where a suspected person has been identified, males are in a clear majority. Those suspected of homophobic hate crimes have the lowest mean age. Only a small number of offence reports include information on suspected co-offenders. Fifty-five per cent of the suspected people have prior registered convictions. It is very uncommon for them to be specialized in violent offences or unlawful threats/molestation, however. It is not possible to generalize the results to perpetrators of hate crimes, because 70% of the offence reports did not have information of suspected persons.     

Exposure to Property Crime as a Consequence of Poverty

This paper investigates whether and why the poor are more exposed to property crime than are the non‐poor, despite the reasonable assumption that poor people lack or have little valuable property that can be stolen. If poor people are more exposed to property crime than those who are not poor, there are needs for explanations. The paper investigates two plausible reasons: the significance of the neighbourhood character and routine activities. The results in the paper indicates that poor people are more exposed to property crimes related to the residence, independent of neighbourhood character and routine activities, while exposure to property crimes related to vehicles depends more on the family situation and age than on poverty per se. When it comes to other kinds of property crime, poor people do not seem to be more exposed than do the nonpoor. That poor people are more exposed to property crime related to their residence, and that there are problem areas explaining why, is worrisome. Those who are poor are often vulnerable to other social problems that tend to exclude them from ordinary living patterns. To find out the relation between poverty and exposure to property crimes related to residence is of importance for crime prevention and probably an important step to prevent those who are poor from being further excluded from society.     

网络涉腐舆情的监督优势及科学化管理

网络涉腐舆情的形成是一个动态过程,具有敏感诱发性、随意偶发性、主观猜测性、虚拟隐匿性等特点,表达了民众对公权公正、廉洁的政治诉求。网络涉腐舆情具有高效高质监督、保护参与个体安全等优势,同时也存在网络暴力倾向、规范性合法性不足等问题。要加强网络反腐的法律法规建设,逐步建立政府及时回应机制和政府、网络与传统媒体的合作机制,完善网络涉腐舆情信息工作体系,加强对网民和网站的培育监督,以实现对网络涉腐舆情的科学化管理。     

职务犯罪轻刑化现象反思

职务犯罪轻刑化成为普遍现象,引起社会广泛关注.职务犯罪轻刑化主要表现为立案起点高,自首适用标准宽泛,缓、免刑率高及刑罚执行不严格.这一现象成因包括对该类犯罪的认识不到位、官本位文化的影响、因取证难使得自首情节适用率高、审判人员被干扰及枉法裁判、执行阶段标准控制不严等.遏制职务犯罪轻刑化路径要强化对职务犯罪立案及侦查过程的监督、强化用量刑建议权对审判的监督、落实上下两级人民检察院对案件第一审判决同步审查机制及加强对刑罚执行阶段的监督等.     

The International Criminal Court and the Darfur crimes: The dilemma of peace and supra-national criminal justice

ABSTRACT

The supra-national criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur raises critical legal and conceptual issues. This article addresses the dilemma of peace, justice and reconciliation from a legal perspective, as well as the justice options that are available. The article also assesses the Sudan's criminal and military laws (both at the substantive and procedural levels) in terms of the country's ability to prosecute international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In this respect, the article argues that these laws fall short of international criminal law standards and principles – particularly the amendments introduced after the United Nations Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the ICC. The article critically examines the Sudan government's policy of non-engagement, which ultimately led to supra-national criminal prosecution (represented by the ICC intervention under the complementarity principle of the Rome Statute). Finally, the article interrogates the report issued by the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of its recommendations.     

Contextualising the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Darfur

ABSTRACT

This article argues for a thorough contextual analysis based on understanding local, regional and international politico-economic linkages in the Sudan, in order to ground prospects of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) doctrine in the ongoing crisis in Darfur. The R2P framework was crystallised by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) in 2001. It was adapted and subsequently endorsed by United Nations (UN) member states during the 2005 UN World Summit. The R2P ostensibly provides normative benchmarks on how states should respond to the quadruple human rights violations of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Indeed, there is debate on whether the prevailing crisis in Darfur constitutes a test case for the application of the R2P. However, such debate is misplaced on two grounds: first, it glosses over the inherent conceptual deficiencies of the R2P, as presently constituted. More importantly, such debate is primarily inspired by reactionary and externalising influences based on past international failings, like Rwanda (1994) and Bosnia (1993). Hence, it is argued that the starting point of analysing the Darfur crisis should be a thorough investigation of how local, regional and international politico-economic factors have historically worked in an orchestrated fashion to trigger and sustain the crisis in the Sudan. Knowledge and an understanding of such historical specificity is a requisite for determining the relevance of the R2P in Darfur. The R2P, as presently constituted and practised, does not address this gap.     

Reconstruction and reparations: Lessons from China and the Pan-African world

Abstract

This article addresses the role of the university and institutions of higher learning in carrying out the mandate of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), held in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The active contribution of the university is anticipated in Article 98 of the Programme of Action published in the Report of the World Conference (2001), which clearly states:

We emphasize the importance and necessity of teaching about the facts and truth of the history of humankind from antiquity to the recent past, as well as of teaching about the facts and truth of the history, causes, nature and consequences of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, with a view to achieving a comprehensive and objective cognizance of the tragedies of the past.     

Ethnic Origins and the Disposition of Delinquents in Israel

Theoretical considerations lead to the hypothesis that the dispositions of juvenile cases affecting Oriental Jews will be harsher than those affecting European Jews in Israel. Further, that Arab juveniles will be dealt with more harshly than will either European or Oriental Jews. Analysis of official delinquency data reveals that this is the tendency. However, the authoritarian structure of the Arab community rather than prejudice explains the difference in handling Jewish or Arabic cases.     

Environmental crime prosecutions in Ireland, 2004–2014

Despite increased interest in environmental crime and green criminology, few studies address the use of criminal penalties in response to environmental crimes. A handful of published examples employ data from the United States or the Flanders court system, and little is known about how other nations punish environmental violations. Addressing this issue, the current study examined the use of criminal environmental penalties in Ireland from 2004 to 2014. Few criminal environmental cases (N = 147) and few environmental offenders (N = 154) were represented in these data over time. Consistent with the expectations of green/environmental crime researchers, mean penalties for environmental violations, which in Ireland only include fines and investigative cost recovery penalties, were rather small. Unlike in the US or Flanders, the majority of offenders were corporate offenders as opposed to individuals. Contextual factors related to Ireland’s economy, history and use of criminal sanctions should be used to interpret these factors, and prevent generalising from these data.     

高校微课研究现状及相关问题探究

微课作为一种新的学习理念,以其＂小、实、新、快＂的特点,迅速成为高校教育教学改革的新路径。目前,国内对微课的研究主要集中在微课的概念与特征、微课的设计与开发,以及微课的应用研究等问题,尚处于起步阶段,在学科视野、研究视角、研究内容、研究对象以及研究方法等方面还存在不足。下一阶段,关于微课的研究应重视和加强对其基础理论、教学模式、教师专业发展与学生学习,以及新技术在微课中的应用等宏观性、潜在性问题的探讨。