Crime in Central and Eastern European Countries in the Enlarged Europe

An enlarged European Union not only means more territory and a greater population, but also more crimes and perpetrators of crimes. The European integration brings a new challenge to criminology. Comparison of crime statistics across countries is still one of the most difficult methodological problems in criminological analyses. Countries differ in respect of their penal systems and penal policies. Reporting and statistical systems are also different. How, then, can one compare crime between European countries? Can one say where it is safer or where the police work better? Can one determine what the manner of data collection should be so that it reflects reality accurately? This article concentrates on a representation of some trends of crime in Central and Eastern European countries. A main source of information about crime are official crime statistics collected according to the methodological rules worked out by the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. In the case of homicide, police data are confronted with vital statistics gathered by the World Heath Organization (WHO). The statistics on assault and robbery were compared, as much as possible, with the victimization data from the International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS). The socio-economic context of the crime, the main circumstances of the crime statistics, which affected the interpretation of the crime trends for Central and Eastern European Countries, is presented.     

Property Rights, Theft, Amnesty, and Efficiency

In this paper we show that costs associated with infractions of property rights, such as theft, can be reduced by imposing lower penalties on individuals who admit to such infractions and make restitution. We find that the socially optimal penalty on a confessed thief may be zero (complete amnesty) or even negative—a person may be given a reward for confessing a theft. This is because a thief's valuation of a good is generally lower that its valuation by its legal owner, and an amnesty permits the trade that such a difference in valuation makes calls for. It is interesting to note that the benefits of amnesties were apparently recognized in ancient times and they constitute part of Biblical Law. Moreover, such amnesties have also been informally incorporated into modern legal systems, wherein leniency (a form of partial amnesty) is generally shown to individuals who confess their infractions.     

Managing Victim Confrontation: Auto Theft and Informal Sanction Threats

Objectives. This paper explores how offenders manage the prospect of victim confrontation during auto theft. Methods. Data were drawn from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 35 active offenders recruited from the streets of a large Midwestern US city using snowball sampling methods. Results. Two contextual domains figured prominently in the offenders’ decision-making calculus: The area around the target and the target itself. The first galvanized the offenders’ attention to, and management of, informal social control. The second enjoined offenders to balance speed and stealth in breaching the target. Conclusions. Victim confrontation is an informal sanction that is distinct from both retaliation and traditional extralegal sanctions. The rarity with which it occurs in auto theft is likely due to confrontation avoidance measures offenders adopt at the front end of the offense and during the enactment process itself. The conceptual implications of victim confrontation in crime are explored in relation to the following five areas: (1) sanction celerity and present orientation; (2) sanction certainty and ambiguity aversion; (3) sanction interdependence; (4) violence avoidance; and (5) directions for future research.     

论经济情报的窃取术与反窃取术

经济情报具有重要的经济价值、生活价值、军事价值与政治价值。围绕经济情报的窃取与反窃取,猫鼠双方殊死博弈,斗智斗勇。开展刑事司法,维护经济安全,必须重视研究与处置窃取经济情报犯罪。     

存款名义人挂失领取他人钱款的行为解析

存款名义人通过身份证挂失提取他人借用本人身份证存放于本人名义下的卡内钱款的行为在学理上有侵占罪和盗窃罪两种对立的观点。行为准确定性的症结在于对存款占有以及占有支配力归属的不同理解。应当肯定的是，存款占有作为事实上的支配状态，银行享有对存款现金的事实支配，而实际持卡人和存款名义人同时享有对存款债权的事实支配，当二者发生重叠冲突时，存款名义人的支配效力大于实际持卡人，是存款债权占有的合法归属者。那么，存款名义人通过挂失提取存款的行为就属于将合法占有的他人存款债权变为非法所有，应当成立侵占罪。     

盗窃空白现金支票伪造后使用的行为定性——以周某盗窃案为例

行为人盗窃空白现金支票后，偷盖财务章和人名章并加以使用的行为定性，实践中存在一定争议，就此问题进行探索性的思考，并结合实际提出自己不成熟的见解，以期为今后的工作提供一定的参考。     

美国如何打击身份盗窃犯罪

12种身份失窃犯罪在美国是个普遍存在的问题。为使民众更好地保护自己的个人信息不受侵犯,美国贸易委员会出版了一系列的小册子,提醒民众加以预防。在美国,联邦贸易委员会希望消费者和商家更多地了解个人信息和隐私的重要性。美国公众可以随时免费获得这些宣传手册,也可以浏览联邦贸易委员会网站或者阅读该委员会的众多期刊,以获得更多的此类信息。     

论盗窃虚拟财产的定性

以非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪定性盗窃虚拟财产的行为虽然符合罪刑法定原则的要求,但该罪名不能反映犯罪目的,盗窃虚拟财产的行为也没有扰乱公共秩序,虚拟财产具有价值,也可脱离受害者的控制,并能被盗窃者实际控制,符合盗窃罪的要求,盗窃者如果具有永久性剥夺受害人虚拟财产的犯罪意图的,应该以盗窃罪追究其刑事责任,域外的实践也将盗窃虚拟财产的行为定性为盗窃罪.盗窃虚拟财产的行为也可能构成盗窃罪、侵犯通信自由罪、非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪与破坏计算机信息系统罪,属想象竞合犯.     

警察院校实习生带教难点与对策——以四川警察学院深圳实习点为例

深圳市公安局宝安区分局是四川警察学院主要实习基地。近年来,我院先后派出了四批学生到深圳实习,各方面反映良好,但仍然存在着一些问题,有待探讨和解决。在老师带教工作中,实习学生面临安全风险大、工作压力重、思想易生症结以及疾病常发等诸多问题。如何有效解决这些问题是带教工作难点。总括而言应突出重点,保安全促提高;畅通信息渠道,及时发现和处理问题;重视关怀,实行人性化带教;加强多方协调,齐抓共管。     

浅谈"亲亲相隐"入律的合理性

亲亲相隐是中国古代法一直遵循的一项基本原则,体现了中国特有的宗法制度和人伦情怀.然而及至近代,在对西法的移植过程中,中国逐渐抛弃了这种几千年来一脉相承的法律思想,严重背弃了传统和中国特有的法文化,使得一部分的立法和法律实施得不到民众的认同,长此以往,对社会主义法治势必造成负面影响,因此,"亲亲相隐"入律符合中国法律的传...