I consider the supply-side of corruption in the context of international bribery, which I define as firms bribing public officials abroad. I present the Bribe Payers Corruption Index (BPCI), a non-perception-based measure of cross-border corruption coherent with a simple analytical framework based on an important distinction: that between the propensities to corrupt and observed levels of corruption. The BPCI is compared with a widely known indicator of the supply-side of corruption, Transparency International’s Bribe Payers Index (TI-BPI), which I demonstrate to be flawed. Whereas according to the TI-BPI firms from corrupt countries are more likely to bribe abroad, the opposite emerges when the BPCI is considered. I explain and discuss such results, the implications of which are framed within the global discourse on the supply-side of international corruption.
The Prüm network was established to provide mechanisms and the infrastructure to achieve a closer cooperation between the EU member states in combating terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration through the cross border exchange of DNA profiles, fingerprints and vehicle registration data. While Prüm offers clear benefits for cross-border policing, it continues to present challenges of a technical and scientific nature as well as legal, ethical and socioeconomic concerns. This article reviews these challenges as well as the existing safeguards. It argues that, in order to achieve Prüm benefits and maximise its potential, it is important to enhance the necessary dialogue and cooperation between member states so as to confront the above concerns and address challenges posed by Prüm through balanced measures.
The empirical evidence on the process-based model of self-regulation shows that procedural justice evaluations and the perceived legitimacy of authorities impact law-abiding behavior. However, few studies analyze this theory from the perspective of adolescent legal socialization. The present study aims to examine the process-based model and other socializing agents such as family, school and peers that may have an effect on it. The sample comprised 2041 youths residing in Spain, aged between 13 and 18 years. The data form part of the Third International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-3). Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to predict police legitimacy and juvenile delinquency. The results reveal that police legitimacy perceptions are not only influenced by procedural justice, but also by parental monitoring, school attachment, and delinquent peers. Moreover, perceptions of police legitimacy, parental monitoring, and delinquent peers predict juvenile delinquency. These findings complement and add new explanatory factors to the process-based model.
Decision-making processes are increasingly based on intelligence gained from ‘big data’, i.e., extensive but complex datasets. This evolution of analyzing complex data using methods aimed at prediction is also emerging within the field of quantitative criminology. In the context of crime analysis, the large amount of crime data available can be considered an example of big data, which could inform us about current and upcoming crime trends and patterns. A recent development in the analysis of this kind of data is predictive policing, which uses advanced statistical methods to make the most of these data to gain useable new insights and information, allowing police services to predict and anticipate future crime events. This article presents the results of a literature review, supplemented with key informant interviews, to give insight into what predictive policing is, how it can be used and implemented to anticipate crime, and what is known about its effectiveness. It also gives an overview of the currently known applications of predictive policing and their main characteristics.
The illegal trade in endangered plants damages both the environment and local communities by threatening and destroying numerous species and important natural resources. There is very little research which systematically addresses this issue by identifying specific opportunities for crime. This article presents the results of an interdisciplinary study which brings together criminological and conservation science expertise to identify criminal opportunities in the illegal wild plant trade and suggest strategies in order to prevent and mitigate the problem. Methodologically, the study adapts a crime proofing of legislation approach to the UN Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is based on documentary and interview data. Situational crime prevention is used as a framework to provide points for effective intervention.
Which opportunities due to digitization are exploited by criminals? And how do criminals gather the required ICT-expertise to take advantage of these opportunities? This exploratory study provides insight into criminals seeking ICT-expertise by analyzing five Dutch cases. This paper shows that criminals seeking ICT-expertise take advantage of companies and employees in the ICT-sector that act in a gray area. It is noteworthy that the initial contact of criminals seeking ICT-expertise is often immediately directed to criminal collaboration. In these cases, ‘capacity’ is more important than ‘contact’. Furthermore, this paper discusses the role of forums for criminals seeking ICT-expertise. Criminals take advantage of the transfer of knowledge on forums and the existence of crimeware-as-a-service. Finally, this study falsifies the statement that there is a clear division between traditional offender groups taking advantage of the possibilities arising from ICT, and crime groups operating exclusively online. In practice, there are many connections between online and offline activities.
Article 34 of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence obliges signatory states to criminalize stalking. This article provides an inventory of criminal anti-stalking legislation in the 28 EU Member States in order to see whether they live up to this obligation. Although the number of Member States with dedicated legislation has increased significantly (n = 21) there are some questionable trends, such as the proliferation of criminal provisions which require the victim to have experienced fear or distress or an inclusion of an exhaustive list of stalking tactics. Although the states are not in evident violation of article 34 their perception of what constitutes stalking sometimes deviates from the intentions of the Convention.
Stalking, which is a form of interpersonal violence, has been increasing and has a significant impact on affected victims. However, despite established scientific consensus, the juridical–legal system, specifically in Europe, is still extremely asymmetric. Portugal, compelled by scientific data and the Istanbul Convention, was the most recent country to approve specific legislation against stalking. In this critical review, we describe the previous national situation and provide examples from other countries to elucidate the trajectory of the recent criminalisation process, analyse the existing legal content and reflect upon the implications and challenges associated with this legal progression.
Using an assisted desistance framework, this paper explores the lived experiences of 11 volunteers on the Community Based Health and First Aid programme, which operates in 14 prisons across Ireland and aims to enhance community health, hygiene awareness and first aid knowledge among prisoners through peer-to-peer education. The findings suggest that participation fostered a sense of agency among volunteers and facilitated the development of a new non-criminal self, centred on the ‘wounded healer’ identity. Additionally, participation appeared to deepen volunteers’ pro-social bonds with other prisoners, staff and families. The contribution of these findings to knowledge about desistance and desistance-focused practice is considered.
The FATF requires each country to undertake a national risk assessment (NRA) to show the government’s knowledge of money laundering risks. There is little guidance as to how these NRAs are to be conducted, and those that have been published show great variation in terms of data used, analytical methods, and the depth of policy analysis. After expounding some of the concepts basic to any risk analysis, we analyze two of the more detailed published NRAs, from Italy and Switzerland. The Italian NRA, focused on domestic criminal threats, relies almost exclusively on expert opinion. Its most distinctive product is an analysis of the high-threat sectors and the need for specific kinds of policy interventions. The Swiss NRA, focused primarily on threats from other countries, presents far more quantitative data, almost exclusively from suspicious activity reports, to supplement expert opinion. Though both NRAs provide useful insights about money laundering risks, neither is conceptually clear; in particular, neither reflects contemporary practice in the use of expert opinion. Our critique is aimed at helping strengthen the next round of NRAs, and identifies lessons learned for all countries. Our recommendations include the use of risk assessment standards from other fields, the addition of a measure of uncertainty, and a more critical assessment by FATF in its NRA evaluations.
Knowledge about trafficking in human beings has several implications for various social service and justice professionals. The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge of social service and justice professionals regarding the characterization of this phenomenon and anti-trafficking policies in Portugal. Four hundred and forty-six social service and justice professionals completed an online Human Trafficking Knowledge survey. The results revealed that Portuguese professionals have, in general, a good level of knowledge about trafficking in human beings, revealing higher-level scores for issues, such as trafficking in human beings’ idiosyncrasies and purposes in Portugal, trafficker profiles, criminal behaviour, victim profiles and victimization dynamics. On the other hand, participants scored lower in trafficking in human being’s trajectories and specificities within Portugal. This knowledge appeared to be influenced by variables, such as professional experience, previous contact with trafficking and training in trafficking in human beings. National policies must promote professional formal training about trafficking in human beings in different areas.
Online hate is becoming a growing public concern, but so far, the phenomenon has not been studied from the perspective of fear of crime. This study examined why some people are disquieted more by hateful online content than others. The data consist of Finnish participants (n = 1726) between 15 and 30 years old. The main analysis focused on participants who had seen online hate content during the past 3 months. The feeling of being disturbed by this type of material is, in this article, operationalized with the concept of disquiet referring to a feeling of anxiety or uneasiness. The findings, based on ordinary least-squares regression analysis (OLS), show that the intensity of such negative experiences was stronger for women, immigrants, and those who had faced previous online and offline victimization. Risk-takers were less likely to be disquieted by online hate. In addition, those worrying about becoming online hate victims were more disquieted by online hate than others. The findings emphasize that online hate content may have a strong impact on those who are already in a vulnerable position. Overall, the study supports the idea that online and offline worlds are not two separate realities but rather coexisting dimensions of one social sphere.
Previous research demonstrated that children who had been exposed to physical maltreatment by parents are at higher risk of using violence as adolescents. It is assumed that parental violence unfolds negative influences on later delinquency directly and indirectly, that is, mediated through other crime predictors. This contribution presents an empirical test of theoretical propositions explaining this cycle of violence derived from three major theories, namely social learning, self-control and social control/bonding theory. Using data from 26 countries of the ISRD3 study, the mediating roles of delinquent peer association, crime-related moral values, self-control as well as family and school bonds among juveniles of grades 7 to 9 are assessed. Moreover, with exploratory intent, it is tested if the same mediating effects apply to each country. Overall the results showed both a significant direct effect of maltreatment on the use of violence and indirect (mediating) effects via each of the considered mediators. Delinquent peer association, self-control and family bonds had higher mediational strength than moral values and school bonds. This is in support of the theoretical assumptions of all three theories. Further, great variability of direct, indirect and total effects of maltreatment on violence across countries and within each mediator were observed. There is tentative evidence that the prevalence rates of maltreatment are negatively associated with the impact of maltreatment on later violence in the considered countries.
Current money laundering policies often rely on the same prescribed instruments for many business sectors. For ‘risk based’ policies, however, it is important to know in which business sectors money laundering risks are relatively higher. This paper builds upon work conducted as part of Identifying and Assessing the Risk of Money Laundering in Europe (IARM) project and focuses on money laundering risk assessment in the Netherlands. In this paper, we discuss theoretically and empirically how these risks can be estimated and we present results based on data regarding business sectors in the Netherlands. The used risk factors include data on organised crime investments, beneficial owners, and confidential information from the Dutch Tax Office on anomalies in tax declarations by companies. Our results indicate that casinos, hotels, and the art and entertainment sector have the highest money laundering risks in the Netherlands.
Two National Risk Assessments (NRA) of money laundering (ML) have now been published in the United Kingdom (see HM Treasury 2015 and 2017). While both represent an attempt to identify the risks of ML, there are limitations in relation to the conceptual framework and the methodology used. This paper reviews the UK NRAs and considers whether revision of the methodology employed could help to both remedy these limitations and generate more robust findings. Drawing upon the findings of the UK strand of project Identifying and Assessing the Risk of Money Laundering in Europe (IARM), it outlines how a composite ML risk indicator was developed through analysis of threats and vulnerabilities across 43 police areas. The findings demonstrate that risks are highest in the City of London and the Metropolitan Police area, which is largely explained by the presence of organised crime groups, connections to risky jurisdictions and the cash intensity of businesses. Although the findings should be treated with caution, it is posited that this methodology could be used to help future NRAs develop a more robust framework to understand ML risk and ultimately develop more effective preventative strategies.
Despite significant effort devoted to developing and testing treatments for substance use disorders (SUD), most individuals who receive treatment in the United States (USA) do not receive evidence-based care. In this article, we summarize the emerging body of descriptive research that focuses on the question of why SUD treatment programs in the USA do not use evidence-based treatments (EBT) more and highlight initiatives that have shown promise as ways to facilitate their use. Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) as a guide, we provide an overview of how various factors promote or inhibit the use of evidence-based treatments in SUD treatment settings in the USA. We then discuss how promising approaches to facilitate the use of EBT build upon many CFIR concepts and constructs. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the USA experience with EBT implementation for non-Western nations as they develop SUD services, highlighting three main lessons learned: (1) historical and cultural factors impact EBT implementation; (2) studies that test both clinical effectiveness and implementation outcomes can enhance implementation; and (3) multilevel implementation approaches may have greater impact than strategies that address just one level of change (e.g., individuals, organizations, systems).
U.S. drug policy has sometimes implicitly — and incorrectly — assumed that all drug-related harm is caused by drug use, so reducing drug use necessarily reduces drug harm proportionately. Instead, drug policy should try to reduce the sum of both harms incident to drug consumption — including harms to users as well as harms to others — and policy-generated harm in the form of illicit markets, enforcement costs, and increased harmfulness of drug-taking due to controls. A strict prohibition can meet these criteria when it succeeds in keeping illicit markets “thin” and consumption very low. However, promulgating wise policies toward “thick” markets with widespread consumption necessarily involves trade-offs among competing objectives. Recent U.S. history illustrates both the futility of trying to control already “thick” markets using very long prison sentences for dealers (as in the cocaine market) and the risks of allowing “thin” markets to “thicken” by neglecting regulatory and enforcement efforts as prevalence starts to rise (as in the market for prescription opioids).
Growing recognition of the biological underpinnings of substance use disorders (SUDs) has led to increased acceptance of pharmacotherapy-based treatments for general populations and, more recently, for individuals under criminal justice supervision, including those in correctional settings. This paper focuses on pharmacotherapies that have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder. For alcohol use disorder, these medications are disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate; for opioid use disorder, these are methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. Promising pharmacotherapies for stimulant use disorder are also briefly summarized. The paper concludes with three “lessons learned,” specifically: (1) treatment and policy should reflect the fact that substance misuse and addiction is a medical disorder, (2) interventions for SUDs should be integrated into primary care, and (3) reductions in substance use among pharmacotherapy-treated patients do not necessarily lead to concomitant reductions in crime (nor should this be the primary rationale for providing such treatment).
A large body of research clearly demonstrates that adolescents use technology to a staggering degree and that they are one of the main groups that are vulnerable to online victimization. However, the study of cyber-stalking, which is a form of cyber-harassment victimization, has been limited to the adult population and has resulted in some controversy regarding whether fear is a definitional criterion for this phenomenon. In Portugal, the study of cyber-stalking among adolescents is limited, as it is not yet a target of scientific research, public politics or social attention. The current study assessed the cyber-stalking victimization of 627 Portuguese adolescents (12- to 16-years-old). The prevalence of victimization, the cyber-victim’s profile, cyber-stalking dynamics, the cyber-stalker’s profile, parental cyber-involvement and adolescents fear reporting were analysed. The majority of the current sample admitted to having been the victim of cyber-stalking at some point in their life, and nearly half of the adolescents reported experiencing fear after the victimization. A logistic regression model was developed to predict fear reporting. Consistent with previous research, the results indicated that fear is strongly associated with female victims and shed light on the self-perception of online risk and a number of parental involvement practices. Being the target of 1) messages of exaggerated affection, 2) persistent cyber-stalking or 3) older cyber-stalkers was also associated with fear. These results underscore the importance of understanding fear as a complex emotion that results from the interaction of different variables. Thus, it is critical to adopt fear as a key criterion of the cyber-stalking definition. Implications for social, educational, political and judicial practices are also discussed.
The present research adopts a multiple informant approach to identify victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying. Similar approaches have been successfully applied in the field of traditional bullying, and they are highly relevant for studying cyberbullying as well. Three informants can provide key perspectives on cyberbullying incidents: victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. To collect data on these actors, all eighth-grade students in 11 secondary schools were invited to participate in a survey. In total 1458 respondents completed peer-nomination questions on cyberbullying involvement. The results indicated that the prevalence of cyberbullying varied depending on the type of informants that was consulted. In addition, limited overlap was observed between the reports of different informants, resulting in different profiles of victims and perpetrators, depending on the informants that identified them. In sum, different informants tended to have divergent views on cyberbullying, which has important implications. It warrants accurate reporting and critical reflection on the sources of data in cyberbullying research. Moreover, it demonstrates the need to study a more diverse set of informants to advance the understanding of cyberbullying and to enhance prevention efforts.
Based on survey data of 348 lawyers in Fujian, this study empirically tests how lawyers' political embeddedness (i.e., lawyers' bureaucratic, instrumental, and/or affective ties to the courts and prosecutors) has impacted upon their defense practices in criminal trials and their pursuit of liberal values. Our data reveal that politically embedded lawyers report more (not fewer) difficulties in practice (e.g., in requesting witness testimony in court, requesting new evidence, and requesting new evaluations and investigations of the case). Clients are more satisfied with representation by politically non-embedded lawyers than lawyers who are embedded. Using statistical evidence, this paper analyzes potential reasons and draws out the implications.
The use of Cornish’s crime-scripts approach in situational crime prevention grows apace. However, we believe the conceptual foundation of cognitive scripts imported from Abelson and colleagues was rather unclear and is too narrow to support current script research. We therefore review the notion of scripts to both promote clarity and better connect it to mainstream situational prevention and criminology more generally. We also seek to broaden the approach by exploring additional cross-disciplinary links. We believe all this will support the progressively more demanding uses to which the procedural analysis of crime may be put in research and practice and—more broadly—challenge how human behaviour in crime is analysed.
Cyberbullying, the harassment of others via new technologies, is a growing phenomenon with important consequences for its victims. Despite the growing interest in this new form of violence, only a few longitudinal studies have analyzed the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and psychological problems, such as depression, in adolescents. Furthermore, the mechanisms through which cyberbullying victimization contributes to the development of depressive symptoms remain almost unexplored. The current study assesses whether cyberbullying victimization predicts the increase in depressive symptoms over time and the role of body image and cognitive schemas in the association between cyberbullying victimization and depression. We hypothesized that victims of cyberbullying would develop a negative body image, the belief that others would hurt them and that they were defective to some degree, and that, as a consequence of these cognitions, they would increase their symptoms of depression. A sample of 1015 adolescents (mean age = 15.43, SD = 1.09) completed measures of depressive symptoms at three waves (T1, T2, and T3) spaced 6 months apart, measures of body image and cognitive schemas at T1 and T2, and measures of CB victimization at T1. Findings indicated that CB victimization at T1 predicted a worsening of body image and cognitive schemas of mistrust and defectiveness at T2, and those changes in cognitions predicted in turn an increase in depressive symptoms from T2 to T3. Gender differences were also examined. The model was very similar for boys and girls. However, changes in body image acted as a mediator between CB victimization and depression only in girls. Therefore, this study contributes to clarifying the cognitive mechanisms involved in the development of depression among victims of CB. These findings suggest that intervention programs with victims of CB should address the cognitions that are relevant for the development of depression.
Uniformed presence is commonly thought to create feelings of safety in people. However, do differently uniformed people contribute to an equal amount of safety and are there situation-dependent differences? The present study examined the association between various types of uniformed presence and people’s feelings of safety through a questionnaire among 352 respondents (18–86 years) (49.1 % women). The questionnaire contained pictures of situations perceived as relatively safe and unsafe with or without uniformed presence. The respondents estimated how safe they thought they would feel in these situations with no uniformed presence, two police officers, six police officers, a police vehicle, two security guards, or two police volunteers. Results showed that uniformed presence did not increase feelings of safety in a situation perceived as relatively safe, making patrol unnecessary. In situations perceived as relatively unsafe however, all types of uniformed presence increased feelings of safety. Foot patrolling police contributed to the greatest increase in feelings of safety. Security guards and police volunteers created similar amounts of feelings of safety making police volunteers a cost-effective alternative. All types of foot patrol were better than vehicle patrol, making non-police groups an alternative to vehicle patrol. Some situational, gender, and age differences were found.
The logics of the European Union’s policy and practices against narcotic drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have undergone a substantial shift the past decade: from development to security. Based on an empirical mapping of the EU’s drug-related projects in LAC, this article argues that an ‘integrated and balanced’ approach to drugs policy is being replaced by a bifurcation between the broader domains of development policy and security policy. Questions are raised as to how the EU’s projects on development and security might counteract one another, and how the Union’s programme aimed at dismantling transnational organized crime along the cocaine trafficking routes to Europe might have unintended consequences. While keeping in mind the shifting tectonics of the international drug prohibition consensus, the article goes on to analyze the increasingly salient security rationale in EU external drugs policy against the backdrop of the EU’s emerging role as a global security actor. In doing so, it touches upon the intrinsic tensions between human rights and (supra) national security.
In September 2008 the Governor of Pennsylvania, USA, imposed a moratorium on all parole (early conditional) releases from the state prisons, which lasted until March 2009. As a political measure, the moratorium was triggered by a series of violent incidents involving recently released parolees culminating with the killings of several police officers. This paper documents the impact of the moratorium on the parole and correctional processes in the state and discusses its implications for the legitimacy of the two justice agencies affected, the Board of Parole and the Department of Corrections. The paper also describes the research undertaking of the team tasked with conducting the comprehensive review of parole and corrections at the Governor’s request, which circumscribed the lifting of the moratorium on the results of the investigation. In addition to qualitative data, the study employed quantitative methods to investigate through predictive analyses both parole decisions and parolee performance upon release. The challenges of conducting action research in the “spotlight” are also highlighted. The nature of the study and its setting in a large state in the United States should provide a useful illustration of problems and potential approaches to dealing with them that similar crime prevention tasks may face in other jurisdictions around the world relying on conditional release as a means of prison release.
This article explores the mechanisms that underpin human smuggling and trafficking. It argues for the continued analytical relevance of the distinction between “trafficking” and “smuggling”, as posited by the 2000 UN Protocols. While this distinction has come under sustained criticism from several authors over the last 15 years, it nonetheless continues to capture the essential features of two distinct phenomena (control over a human being vs. illegal entry into a country), and acknowledges the role of agency in smuggling. The paper goes on to discuss three different scenarios that may emerge as a result of the interplay between smugglers and smuggled persons, and it specifies the role of exploitation in each scenario. In addition, the paper offers empirical evidence of the key building blocks of smuggling — namely the search for reliable information and the reaching of an agreement in regard to the service offered — and of how smuggling can turn into trafficking. This work concludes by drawing out the relevant policy implications.
Supply reduction efforts by drug law enforcement departments are a significant factor in improving the effectiveness of drug control policies. The performance of drug law enforcement departments is one of the most important concerns for policy makers. Therefore, improving the performance of these departments is crucial in order for governments to constrict illegal drug markets and prevent illegal drug distribution. The literature suggests that social capital may have significant impacts on organizational performance. Using survey data from 12 city law enforcement departments in Turkey, this study examines the effects of three social capital dimensions (structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions) on the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments by using structural equation modeling. The results of this conceptually grounded and empirical study suggest that drug law enforcement departments should pay close attention to promoting social capital among officers in order to fight effectively against drug trafficking.
Social order and security depend on mutual cooperation between the police and the public. Since the majority of crime is not detected by the police itself, informal control is needed to ensure order in society. This article aims to describe the circumstances under which people´s willingness to cooperate with the police is enhanced. Recent studies show that public compliance and cooperation with authorities who carry out criminal proceedings are linked with the extent to which people perceive these authorities as trustworthy and legitimate. Importantly, trust in police procedural fairness leads to the perception that institutions of justice are legitimate, which in turn enhances people´s willingness to cooperate with them in order to fight crime and disorder. This normative perspective is supported in many European countries. However, evidence exists that instrumental judgements, which focus on one´s self-interest and on outcomes of the justice system, could also be important in some countries. Drawing on procedural justice theory, we examine the importance of normative and instrumental factors in eliciting people´s readiness to help the police fight crime in four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and Poland. While the procedural justice pattern, i.e. the normative perspective, holds well in the Czech Republic and Hungary, in other analysed countries trust in police effectiveness or fear of crime, i.e. instrumental judgements, are relevant too.
Substance abuse is viewed as one of the main factors (criminogenic needs) to be assessed and targeted in prison. Prison assessments of risk and needs are known to validly predict reoffending. However, there seems to be lacking research in how reliably the individual prisoner’s problems, such as substance abuse, are represented in the assessments. In this study, we compare an independent medical health study (N = 510) with in-prison assessments for the same persons to see whether some of the inmates’ substance abuse disorders were overlooked in prison. We found that sentence plans (257) were in poor agreement with the health study (Kappa 0.315); they recognized only 65 % of all diagnoses. The risk and needs assessments (178) were in closer agreement with the health study, however, alcoholism diagnoses were recognized less accurately (Kappa 0.519) and less frequently (78 %) than drug diagnoses (Kappa 0.627, 87 %). The main factors predicting an assessment of substance abuse risks in prison, analysed through logistic regression were: longer stay in prison and one or more dependence diagnoses. We conclude that, a number of potentially criminogenic dependence problems remain unrecognized since some groups of prisoners are either completely left out from the more thorough instrument, the risk-and-needs assessment, or are not assessed thoroughly enough. This puts prisoners in unequal positions, since all interventions in prison are based on assessments. The study alerts us of the selectiveness of prisoner assessments in practical settings; the unrecognition of problems of shorter sentenced prisoners and prisoners with alcohol dependence.
The advancement of information and communication technologies opens new venues and ways for cybercriminals to commit crime. There are several different types of cybercrime offences that need to be treated in a separate and different manner. The major international source that provides guidelines for treatment of cybercrime is the Convention on Cybercrime adopted by the Council of Europe and the European Commission Action Plan. The purpose of the paper is to present, discuss and analyze the Macedonian legislation treating cybercrime, with respect to the specific cases typically encountered in practice and the international guidelines concerning cybercrime. The major source of cybercrime legislation in Macedonia is the Criminal Code with provisions thereof in ten of its articles; it addresses cybercrimes such as personal data abuse, copyright and piracy issues, production and distribution of child pornography, computer viruses, intrusions into computer systems, computer fraud and computer forgery. We also present and analyze reports on cybercrime complaints and victims from Macedonia, issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The reports reveal the unusually high number of complaints for perpetrators and victims originating from Macedonia. Furthermore, we highlight several recent cybercrime cases reported in Macedonia. All things considered, the Macedonian penal legislation is modern and it follows the current European and world standards. It provides guidelines for successful resolution of cybercrime committed in the Republic of Macedonia. However, it could be improved by a more active inclusion of Macedonian authorities in the global response to cybercrime and by stronger enforcement of cybercrime prevention measures and strategies.
This article presents findings of the research by Nelen, Peters and Vanderhallen (2013b) regarding cross-border police cooperation in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. These findings are scrutinised in light of the conceptual framework of inter-organisational conflict (Scott, Austral Social Work 58:132–141, 2005) to provide an enhanced and more in-depth analysis of the possibilities and difficulties in international police cooperation. Potential conflict between cooperating organisations is identified by five levels of analysis: (i) inter-organisational; (ii) intra-organisational; (iii) inter-professional; (iv) interpersonal and (v) intra-personal. Obstacles for international police cooperation are mainly found at the inter-organisational level and interpersonal level. Particularly, the Euroregional police organisations and their case management systems are ill attuned, creating conflict in cooperation. The article concludes with the potential benefits for further police cooperation in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion which are identified through the analysis and provides feedback on the conceptual framework.
Studies have shown the impact of a population’s age structure on the crime rate. Germany is — like many other industrialized countries — facing an ageing of its population. This trend will continue in the future: Until the year 2020 the share of younger people aged 14 to 24 years will decrease from 12.3 % to 10.7 % and the share of elderly persons aged 60 years and older will increase from 25.9 % to 30.1 %. Crime is, however, not only influenced by age, other factors also play an important role. Research has shown that the level of social disorganization is especially related to the crime rate. The aim of the present contribution is to explain the crime trends between 1995 and 2010 using multivariate panel estimators that take into account the demographic changes and social disorganization. These models are in a second step used to forecast the crime trends until the year 2020. The data base consists of pooled time-series at the county level from four German states (Bavaria, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt). The results show that the age structure plays only a limited role in explaining the past crime trends. The most important factor is residential instability. The forecasts expect a decline of the number of registered offences till 2020. However, the decline will be faster in the eastern states than in the western states and some offences are expected to increase in the future.
Moving from the spread of organized crime within the European Union and the need for a common response by Member States, in this article the author addresses the use of non-conviction based confiscation in the European Union as a tool to fight crime. In particular, after defining and understanding the peculiarities of this provision, its dissemination among national legislations is considered, as well as the attempts at harmonising them at a European level. Following on from this, numerous other issues are taken into consideration and discussed: the legitimacy of non-conviction based confiscation, its usefulness and the problems arising from the legislative divergences within the European Union among others. With this preliminary background, the author finally considers the Directive 2014/42/EU of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime. Not only is the final text analysed, but also the previous legislative steps, including the original proposal of the European Commission, launched in March, 2012, the amendments suggested by the European Parliament and the Compromise Text agreed upon, at the end of the discussions (the ‘trilogues’) between Parliament, Council and Commission.
Despite the significant emphasis given to the trafficking of Brazilians to the sex industry of the Iberian Peninsula, the concepts of “victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation” used in these three countries vary. This article analyses the positions of Brazil, Spain and Portugal regarding the conceptualisation of “trafficking victim,” focusing on their legislation and policies, as well as on relevant narratives which show how these policies are being applied. It showcases how the incompatible definitions being used compromise genuine anti-trafficking actions and may be an indicator that stopping trafficking may not be the primary concern of the policies developed by these governments.
Criminal appeal is an important step in any criminal justice system, as it guarantees criminal defendants’ right to appeal and serves a critical function in correcting potential errors from the trial courts. Though decisions of national and/or state supreme courts draw more media and public attention given their preeminent status, decisions by appellate courts at lower levels are far more numerous and are often the last resort for the vast majority of litigants and for the vast majority of contested legal issues (Cross 2003; Williams 1991).
As a unique component of the criminal justice system, the practice of criminal appeals varies greatly from one jurisdiction to another. The majority of studies on criminal appeals reflected such diversity. For instance, many studies debated over the review power and scope of criminal appeals (e.g., the feasibility and practicality of factual review, modification of trial court sentences) (Burr 1971; Orfield 1936; Rickey 1978; Shapiro 1939
This paper aims to assess the relative importance of the principal ‘solvability factors’ in detecting metal crime on the national rail network in England and Wales. It uses British Transport Police data for 4001 metal theft offences committed between 2009 and 2010. Seven main types of metal theft and 12 solvability factors were identified, which include, in order of importance, scrap metal dealer checks, covert police activities, vehicle registration checks, forensic evidence and witnessed offences. The likelihood of detection depended on number of factors present and their effect sizes, with the significant solvability factors accounting for 64 % of variation in detection outcomes. Number of solvability factors available in the case was a significant predictor of solvability with each additional factor boosting detection odds five times. There were notable, countrywide spatial variations in detection rates, some of which reflected solvability differences, while differences in investigative practice are also likely to have played a role. The study provides information for case screening procedures that would improve the cost-effectiveness of metal theft investigations by ensuring resources are directed at the more easily solved cases, not allocating resources to cases which are unlikely to be solved, and by ‘triaging’ lines of enquiry.
An extensive body of literature exists on sex work and prostitution, covering a variety of topics. The relation between prostitution and the informal economy, however, has not been widely studied. This article aims to contribute to this under-researched domain. Furthermore, it empirically contributes to the current topical policy debate on prostitution by offering insights into the perceptions of prostitutes and other stakeholders in the prostitution business and policy towards it in Ghent, Belgium. The empirical results draw on a qualitative research design, using a combination of semi-structured interviews with prostitutes, policymakers and social workers, document analyses and dossier analyses. These methods indicate that although sexual exploitation exists, prostitution can certainly not, by definition, be equated with exploitation, coercion or male domination. Furthermore, in contradiction to the current mainstream European point of view, no support was offered by the respondents for the criminalisation of clients. However, no full consensus was found regarding legalisation and regularisation of prostitution and its related activities. As different stakeholders have varying interests and preferences, more broad empirical research is needed to identify all their needs.
Predictive mapping of crime and anti-social behaviour is becoming more and more popular as a tool to support police and policy makers. Important ingredients of such models are often demographic and economic characteristics of the area. Since those are hard to influence, we propose to use the environment instead. In this paper, we present a model based on environmental criminology theories that is purely based on the buildings and objects in the neighborhood, such as bars, restaurants and parks. We show the strength and predictive power of this approach on the area of The Hague and Delft and present how the results can be interpreted by policy makers.
Criminological studies of contextual effects on adolescent offending have focused either on residential areas (considering effects of characteristics like disadvantage and collective efficacy) or on school characteristics (studying effects of organisation and social climate, for example). However, adolescents are simultaneously exposed to multiple contexts, and the influence of these contexts on their lives should be studied simultaneously rather than separately. The principal subject of this contribution lies in analysing to which extent there is unique neighbourhood level variation and unique school level variation in adolescent offending, and in two major and stable correlates of adolescent offending, morality and low self-control. Data are used from the Study of Peers, Activities and Neighbourhoods (SPAN), with 612 adolescents in various schools and neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. The results show that there is no unique neighbourhood level variance anymore after controlling for unique school level variance, while some variation at the school level still remains with regard to self-control and morality.
Recent research has highlighted how deeply pet trafficking has been affected by the use of the Internet, to the point that it can be conceived as a hybrid market that combines both traditional and new social and economic opportunity structures. However, more must be learned about the extent to which the social organization of pet trafficking has changed due to the Internet, since the dynamics of relationships within and between criminal networks, as well as between criminal networks and non-offenders, matter as a potential object of intervention to counter this criminal activity. By focusing on the online market in animals for the Italian pet industry, this contribution offers an examination of the criminal structures and modus operandi of actors involved, using a socio-organizational level of analysis. It is based on case studies analysis and observational research carried out on cyber-hotspots for pet trafficking. These sources were used to identify and chart criminal networks, techniques, and social practices surrounding online sales. They were complemented by seven in-depth interviews with Italian law-enforcement officers and acknowledged experts from NGOs. The results offer empirical evidence for interpreting the impact of the Internet on the social organization of pet trafficking, thus providing a more complete understanding of how criminal actors behave in cyberspace.
Parrots are one of the most threatened bird species in the world, partly due to the illegal parrot trade. Previous research has attempted to explain why some parrot species are more likely to be poached for illicit markets, though these studies suffer from a small sample size or focus on a singular illicit market. Whether these past findings are generalizable to other markets in other countries remains unknown. Using two recent conservation studies that examine illicit pet markets in seven cities within Peru and Bolivia (Gastanaga et al., Bird Conservational International, 1–10, 2010; Herrera and Hennessey, Tundra to Tropics, 232–234, 2008), this study applies the CRAVED model (Clarke, London: Home Office, 1999) to identify which factors are able to explain poaching variation of species. Findings show that the more concealable, available, abundant, and disposable species are poached more often. Enjoyable, removable, and valuable species were not found to be significantly related with poaching. Implications of these findings are discussed.
This article examines the evolution of prison populations in Western Europe from 1982 to 2011 and its relation with recorded crime trends in the region. Data are taken mainly from the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics in the case of prison statistics and the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics in the case of police and conviction statistics, both complemented with the Nordic Criminal Statistics and Eurostat Crime Statistics. The results show that prison populations rates (stock) rose constantly until 2005 and seem relatively stable since then. On the contrary, the annual flow of entries into penal institutions has decreased almost continuously since 1987. This apparent paradox is explained by the fact that the average length of detention has steadily increased during the whole period under study. In brief, less people are sent to prison each year, but they remain in prison for longer periods of time. The upward trend in the average length of detention is related to the development of tough on crime policies across Western Europe and to the increase of drug offences and non-lethal violent crime until the mid-2000s. In that context, an analysis by offence shows similar trends in police, conviction, and prison statistics. These results falsify the hypothesis of total independence between crime trends and imprisonment rates. They also suggest that the deterrent effect of imprisonment has often been overestimated, and they cast a shadow on the validity of criminological theories that place property as the main cause of crime.
Previous research examining the illegal wildlife market has primarily centered on actor- or stage-based approaches. Recent research has highlighted the value of examining the unique characteristics that make wildlife products suitable targets. Specifically, these studies have examined the concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable, disposable (CRAVED) nature of wildlife hot products, particularly during the initial taking or poaching stage. However, these characteristics are not necessarily static and can change throughout the course of a product’s progression through the illicit market. Depending on the stage, the specific elements of CRAVED may also fluctuate in relevance and importance. In this paper, we examine the utility of the CRAVED model in examining wildlife products of their progression through illegal markets. We argue that although the model is useful in examining specific aspects of the illegal wildlife market, it may be limited in its ability to account for the unique characteristics and nuances of wildlife products. Due to this we introduce a new framework we refer to as concealable, available, processable, transferrable, useable, removable, enjoyable, desirable (CAPTURED) that adapts and extends the original CRAVED model. We discuss the potential utility of the CAPTURED model in examining illegal wildlife market, as well as implications of the new framework for theory and policy.
Research on IUU fishing has identified the importance of ports of convenience as facilitators of IUU fishing activities. These types of ports allow IUU fishing vessels to offload their illegal catch undetected and transfer it via other methods to target destinations and into international markets. No study to date has explained what port characteristics make them attractive to IUU fishing vessels. Applying the risky facilities framework, this study empirically tests ports’ traits that facilitate vessel entry and offloading of illegal catch. A total of 120 ports visited by IUU fishing vessels are studied for measures of regulation of behavior and degree of enforcement activity occurring within their jurisdiction. Additionally, country-level characteristics are examined. Policy recommendations are devised to inform change in place management practices and to discourage IUU fishing activities.
The concept of collective efficacy, defined as the combination of mutual trust and willingness to act for the common good, has received widespread attention in the field of criminology. Collective efficacy is linked to, among other outcomes, violent crime, disorder, and fear of crime. The concept has been applied to geographical units ranging from below one hundred up to several thousand residents on average. In this paper key informant- and focus group interview transcripts from four Swedish neighborhoods are examined to explore whether different sizes of geographical units of analysis are equally important for collective efficacy. The four studied neighborhoods are divided into micro-neighborhoods (N=12) and micro-places (N=59) for analysis. The results show that neighborhoods appear to be too large to capture the social mechanism of collective efficacy which rather takes place at smaller units of geography. The findings are compared to survey responses on collective efficacy (N=597) which yield an indication in the same direction through comparison of ICC-values and AIC model fit employing unconditional two-level models in HLM 6.
Through analyzing school shooting threats, this article exemplifies how new information and communication technologies (ICTs) associate with crime and their investigation. The empirical data set consists of the preliminary investigation reports of Finnish school shooting threats (n=40) investigated as crimes during 2010. A descriptive classification focusing on the suspects’ age, gender, and the police investigations of threats was conducted. It was found that ICT and conventional threats differentiated to a small degree from each other; however, police reacted more strictly to ICT threats. To explain this finding, a more elaborate qualitative analysis was conducted, focusing on threat details and motivation, ending in a data-driven typology of the threats. Despite the similarities, it was found that ICT threats were more often deliberate while conventional threats were more often impulsive. However, the deliberateness connected with intention to fulfill the threatened act was presented in only one single case, while in the remaining cases, the suspects’ intention was to gain something personally. This difference might have been one of the reasons for the stricter reaction by the police. To further test this, future research on the role of ICT in school shooting threats and other crimes is encouraged.
This article presents the results of an international survey of treatment programmes for drug and alcohol abusing offenders throughout the European Union. Questionnaires on 86 programmes were collected from 27 EU countries. They captured data about programme design, delivery, administration, infrastructure and other features. Most programmes targeted any level of substance abuse. We observed many types of treatment modality across Europe. There was a preference for cognitive behavioural and non-behavioural programmes over pharmacological treatments and therapeutic communities. Governments provided the funding for almost all the programmes. Practitioners noted that maintaining client motivation was central to realising effective treatment delivery. Most respondents indicated that some basic process evaluation data were gathered to help maintain treatment fidelity. However, methodologically sound outcome evaluations of programme effectiveness were rare. The findings reveal discrepancies between routine practice and the results of international evaluation research. They clearly underline the need to integrate evaluation into routine practice and for greater use of evidence-based policies across the continent.
Hawaladars, like employees from regular financial institutions, can come into contact with criminal money. The important question is: How do they deal with those situations? Regular financial institutions have introduced all manner of due diligence to lessen such risks and comply with anti-money-laundering regulations. However, it is less clear what precautions hawaladars have taken. If they knowingly handle criminal proceeds, they are guilty of money-laundering offences. If they unknowingly handle criminal proceeds, it becomes important to increase their awareness about such possibilities. To make better informed statements about any involvement of hawaladars in the transfer of criminal money, for this article, police files were studied in which hawaladars facilitated criminal clients. This results in two outcomes: First, seven “red flags” regarding transactions involving criminal clients were identified. These are subjective indicators a hawaladar could use to identify criminal transactions. Second, with these red flags in hand, it can be determined whether hawaladars in police files could reasonably be found guilty of money laundering. Ultimately, these results could contribute to identifying the possibilities and impossibilities of formal financial supervision of the hawala sector.
Drawing on information taken from a recent Transcrime report on “Mafia Investments”, this article discusses the following topics: 1) the expansion of Italian mafias in Italy; 2) their criminal activities and related revenues; 3) how and where mafias invest these revenues. Going beyond the Transcrime report, this article will conclude by considering the changes in mafia business that may open the way to more effective policies against organized crime in the future.
This article uses empirical data from the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor to give empirical insight into the choices organized crime offenders make when they invest their money in legal economy. Using a dataset of 1196 individual investments, light is shed on what kind of assets offenders purchase and where these assets are located. The results are used to assess the tenability of different theoretical perspectives and assumptions that are present in the literature on money laundering and organized crime: the standard economic approach (‘profit’), the criminal infiltration approach (‘power’) and social opportunity structure (‘proximity’). The results of this study show that offenders predominantly invest in their country of origin or in their country of residence and that their investments consist of tangible, familiar assets such as residences and other real estate and (small) companies from well-known sectors. Investments such as bonds, options, and stocks in companies in which offenders are not personally (or indirectly) involved, such as stocks in companies noted on the stock exchange, were only found in a small number of cases. In other words: offenders usually stay close to home with their investments. So, instead of profitability or power, proximity seems to be a better description of their investment choices.
This article summarises briefly what is known internationally about how ‘organised crimes’ are financed and how this differs from the financing of licit businesses. It shows how illicit financing might and does operate, noting that a key issue is the social capital of offenders and their access to illicit finance which ironically, may be easier if controls make it harder to launder money. It then reviews international evidence on how proceeds of crime are laundered, concluding with an examination of the implications of these observations for the study of organised crime and the effects of anti-money laundering efforts. In money laundering cases internationally, the most commonly prosecuted cases are not complicated. This is not evidence that there are no complicated cases, since the proportion of crime proceeds and crime financing that have been subjected to serious investigation is modest. There is a core contradiction between general economic policy pushed hard multilaterally for liberalisation of financial flows and a crime control policy intent on hampering them. No-one could rationally think that AML controls in general or financial investigation in particular will ‘solve’ organised crime completely or eliminate high-level offending: for there even to be a chance to achieve that, there would need to be a step change in transparency and effective action against high-level corruption along all possible supply chains. However more action (not just legislation) on these could facilitate interventions against the more harmful individuals, networks and crime enablers. The less complex financial activities of local drug-dealing gangs can be intervened against, without needing international cooperation or familiarity with sophisticated money laundering typologies.
The Web 2.0 technology introduced dynamic web mapping, which in turn has dramatically changed the distribution and use of geographical information in our society. Some of the many advantages of online mapping include the fast information dissemination to the public, the interactivity between the users and the map interface, as well as the frequent and easy database updates. However, the theme of these maps may entail privacy risks at times. Such examples include the crime mapping initiatives where crime information is considered as private and sensitive. With respect to privacy disclosure risks, this study employs a survey design to investigate the public’s perception of location privacy when information about crimes is being displayed on public maps. Participants from the London Borough of Camden were recruited and their views were analysed by means of a questionnaire accompanied by mapping material (n = 201). Participants expressed a clear concern when practical implications related to the crime maps were revealed to them. Further, the majority of participants, if given the choice, would opt for a medium-risk protection method in terms of risk of privacy violation. Lastly, in regards to the impact that different visualizations may have on local crime perception the study revealed that the current police.uk cartographic technique creates the perception of more unsafe neighbourhoods than an alternative hot routes density map.
This research provides an exploration of the role of the Soviet legacy in the practice of pretrial detention in Armenia. Research employed a theoretical framework of historical institutionalism to interpret the results of qualitative analysis of 36 semistructured, in-depth interviews with judges, police investigators and other stakeholders conducted in the summer of 2011. The examination of pretrial detention practices has indicated the existence of punitiveness, lack of judicial independence, and other integral components of the Soviet criminal justice system. Moreover, it seems that newly introduced institutions have been adapted for maintaining the legacy of the Soviet Supreme Court. It was evident that the criminal justice institutions were still steeped in the practices and norms from the Soviet era. The continuity of the institutional arrangements is quite perplexing given the overwhelming nature of the breakdown of the society after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The perspectives of historical institutionalism offer a theoretical explanation of the persistence of various facets of Soviet institutional legacy in the practice of pretrial detention. Despite the collapse of authoritarianism and the adoption of a new domestic legislative framework, Soviet legacy affects pretrial detention practices in Armenia.
This study is concerned with describing the employment history of prisoners. Past labour market performance is a major predictor of later performances. Yet, the substantial field of reentry research paid little attention to pre-prison employment patterns and the magnitudes of labour market disadvantage that prisoners already face prior to their imprisonment. Using data on nearly 2000 Dutch prisoners and a representative sample of the Dutch labour force, we find that underemployment is a longstanding feature of prisoners’ working lives. Starting with a low educational attainment, their subsequent employment career is characterized by long periods of unemployment, “off-the-books” employment, dismissals and job shifts. This results in a marginalized labour market position prior to imprisonment. The findings emphasize that the labour market (re)integration of ex-prisoners is a pressing social and public policy challenge, and stress the importance of skill attainment and work experience among high-risk groups.
Erratum to: Eur J Crim Policy Res (2014)
DOI 10.1007/s10610-013-9216-4
Since publication of this paper, the affiliation of the author Dae-Hyun Choe has changed. The new affiliation is Konkuk University with address 268 Chungwon-Daero, Chungju, 380-701, South Korea. The new contact e-mail address is dhchoe@kku.ac.kr.
In addition, the author's given name should be Dae-Hyun (i.e. Dae-Hyun Choe).
Football hooliganism is an undesirable but widespread phenomenon. In this contribution, a range of measures to combat hooliganism in the Netherlands is evaluated. We use (logistic) multi-level models to analyze data on hooliganism from the Dutch Football Vandalism Information Office covering 3431 matches in the period 2006–2011. We controlled rigorously for (un)observed heterogeneity between matches and for differences in expected risk over time. Football matches played early during the day and in daylight are less likely to witness incidents of hooliganism than matches played at a later time and in darkness. The politically sensitive mandatory transport measure decreases the risk of incidents as well. On the other hand, we could not find any evidence for the effectiveness of the mandatory home-match cards or mandatory away-match cards. An alcohol prohibition within the stadium causes a waterbed effect, increasing incidents outside the stadium.
The international policy currently adopted to combat the growing phenomenon of trafficking in human beings (THB) is victim centred. The policy intends to fully address this phenomenon, focusing on victim protection as well as preventing and criminalising such conduct. In Spain, efforts are underway to achieve internationally established standards. However, the research we present here shows how much work remains to be done, particularly in trafficking cases that are less well known, such as trafficking for exploiting victims in criminal activities. Our research aimed to better understand the processes of trafficking for criminal exploitation and to determine whether the criminal justice system is prepared to detect and protect victims of such processes. The qualitative study we developed investigates cases of 45 migrant women held in two Spanish prisons and evidences that there are individuals victimised in the highest degree. At least ten respondents had been victims of trafficking, and not only were they not identified as such by legal authorities, they were also imprisoned for a crime that their traffickers forced them to commit.
There is ample evidence that imprisonment deteriorates the income and housing situation of former prisoners. Little is known about the degree to which income and housing of (former) prisoners deteriorates during imprisonment. The objective of this article is to give a more detailed description of the changing income situation and housing situation during imprisonment by describing income and housing of (former) prisoners directly before and directly after imprisonment. To this end we make use of data on the entire population of prisoners who were released from Dutch prisons during the second half of 2008. Our results show that prisoners are characterised by a considerably problematic profile with regard to income and housing both before and after imprisonment. The income and housing situation of prisoners is worse directly after imprisonment than directly before imprisonment.
This article centres on the hypothesis that human trafficking for sexual exploitation is not only an organised crime activity, but a crime of relational nature as well. Therefore this study explores the relationships that exist between suspects and victims of sex trafficking, and examines to what extent the nature of sex trafficking has parallels with domestic violence. The study is based on an analysis of 12 police investigations into sex trafficking related to window prostitution in the Amsterdam red-light district in the period 2006–2010. The findings suggest that there are intimate relationships between traffickers and victims, and that these relationships display various characteristics of domestic violence. Aside from intimidation, control and violence, factors such as affection and attachment contribute to the persistency of these relationships. This empirical study shows the theoretical and practical importance of focusing on the relational aspects of sex trafficking and the use of domestic violence knowledge to help identify trafficking situations, as well as for the prosecution of cases and to provide assistance to victims.
In recent years, the research on crime and place has switched from the analysis of large or middle level administrative areas to the study of micro units of places such as addresses, street segments or clusters of micro units of geography (Weisburd et al. 2009; Ratcliffe 2010). In this new framework, a growing number of studies have focused attention on micro-places, which can be considered as generators or attractors of crime opportunities, in order to understand which are the places that can induce people to commit crime or attract people who are most likely to commit crimes. Recognising the peculiar characteristics of these different hot spots of criminality is necessary to carry out efficient contrast measures and specific prevention policies.
Do Bus Stops Increase Crime Opportunities? places itself in this branch of research by analysing the possible relationship between bus stops and crime in Newark, New Jersey. The development of crime generators and attractors around mass transi ...
The present article deals with the phenomenon of willful destruction of cultural heritage during armed conflicts: more particularly, the article focuses on the Balkan region, a zone that many conflicts ravaged along the centuries, and more specifically, during the Balkan wars, using two iconic cases of destruction of cultural heritage during the above-mentioned conflict: on one hand, the destruction of the Vijecnica in Sarajevo; on the other, the shelling of Dubrovnik, a case that gave rise to the prosecution and judgments of Pavle Strugar and Miodrag Jokic, among others, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Using official reports, journalistic accounts, and documents from the ICTY and the Global Heritage Fund, the article assesses how even though there is no shortage of instruments (international tribunals) and policies (both local, national and international) to prevent cultural destruction during war times, in the case of the Balkans, these fall short of reaching their objective, and lack of funding and other motives block effective restoration of the damaged cultural heritage. Also, there is no effective law enforcement and punishment for these crimes, denying thus a deterring effect for the perpetrators. All these problems are further enhanced due to the lack of consensus and research on the criminal categorization of the destruction of cultural property during wartimes.
The present article examines why Swedes cooperate with the police using the framework of the procedural justice theory. This theory assumes that trust in procedural justice and in the effectiveness of the police are important issues in shaping citizens’ perceptions of police legitimacy. Additionally, perceived legitimacy is necessary for the recognition of police authority. When citizens recognize the right of the police to exercise authority, they are assumed to feel an obligation to obey the police, and ultimately they will have a greater tendency to cooperate with them. Because of the ongoing discussion about the meaning and conceptualization of the concept of ‘legitimacy’, some additional ideas are described and are also taken into account in the model that we tested. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to do the analysis, which was conducted on data available from the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 5. The results indicate that trust in the procedural justice of the police plays an important role in the explanation of citizens’ willingness to cooperate with the police through perceptions of moral alignment and feelings of obligation to obey the police. However, there is still a high percentage of individual variance in willingness to cooperate with the police that cannot be explained by the model we tested. The implications of the findings are discussed.
Partly due to the illegal parrot trade, parrots are one of the most threatened bird species in the world. Trade bans and regulatory schemes have already been implemented, but the illegal parrot trade continues in an unsustainable fashion. Criminological research in the field has begun to understand why certain species are more prone to becoming poached, but not much is known about how illicit markets operate. A prior case study of a Bolivian illicit market found that most poached parrots are found within a 100-mile radius of the market (Pires and Clarke British Journal of Criminology, 51, 314–335, 2011). However, it is unclear if all markets operate in the same local way. Using two recent studies that look at illicit pet markets in seven cities within Peru and Bolivia (Gastanaga et al. Bird Conservational International, 1–10, 2010; Herrera and Hennessey Proceedings of the Fourth International Partners in Flight Conference: Tundra to Tropics, 232–234, 2008), this study investigates if illicit parrot markets fit a standard model. Findings from this study reveal that markets are heterogeneous. Furthermore, a substantial part of the illegal parrot trade involves trafficking species from one market to another and these species are suspected of emanating from just two city markets. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Starting in the 1970s, the Netherlands developed a regulatory regime for narcotic drugs by distinguishing between hashish and marihuana (“soft drugs”) and other drugs (“hard drugs”). The authorities decided to cease prosecuting the possession of consumer quantities of the former type and to allow the sale of soft drugs at “coffee shops”. However, they did little to control the activities of coffee shop operators, whereas the supply of soft drugs to the shops remained illegal. In this paper, we review the ongoing debate on the soft drug policy in the Netherlands and analyze it from the perspective of the regulation of illegal markets.
Mention of Finland, like many other northern European countries, is largely absent from discussions of the global trafficking of cultural objects. However, its proximity to the Russian Federation (historically a source of looted objects such as Orthodox icons and other religious art), as well as its apparent attractiveness as a route of transit, at least for the legal market in cultural objects, suggest that focus on Finland would be a valuable exercise in understanding the wider transnational movement of cultural objects, within the Baltic and Nordic regions and beyond. Indeed, the lack of any import regulation for cultural objects entering Finland, along with its pivotal role as a ‘hard border’ nation of the European Union and Schengen Area, suggest an ‘invisible’ problem, as yet under-researched and under-recorded. This paper aims to initiate discussion of the roles of seemingly unassuming nations within the backdrop of a regional and international context.
The illicit trade in antiquities from conflict zones is clandestine and politicised and it very likely involves violent, organised criminals, including paramilitaries and terrorists; so reliable, detailed information is extraordinarily difficult to access. Nonetheless, open-source data may provide clues to the structure of the market. This article reviews the development of the Cypriot antiquities trade until the outbreak of the civil war in 1963, through the cultural heritage crisis that accompanied that conflict until the coup and invasion of 1974. Then, adapting an established method for studying the scale of a small, undisturbed illicit market, it gauges communities’ participation in looting during the civil war in Cyprus. It does so by analysing the find-spot and acquisition date information in collections of antiquities recovered before and during conflict, and cross-referencing them with demographic and historical information in order to identify the communities from which the looters probably came. It uses this crude categorical method in order to assess ethnically-based narratives of looting and trading in illicit antiquities. The evidence suggests that: before the conflict, there was no correlation between community and looting; during the civil war, due to economic and geopolitical factors, members of Turkish Cypriot communities were disproportionately involved in looting; at the same time, members of Greek Cypriot communities were far more involved in looting than has previously been recognised; Greek Cypriot archaeologists have misinterpreted the structure of the trade and consequently contributed to communalist policies and nationalist histories; and the antiquities policy of the Republic of Cyprus was one of the significant causes of the developments in the trade.
In 2012 two men were lynched in Bolivia, first because there is an illicit market for Bolivian cultural objects, and second because a small, poor community turned to desperate measures to protect themselves from that illicit market due to the failings of national and international regulation. This paper is a case study of the reality of source-end regulation of an international criminal market in a developing country. I will discuss what is known about thefts from Bolivian churches, the international market for items stolen from these churches, and how such thefts are meant to be prevented on-the ground. Following this, I will present lynching in Bolivia as the most severe community response to the issues created by local politics, ineffectual policing, unenforceable laws, and a history of oppressive racism. I will conclude with a discussion of what we can reasonably hope to accomplish with source-end regulation.
It is becoming common to read that antiquities without a provenance stretching back to before the 1970 adoption by UNESCO of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property are increasingly difficult to sell because of customer concerns over possible illicit trade in the past and reduced resale prices in the future. This paper proposes the term autoregulation to describe the phenomenon, and presents the results of several quantitative analyses designed to investigate its action.
It has been widely opined in discussions around a number of transnational criminal markets that where a global economic supply and demand relationship exists, demand reduction by way of consumer education and ‘awareness-raising’ may be an effective intervention in reducing illicit trade. It seems an obvious and sensible suggestion on the face of it, but just how amenable are consumers to being educated away from purchasing illicitly obtained and trafficked goods, and what are the barriers that stand in the way of that process of demand reduction through awareness-raising? This paper approaches these questions by asking what are the conditions for guilt-free consumption in the international trade in illicit cultural objects. The paper identifies seven such conditions, and concludes that in this global market we are witnessing the playing out of a common social story in which a powerful group of market capitalists and end-consumers employs a range of sociologically developed linguistic and performative strategies to obfuscate or legitimise their exploitation of a group of less powerful victims. If that is the context for the so-called debate about illicit antiquities, crime-reduction strategies involving consumer education seem considerably more difficult to achieve than has been widely recognised in policy discussions on transnational crime.
My paper proposes an ethnographical perspective of the clandestine trade in antiquities in Mali by showing on one side the social organization (techniques, hierarchies, trade chains) of farmers-diggers; on the other side, by analyzing the rhetorics of illegality driven by officially-mandated cultural heritage policies. In particular the paper stresses the function of visuality in the construction of ‘illegal’ subjects and iconographies of ‘plunder’ circulated through national and international press. It shows that such an iconic power of images does befog self-representations of farmers-diggers (risk, courage, loneliness) which constitute the ethical cosmos of digging activities. In such a perspective, the debate over the looting of archaeological objects has become a reiterative product of national rhetorics of legality and illegality opposed to narratives of self-representations of marginality and heroization produced by ‘illegal’ actors.
There is a generally accepted belief that a well publicised prosecution, which results in the conviction of the offenders will deter crime by sending out a ‘clear message’ to those intending to offend. Those who seek to enforce the legal protection of antiquities and archaeological sites will often decry the number of prosecutions brought, and urge a more aggressive prosecution policy against looters and traffickers in antiquities. However a prosecution may not always produce the anticipated outcome of deterrence. In this article a lawyer examines a recent high profile operation undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Land Management against looters and traffickers in the south west of the United States for breaches of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and its outcome. It will begin with a short consideration of the context in which the prosecutions were brought: the scale of looting in the area; the difficulties facing those who have to enforce the law; the legal and historical background, and the belief of many in the area that they have a right to dig for artefacts and to collect or sell them. It will then consider ‘Operation Cerberus Action’ and its consequences in some detail, drawing on contemporaneous newspaper accounts and blog comments to illustrate that a prosecution, even where it results in conviction of all the defendants, may be counterproductive, serving only to entrench existing attitudes rather than encouraging behavioural change in intending looters and traffickers.
The papers in this special issue offer different theoretical and empirical considerations in relation to the transnational traffic in cultural objects. They are the result of a call for papers sent out by Trafficking Culture, an ERC-funded initiative that gathers and analyses evidence on the scale and nature of the global trade in looted cultural objects. More details on the topic are available on our website at traffickingculture.org. We would like to express our thanks to the journal for inviting us to organise this special issue, and to the editorial team who have worked with us in the process, especially Ernesto Savona and Giulia Berlusconi. In this introduction to the volume, we will set out some of the parameters and background to the current criminal justice debate on looting and traffic of cultural objects, while drawing out some common themes in the papers which follow.
Cultural objects are objects whose monetary value derives from their cultu ...
Airborne illicit arms traffickers from the former Soviet space are resourceful and adaptable international criminals who have built complex air trafficking networks by successfully cultivating strategic connections in a number of geographically distant states. This paper examines the airborne arms trafficking operations of networks from former Soviet states which transfer weapons and ammunition to areas of conflict in Africa, embargoed African states, or those descending into conflict. As such, these arms traffickers brazenly circumvent international regulations by obscuring their air cargo operations and securing impunity through subornation, fraud, and exploitation of lax regulations. Importantly, they rely on strategic connections in former Soviet states for a steady supply of arms, on states such as UAE for relaxed oversight and free trade zones for transit, product warehousing, and laundering of proceeds, and on carefully-cultivated connections with “big men” and/or local fixers in African states for speedy delivery and payment.
Several insurgent groups have financed their arms procurement through drug trafficking, explaining in part the long duration of conflicts in drug producing countries. Incomes generated from this trade do not however automatically translate into improved military capabilities, since access to military-grade weapons typically requires tacit or active state support. Hence, two groups with similar types of funding can still have access to very different types of armaments, impacting their operational capability. This paper compares the arms procurement of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Myanmar. Both insurgent groups have procured arms through networks and with finances from the drug trade. The UWSA's 20,000-strong force and significant armaments, including Man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) believed to be provided by China, is largely supported by these illicit activities and the networks they provide. FARC has ample access to small arms, the acquisition of which has been financed by taxation of the drug trade. In spite of significant incomes, FARC however until very recently lacked access to MANPADS, a fact which has significantly hampered its ability to withstand the Colombian counterinsurgency campaign, specifically targeted aerial assaults. The exploratory comparisons drawn in this paper offer insights into how insurgent groups can pass a crucial threshold of arms procurement, funded by illicit activities, that renders their dissolution far more difficult, while also highlighting the continued importance of state support in explaining rebel group resilience.
Research on crime guns has traditionally focused on the time-to-crime measure. This study shifts the focus to guns that entered the illegal firearm market through thefts. This subset of guns allows us to examine the same process and objective underlying the time-to-crime measure—that being the recovery process. Two new measures are proposed. The first, time-to-find, assesses the time span between a gun’s theft and seizure by police. The second, distance-to-recovery, introduces a spatial dimension to the crime gun repertoire by measuring the distance a firearm travels between its points of theft and seizure. Using a mix of national (Canada) and provincial (Quebec) data on crime guns, this study’s findings show that these two new measures are tapping into a unique phenomenon: whereas time-to-crime accounts for a gun’s complete lifecycle, time-to-find and distance-to-recovery reflect a gun’s criminal lifecycle. At the multivariate level, the most influential factor explaining both time-to-find and distance-to-recovery is the registration status of the gun. Non-registered crime guns took longer to find and traveled lengthier distances between the moments and points of theft and seizure. Our explanation for this is that non-registered guns may be stolen from sources that are more problematic to begin with and, thus, result in the gun’s transition toward a segment of the illegal market that is also more problematic and in demand than the pool of firearms represented by registered guns. This would embed the firearm more deeply into the illegal market, making it more difficult to retrieve and more likely to be dispersed across a wider geographical plane than guns which are registered to begin with.
Most conventional approaches to the study of arms trafficking are grounded on the assumption that people are rational and always seek the most cost-effective means to achieve a goal. This article discusses the illicit firearms markets in the Balkans and the North Caucasus—the regions in which trafficking of illicit firearms has been flourishing since the early 1990s. By studying the demand side of this illicit market, it provides some possible explanations as to why numerous arms reduction measures have had limited results. It argues that cultural attitudes, socio-political complexity and emotions could explain much of the “irrational” behavior of those demanding weapons in these regions. The article contributes to the scholarly debate on the applicability of the rational choice theory-inspired arms reduction policies in highly textured sociocultural contexts. It is an effort to construct multifaceted conceptualization of human choice that focuses not only on the functionality of firearms but also on their symbolic and situational meaning.
How does arms availability affect armed conflict? What implications does increased arms availability have for the organisation of armed groups involved in war against the state? This article explores these questions by looking into the civil war in Libya and the subsequent proliferation of weapons in the broader Sahel/North Africa region. Its argument is based on secondary sources: online databases, international organisations reports and news media. First, we examine the question of firearms in Libya in order to understand how changing conditions of weapons availability affected the formation of armed groups during different phases of war hostilities (February–October 2011). We highlight that, as weapons became more readily available to fighters in the field during this period, a process of fragmentation occurred, hindering efforts to build mechanisms that would allow control of the direction of the revolutionary armed movement. Next, as security continued to be a primary challenge in the new Libya, we consider the way in which unaccountable firearms and light weapons have affected the post-war landscape in the period from October 2011 to the end of 2013. Finally, we put the regional and international dimensions under scrutiny, and consider how the proliferation of weapons to nearby insurgencies and armed groups has raised major concern among Libya’s neighbours. Short of establishing any causal relationship stricto sensu, we underscore the ways in which weapons from Libya have rekindled or altered local conflicts, creating permissive conditions for new tactical options, and accelerating splintering processes within armed movements in the Sahara-Sahel region.
What drives the prices of arms and ammunition sold at illicit markets? Do the prices of illegal arms soar during episodes of marked insecurity, such as conflict onset? This article seeks to advance knowledge on the dynamics and determinants of weapons prices through the quantitative analysis of illicit arms market price data in Lebanon for the period February 2011 to September 2012. The article also examines the relationship between arms and ammunition prices in Lebanon, and reported conflict fatalities in Syria, as the period under study overlapped with the onset of conflict in the latter country. Key results include strong, statistically-significant correlations between the prices of arms and the prices of ammunition in Lebanon, as well as between the prices of arms and ammunition in Lebanon and reported conflict fatalities in neighbouring Syria. These findings highlight the value of monitoring illicit arms market prices, including prices for a diverse range of weapons and ammunition, to improve our understanding of both illicit markets and conflict dynamics. The strong correlations observed in the article also suggest that crowdsourcing methodologies used by organisations monitoring killings during the Syrian conflict can effectively capture variations in conflict intensity over time.
The illegal arms trade is a problem that impacts every country in the world, and civilian populations bear the brunt of human rights violations associated with this trade. The United Nations (UN) Office for Disarmament Affairs (2013) explains the problem as “a worldwide scourge.” Similarly, security reports published by the European Union (EU) frequently note that illicit arms trafficking presents a serious threat to security within and outside the EU. This special issue of the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research brings together contributions from academics and practitioners from different parts of the world in an effort to study the illicit firearms market in Europe and beyond. It examines the political, criminal and cultural demand for weapons across socio-cultural space as well as the roles that states, violent non-state actors and civilians play in this market. It aims to explain the need for, and supply of, illicit firearms in Europe, Africa, Latin America, North Amer ...
The purpose of this research study is to examine attitudes associated with the use of electronic monitoring as a criminal justice sanction in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Utilizing self-reported survey data from 57 graduate students enrolled in a criminal justice policy based course at the University of Sarajevo, students’ attitudes toward electronic monitoring are assessed. Specifically, students’ personal views about whether electronic monitoring meets the sentencing goals of deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation and reintegration are evaluated. Perceptions of the cost-effectiveness of electronic monitoring and the appropriateness of electronic monitoring as a sentence for specific offender types are also examined. Finally, the influence of student socio-demographic characteristics on opinions are also assessed. As a whole, students surveyed appear to support the use of electronic monitoring for juvenile offenders and offenders awaiting trial. Additionally, respondents do not view the conditions associated with electronic monitoring as all that negative or obtrusive. Implications from these findings, as well as limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.
This paper elaborates on the relation between globalization, migration, and transnational organized crime. The case selected is on ethnic Albanian organized crime and its migration to Western Europe and the United States. There are a few perspectives on the ability of organized crime to take advantage of globalization in an effort to expand their criminal markets. One view is that criminal groups, similarly to multinational corporations, are taking advantage of globalization and are opening outposts in Western cities. The opposing view is that organized crime groups are highly localized and territorial. This paper tries to answer the following questions: Are Albanian groups operating in the USA and Europe part of the same species originating from Albania and Kosovo? Are these groups coordinated by a central organization in the country of origin that sought opportunity to exploit the process of international integration? The paper concludes that the migration of Albanian organized crime may not be a strategic business choice. Therefore, rather than fitting the stereotype of hypersophisticated international organized crime bureaucracies found in news reports, this study suggests that many Albanian organized crime groups are localized and spontaneously formed. What might appear to be the product of globalizations is, in fact, the consequence of state repression or wars between rival criminal groups. The conclusions are based on a mixed-methods approach, including interviews with experts, Albanian migrants and offenders, and in-depth analysis of court cases.
The transition of countries from an autocratic to a democratic regime is a complex process characterized by big political, social and economic changes. This process is usually accompanied by an increase in violent crime rates which has been investigated by a large number of studies in the last decades. A special role in this analysis is played by the studies on the former communist countries, especially the ones that stress the relationship between post-communist regimes and the exponential rise of violent crime rates experienced in their transition. The majority of these studies have tried to explain the violent crime booms, but no research empirically tested if violent crime is willing to decrease as democracies consolidated. According to one of the most recent studies by Alvazzi del Frate and Mugellini, the Western Balkan region and a large number of “Non-Western” countries have recently experienced a drop in their homicide rates which has not been empirically analysed yet. This article aims at fulfilling this lack of knowledge by empirically analyzing eight countries of the Balkan region, Bulgaria and Romania. The main hypothesis is that, in terms of reduction of violent crime, there is a benefit in shifting from a transitional to a more democratic regime in post-communist countries. Data on Polity score and homicide rate from 1995 to 2011 were collected to conduct a fixed effect panel data analysis on the level of democracy and violent crime in the Balkan region, Bulgaria and Romania confirming a negative association between the two variables.
During the last two decades, the overrepresentation of foreign nationals in the Greek criminal justice system constitutes a critical issue. By exploring the available statistical data and relevant surveys, this article attempts to examine how, on the one hand, groups of non-Greek nationals fare at different stages of criminal justice within the broader social and political context and whether, on the other hand, the prejudice and stereotyping against the foreign population affects directly or indirectly the attitudes of stakeholders of social control and how this escalates, in extreme cases, into hostility, racism, and xenophobic violence against them during the years of crisis.
The vital role of the private entities activity was an undeniable reality for the Albanian post-totalitarian society. The economic regime based on the freedom of economic initiative led to the creation and operation of an increasing number of private companies performing their activities in various areas of life. With the passing of time, the positive impact of these activities performed by privately owned entities was associated with some illegal conduct that contained elements of criminal offences. Breach of environmental and work safety regulations, smuggling, corruption in the private sector, as well as laundering of criminal proceeds were among the main violations which began to take place in the framework of privately owned businesses. First, this paper aims to present some of the main speculations and trends of corporate crime in Albania and the possible institutional and practical aspects contributing to illegal corporate behaviour. Further, the study is focused on the legislative actions taken to respond to the challenges of a new form of crime carried out in complex collective organisations. The conclusion of this paper addresses some policy matters. On a first glance, a special emphasis covers the essential role of the companies in promoting internal incentives which encourage lawful conduct, and on the other side is noted that the authority of the law and proper law enforcment in the respective area, remain determinant factors for encouraging and ensuring compliance to law provisions.
The empirical status of Tom Tyler’s (1990) process-based model of regulation is frustrated by the fact that most studies are conducted in the US, leaving open the question of whether similar effects can be observed in countries with different historical and political contexts. The current study tests two process-based model hypotheses using cross-sectional survey data from 683 young adults in Slovenia. The results reveal: (1) procedural justice judgments significantly shape individual perceptions of police legitimacy, and (2) perceived police legitimacy explains self-reported compliance with the law. Though slightly diminished in magnitude, the legitimacy effect persists when using an instrumental variable to address possible endogeneity bias and after statistically controlling for known correlates of law violating behavior (i.e., personal morality and low self-control). The findings also show that the legitimacy effect on compliance with different laws (e.g., littering and buying stolen property) varies depending on the operationalization of legitimacy (i.e., additive scale versus instrumental variable). While the findings indicate that the process-based model of regulation is germane to post-socialist countries such as Slovenia, more research focusing on the explanatory breadth of the model is necessary.
Across the globe law enforcement agencies are providing training specific to human trafficking in an effort to educate officers about trafficking indicators, techniques for evidence collection, and the provision of culturally sensitive and victim-centered assistance to trafficking victims. The effectiveness of said training, however, remains an understudied area. The primary goal of this study is to examine the influence training programs have on police officers’ knowledge and experiences related to sex trafficking. Utilizing self-report data from 363 border patrol agents in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a series of statistical analyses finds support for the hypotheses that trained officers will have a better understanding of sex trafficking indicators and field investigation techniques as well as more experience with sex trafficking cases. Somewhat unexpectedly, the results indicate that the vast majority of officers, regardless of training receipt, recognized a need for ongoing training and support. Implications of these findings will be discussed.
Guest Editor’s Introduction
The idea for a special issue of the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research on 'Crime, Ethnic Minorities and Procedural Justice in the Balkans’ emerged at the journal’s Editorial Board annual meeting during the 12th European Society of Criminology Conference in Bilbao (at a restaurant with delicious traditional Bask dishes, gratuity of Springer). Almost two years on and the special issue is completed thanks to the impeccable time keeping of the Editorial office and the contributors. This time gap from inception to production is an achievement in its own right. More so considering that there is no universal agreement as to the exact geographical and administrative delimitation of the Balkans, and language barriers, compounded by the fact that Criminology has been historically a poor relation to Criminal Justice and Law studies outside the Anglo-Saxon world, have hindered on-line searches for potential contributors from the Balkan academia. The call fo
Public opinion has come to be given an increasingly important role in the crime policy debate of western countries. The task of problematising different pictures that emerges from different studies of public opinion on appropriate sentences thus becomes an important task. In this article the question is whether survey respondents, in their choice of reactions to crime, tend to propose shorter prison sentences when they combine the prison term with other measures? If so, different response instructions can lead to different conclusions as to what survey participants consider to be appropriate sentences. Earlier research points at such tendencies to some extent. In order to examine this question, two comparisons will be made. In the first, survey respondents who chose to combine a prison sentence with other measures is compared with those who chose to propose a prison sentence as the only sanction. In the second, participant who were instructed to only propose a single sanction will be compared with those who were given the opportunity to combine two sanctions. Both comparisons are made with regard to the lengths of the proposed prison sentences. No systematic differences emerge. The correlation between the length of prison term proposed and the choice, or opportunity given, to combine the prison term with other measures varies, for example, across the different offences examined. The choice of appropriate reactions to crime is based on a more advanced deliberation than whether different sanctions may be combined.
EU criminal policy making is a relatively new policy domain and its credibility is said to be undermined by the lack of an evidence base. Because the EU claims to pursue evidence based policy making, this justifies reviewing the mechanisms put in place to that end. To properly evaluate the evidence base in EU criminal policy making, an assessment is made of the availability of comparable crime statistics. Crime statistics, a vital data source for criminal policy making, are considered highly problematic at EU level due to (amongst other reasons) the differences in the definition of the offences. In spite of the good intentions that can be read into the repeated acknowledgement of the importance of crime statistics and the efforts to commonly define EU worthy offences, a thorough empirical analysis leads to the conclusion that we are still in search of valid EU level data with respect to the EU level offences. The EU as a policy maker does not take its responsibility to ensure the availability of the necessary comparable crime statistical data serious enough.
In the extant literature, very few studies have simultaneously examined the impact of individual attributes, neighbourhood disorder and social cohesion on an individual’s fear of crime. This article addresses the use of multiple-indicator, multiple-cause (MIMIC) analysis for testing different variables related to the fear of crime based on a number of theories. Face-to-face interviews with residents of a high-crime council estate were conducted to examine the crime rate, disorder, cohesion and the fear of crime in the participants’ residential area. The results support the incivilities thesis and the vulnerability hypothesis, while the social disorganisation theory was partially supported. It was concluded that women and the elderly demonstrate higher levels of fear than men and the nonelderly and that crime, disorder and social cohesion have a direct effect on one’s level of fear, as the decreases in neighbourhood cohesion increase the individuals’ levels of fear. In addition, people who have been victimised and those who perceive higher levels of incivility were found to be more fearful of crime. By incorporating the three theories, the final model is able to account for 50 % of the variance in the fear of crime.
Objectives: This study explores the initial conditions of the current war against organized crime in Mexico. The theoretical framework is institutional anomie theory (IAT). Composite measures were used to summarize local initial conditions for the occurrence of organized crime deaths by gang execution, confrontation, and aggressions to authority. Spatial and temporal elements were included to assess the validity of the initial conditions approach. Evidence presented here suggests that Mexican states significantly differed in their initial conditions for organized crime deaths to have occurred. Also, although trends in gang executions and confrontations have been slowing down, aggressions to authority are speeding up considerably. The evidence presented corroborates IAT. However, the significance and direction of the relationships among institutional anomie correlates and initial conditions of the war against organized crime depended upon the type of death.
Various studies have shown that registered crime among non-western immigrant groups in the Netherlands is higher than among the average Dutch population. Little is known however concerning the differences in the nature of crime. The authors studied the degree to which various ethnic groups are represented in various types of officially registered criminal offenses and the degree to which the chance of being a suspect in specific types of crimes can be explained by demographic and socio-economic background characteristics of the person in question. The results show that there are clear differences among ethnic groups with respect to the relative share of various types of criminal offenses. Only a small part of the differences relate to ethnic origin; demographic and socio-economic background characteristics play a more important role. A large part of the explanation might be found in personal factors, coincidental circumstances or background characteristics not included in the model.
This study aims to explore the discretion of the police and prosecutors during the pre-trial stage based on six systems of criminal justice: England and Wales, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. In criminal proceedings, discretion plays a significant role in supplementing as statutes cannot provide for every circumstance. In particular, at the pre-trial stage, public prosecutors can conclude their cases by exercising considerable discretion. Such discretion differs depending on the jurisdiction. The differences demonstrate distinctive prosecutorial roles. Based upon these findings, I propose that in general, the public prosecution service plays a filtering role. Unlike other jurisdictions, in Korea the prosecutors act as monopolists. However, justice cannot be achieved by the monopoly of one legal actor in the criminal proceedings.
The objective of this article is to propose an agenda for interventions to prevent or reduce crime and disorder at underground stations in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The article first reports the nature, the levels, and the patterns of crime and disorder across time and space. Different types of crime are analyzed and specific conclusions are drawn for each type of crime which relate to the suggested interventions presented in this article. Findings lend weight to principles of situational crime prevention to improve security in transport nodes, with overlaps with routine activity and social disorganization theories. Intervention measures comprehend suggestions on both environmental design related changes and more complex social aspects regarding the reduction of crime at transport nodes. Suggestions for interventions at Stockholm’s underground stations, as presented here, constitute an illustration of what can be achieved with situational crime prevention principles; however, they may not be regarded as a “one-size-fits-all” solution to the demands and challenges of safety in transport nodes elsewhere.
This paper has two objectives: to provide an exploratory analysis of the rationalities and constraints that shape consumption of private security within organizations and to discuss some of the issues and questions that need to be addressed in future empirical studies of private security use by organizations. It is based largely on seven semi-directed interviews conducted with security managers, six of whom work in the private sector. While these security managers distanced themselves from responsibility for actual security consumption, arguing that they lack the capacity to make such decisions, they exercise considerable influence over the demand for private security within their organizations. Although all participants noted the relative ease with which they can convince their superiors to invest in security, they also indicated that security must have a demonstrated value-added component for the organization (often in money terms). Furthermore, executives expect security to be minimally intrusive and/or disruptive. This paper reports preliminary results of research on an under-investigated topic; it also builds on the methodological decisions and findings in this research to provide useful information to scholars interested in researching private security consumption in organizations.
In Finland, more than one in four young females and almost one in three young males experienced some type of adversarial police contact in a year. The high prevalence of adversarial police contact among contemporary youth highlights the need to study the nature of the contacts and labelling theory’s hypothesis of control bias. Consequently, we develop the theory’s concept of social visibility to examine differential selection. We draw on a nationally representative youth survey to explore police contacts among youths aged 15 to 16 (N = 5826). The open-ended responses suggested that police interventions typically focus on traffic situations or use of alcohol in public places. Also, we used multivariate logistic regression to examine which factors increase the likelihood of adversarial police contact. We found that a variety of delinquency and heavy alcohol use emerge as strong triggers of getting caught by the police. In addition, male gender, living in a city, having a single father, and low educational aspirations increases the likelihood of police contact, controlling for delinquency, and socio-demographic variables. Our findings seem to be consistent with mixed-model hypothesis, which highlights that both, differential involvement and selection, might operate together. We suggest that even in the Nordic conditions, which is characterised by high social equality, social biases seem to exist and some youth are more socially visible to formal social control than others.
This paper aims at assessing how offenders allocate their effort amongst several types of crime. Specifically, complementary and substitution effects are investigated amongst the number of recorded homicides, robberies, extortions and kidnapping, receiving stolen goods, falsity and drug-related crimes. Furthermore, the extent to which crime is detrimental for economic growth is also analysed. The case-study country is Italy, and the time span under analysis is from the first quarter of 1981 to the fourth quarter of 2004. A Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) is employed after having assessed the integration and cointegration status of the variables under investigation. Empirical findings show that, in the long run, an increase in the overall welfare has a negative impact on the most serious crimes. In addition, the long-run elasticities reveal symmetric results in terms of positive and negative relationships amongst types of crime. In the short run, the cross-deterrence elasticities highlight a complementary effect between more serious crimes (i.e. robberies, extortions and kidnapping) and milder crimes (i.e. drug-related crimes and falsity) and a substitution effect amongst all other types of offences. Policy implications are drawn.
This article presents the results of an international survey of European correctional treatment programmes for young offenders. Questionnaires gathering data on programmes’ design, implementation, structure, and evaluation were collected from 112 programme administrators in 25 European Union countries. Results demonstrated that although there was a commitment to young offender rehabilitation in almost every country, programmes adopted many different approaches and were implemented with varying levels of adherence to evidence-based principles of ‘best practice.’ The majority of programmes adopted a cognitive-behavioural approach, and clinical discretion was prioritised over systematised, empirically validated assessment instruments. Most programmes were administered by centralised government agencies; however, process and outcome evaluation was rare. These findings suggest a strong need for improved systematic evaluation in most European countries.
A lively drug policy debate is going on in the UK, and a central theme emerging is the punishment of drug offenders. The main contributing voices draw attention to the largely futile position of prosecuting offenders through the criminal justice system who are drug addicted and/or who are caught in possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use. This paper adds to this discussion by reporting findings from observations carried out in London Magistrates’ Courts. It notes the relatively high prevalence of small quantity drug possession cases that appeared before the courts over the study days, and questions the value of this type of crime arriving here in the first place. It examines the resultant financial penalties that are most commonly dispensed, and asks whether they can be reasonably justified. It states these are harsh and depriving given the already economically disadvantaged status of most defendants. In addition, case details revealed issues of policing approach involving ‘stop and search’ and the variable application of police discretion. The paper calls for thought to be given to the damage caused to peoples’ lives through pursuing criminalising drug policies, and to the time and economic cost to stretched policing and criminal justice resources. It suggests we learn lessons from other European jurisdictions who assign drug possession for personal use cases, to an arm of the prosecution service where they are processed as ‘out-of-court’, ‘administration offences’.
The present study assesses the relationship between family and educational disadvantage on self-reported offending, victimisation and violent youth group involvement in a Belgian medium-sized city. Many studies have focused on the relationship between family disadvantage (one-parent families, immigrant background) and educational disadvantage (vocational tracking, school failure) and violent youth group involvement, offending/victimisation in surveys. The present study primarily assesses to what extent social bonds (parental monitoring and the school social bond), deviant beliefs, low self-control and lifestyle risk are stable mediators of the relationship between family and educational disadvantage and self-reported offending, victimisation and troublesome youth group involvement among young adolescents. The results indicate that the lifestyle-exposure model, which was initially used to explain individual differences in victimisation is much better capable of explaining differences in selfreported offending and violent youth group involvement than victimisation. The implications for further studies are discussed.
This study examines a hot spot policing intervention where private security guards patrolled a specific area in the city centre of a mid-sized Swedish town during summer weekend evenings and nights, aiming to reduce the number of reported street violence incidents. A follow-up of the intervention, using previous years as a control was conducted to measure changes in the number of street violence rates before and during the intervention. The results show non-significant decreases in the number of reported street violence incidents during the intervention. The results can be interpreted in at least two ways: that the intervention had no effects; or that the small, but non-significant decreases observed, are indeed small effects that can be strengthened by modifying the implementation of the intervention. An additional analysis shows that the changes in crime rates are larger at times when the guards adapted a stricter hot spot policing approach, which indicates that with a more structured implementation of the intervention it might be possible to see larger effects.
There are numerous individual and social benefits of increasing prisoners’ educational motivation and their level of education. During incarceration they can be motivated to consider education because of the value of education, their own resettlement, future job prospects, to break free from prison routines, or simply to be around others. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between prisoners’ educational motives and their participation in education or desires to start an education in prison. The participants were 750 prisoners who attended prison education in Norwegian prisons in 2009, plus 898 other prisoners. Three motive categories were identified: “Future planning”, “Social reasons and escapism”, and “Competence building” (learning for the sake of learning). The first factor explained more than twice of the variance of the sum of the two others. Prisoners with high scores in the competence building category were significantly more prone to participate in education in prison, also when other commonly used background variables were controlled for statistically. Among those who did not participate, high scores in competence building also predicted that they desired to start an education while incarcerated. Prisoners with high scores in the future planning category were less likely to participate in prison education. We then discuss why this latter somewhat surprising negative effect occurred.
Since the 1990s trafficking in human beings has increasingly become a priority in the international and European policy agenda. The international community took action against it with the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking (2000), the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005) and the Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims. In the same period the number of studies and research works on it has increased. Nevertheless, some of the most important research questions remain almost unanswered. In particular, there is a paucity of data about the effectiveness of the policies against human trafficking. This paper provides some knowledge in this field. In particular it presents some considerations on the effectiveness of the Italian policies on the protection of and assistance to victims in the period 2000–2008. The data analysis suggests that the effectiveness varied across years and that the entry of Romania in the European Union, apparently, had an impact on the phenomenon and on the policies effectiveness. The lesson to be learned is that under the umbrella of human trafficking very different situations, changing across time and countries, coexist. In order to be effective a national policy should be capable of a) planning actions which take into account the national characteristics of human trafficking; b) monitoring whether and how the phenomenon has changed and change the policies accordingly.
This paper addresses Chinese interrogation rules from historical and comparative perspectives by relating them to the very different development of interrogation procedure in Europe. A fuller understanding of the evolution of the rules in both contexts is relevant to the present day controversy concerning the universal versus relative nature of interrogation fairness. The comparative analysis reveals that, in fact, the influence of ancient Greek and Chinese civilizations resulted in a great difference between Europe and China regarding legal cultures and institutional arrangements for criminal interrogation procedure. Considering future legal reforms in China, and given the very different historical and institutional context, the likelihood seems low that an ‘autonomous version’ of the right to remain silent and the privilege against self-incrimination will develop on China’s very different soil. However, traditional native resources are also available to legal reformers to ensure a cooperative interviewing style in criminal questioning, and eliminate police-coerced confessions.
It has traditionally been upheld that punitive damages are incompatible with the Constitutions of civil law countries. This paper sustains the opposing thesis and argues their compatibility, of a general nature, with the basic principles of continental European States, and especially with the principles of legality, proportionality and non bis in idem. This opens the way to the enforcement, in Europe, of sentences delivered in the United States of America. However, despite this starting point, the advisability of exporting the model of punitive damages is rejected. The theme is expanded to argue the equivalent nature of the guarantees and limits of all sanctioning activity of the State and those already established in Criminal Law. This would encompass punitive damages and all types of civil sanctions.
There is generally no agreed doctrinal definition of universal jurisdiction in customary and conventional international law. However, this does not preclude any definition, which embodies the essence of the concept as the ability to exercise jurisdiction irrespective of territoriality or nationality. Therefore, the concept of universal jurisdiction applies to a situation where “the nature of (an) act entitles a State to exercise its jurisdiction to apply its laws, even if the act has occurred outside its territory, has been perpetrated by a non-national, and even if (its) nationals have not been harmed by the acts.”
Criminological and criminal justice research is a relatively new academic discipline in Cyprus. The current paper first examines and critiques official data on juvenile delinquency in Cyprus. As expected, the findings on delinquency and victimization gathered from self-reported surveys suggest higher rates of delinquency than those based on official statistics. This paper is based for a large part on data obtained from the International Self-reported Delinquency Study (ISRD-2), a national survey of 2385 Cypriot 12–16 year old pupils concerning a number of delinquency risk and protective factors. Those results were compared to the data collected as part of the ISRD-2 in five European Union (EU) member states, which – like Cyprus - joined the EU in 2004. This comparison focuses on data in the capitals of the six countries concerned. Research and delinquency prevention implications are discussed.
In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, over 400 London males have been followed up from age 8 to age 48 in face-to-face interviews and up to age 56 in criminal records. About 42 % of the males were convicted up to age 56. During five age ranges up to age 47, 94 % of the males admitted at least one of eight offenses, in comparison with 31 % who were convicted for at least one of these offenses in these age ranges. The prevalence of offending, and the number of offenses committed, decreased steadily after age 18 according to both convictions and self-reports. On average, there were 38 self-reported offenses per conviction, and this ratio also decreased with age. Convicted males self-reported 25 offenses per conviction on average. It is concluded that the “scaling-up factor” from convictions to self-reported offenses is very important, especially in evaluating the effectiveness of intervention programs.
This article is the editorial introduction to the special issue of the European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research Compassionate Criminology: The Legacy of Josine Junger-Tas (1929–2011). The article consists of four parts and an Appendix (i.e., the bibliography of her publications). In the first section, we provide a brief overview of the highlights of her professional career of 40-plus years, including her contributions to the institutionalization of European criminology. The second section discusses how her focus on comparative criminology and policy relevance run as a red thread through her work as a criminologist. The third part centers around Junger-Tas’s consistent concern with the responsibility of scholars and researchers to “do the right thing” and to speak out for the most vulnerable parts of the population (youth in particular). We believe that as a public criminologist avant la lettre Junger-Tas’s main heritage lies in drawing the contours of what may be called evidence-based compassionate criminology. The fourth section provides a brief introduction to the seven articles in this special issue.
Josine Junger-Tas introduced the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system to the Netherlands as a promising approach to address the growing youth violence and delinquency. Using data from a randomized trial of CTC in the United States and a quasi-experimental study of CTC in the Netherlands, this article describes the results of a comparison of the implementation of CTC in 12 U.S. communities and five Dutch neighborhoods. CTC communities in both countries achieved higher stages of a science-based approach to prevention than control communities, but full implementation of CTC in the Netherlands was hampered by the very small list of prevention programs tested and found effective in the Dutch context.
The existence of a correlation between the use of alcohol and juvenile delinquency has long been acknowledged. In order to evaluate the strength and the characteristics of this association in various cultural contexts, we analysed data collected as part of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study- 2 (ISRD-2). The sample consisted of of young people (N = 57,771) of both sexes, aged between 12 and 16 years, in 25 European countries. After estimating the prevalence of alcohol consumption among young people involved in property offences and violent offences, we assessed the degree to which these types of delinquency were associated with the use of alcohol in the 25 countries. In addition, we attempted to ascertain the influence of belonging to various types of deviant groups on alcohol use. To this end, we used a Mokken Scale Analysis. With this method, we constructed a scale of “gangness” and correlated the scores with alcohol use among juveniles. The results yielded by the present study indicate that alcohol use and delinquency are closely related with one another. In particular, we observed that alcohol consumption seems to be strongly influenced by involvement in delinquent activities. The nature and characteristics of these relationships suggest that the associations between alcohol use and delinquency are reciprocal rather than one-directional. Consequently, alcohol use constitutes a risk factor for criminal behaviour. Likewise, involvement in delinquency increase the risk of alcohol consumption and, especially, of alcohol abuse.
Previous studies documented that crime is heavily concentrated in families. However, many studies relied on relatively small samples, often males and information on criminal involvement was self-reported. The present study investigates: (1) the prevalence of arrests in three generations; (2) the concentration of offenders and arrests within families; (3) the relationships between arrests among the relatives; (4) the relationship between arrests and family violence. A complete cohort of the families in which a child was born in a Dutch city was selected, and the arrests of all known family members (siblings, parents and grandparents) were investigated. Results showed that 7.2 % of the mothers and 18 % of the fathers had been arrested. The likelihood of parental arrests was related to the likelihood of grandparental arrests. There was clear evidence for assortative mating: when the mother was arrested, the likelihood that the father was arrested was increased with a factor five. Maternal arrests were also related to arrests of her parents-in-law. Arrests are heavily concentrated within families, 7.8 % of the families account for 52.3 % of the suspects. Arrests in family members constitute a major risk factor for poor developmental outcomes, such as criminal behavior. At the time of birth, it is possible to use information on arrests to select children who are at relatively high risk for the target of prevention efforts.Implications for prevention policies are discussed.
Junger-Tas (Journal of Quantitative Criminology 8(1):9–28, 1992) studied the empirical validity of control theory and argued for a connection between basic theory and delinquency prevention policies (European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research 5(2):101–114, 1997). High quality experiments, including those with random assignment to different treatments and designs that include multiple indicators of outcome have produced a strong body of knowledge that may, and should, be used to assess the validity of basic theories of causation. One essential test of basic theories can thus be how well they can make sense of widely acknowledged facts produced by high quality policy research. To be sure, theories vary in scope, domain of application and level of abstraction, and policy implications can be difficult to infer, so care should be exercised in such an analysis. These notions are applied to control theories of delinquency which arguably provide clear expectations about the likely effectiveness of some public policies about crime. Recent research appears consistent with control theory expectations and with Junger-Tas’ long-standing view for a role for basic science for juvenile policy.