Benefits Of Crime Research Articles

ИСПРАВЛЕНИЕ И РЕСОЦИАЛИЗАЦИЯ: К ВОПРОСУ О КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНОЙ ЯСНОСТИ

The article analyzes the problems of correction and re-socialization of convicts and former convicts. According to the author, many issues of correction and re-socialization remain open, there is a lack of conceptual clarity in understanding these processes. The conclusion is proposed for discussion that in the process of re-socialization of convicts and former convicts, two stages can be distinguished – social readaptation and internalization. It is proved that social readaptation as an adaptation of convicts and persons who have served their sentences to new or restored norms and values, social roles can be expressed in obtaining general or additional education, vocational training, advanced training, involvement in paid work, development of mutual assistance among convicts, restoration and (or) development of ties with relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. It is noted that at the second independent stage of re-socialization, the acquired experience, values are reinteriorized with the help of other people, social institutions: they are assimilated, incorporated into the inner world of individuals, turning into a kind of reflex. The article substantiates the position that the process of re-socialization should be implemented through individual social rehabilitation programs and act in accordance with international acts as a way to achieve the main goal – the reintegration of convicts into society. It is concluded that the focus of penal enforcement policy should not be on absolute theories with ideas of retribution, which represent «the criminal as a rational agent weighing the costs and benefits of crime,» but on correctional concepts that see the criminal as a person amenable to correction and in need of support and treatment.

Decision Making in the Real World: Unpacking the Black Box of the Decision Process for Youth Violence

Criminologists typically test rational choice theory by examining the relationship between one aspect of decision making—the perceived costs and benefits of crime—and the likelihood of crime, primarily using (experimental) surveys that lack consideration of the neighborhood context. Building on decades of research in the risk and decision sciences, the current study utilizes broader models of decision making to qualitatively examine how youth living in concentrated disadvantage make decisions during incidents of violence. Our thematic analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with youth in a midsize midwestern city indicates that the decision process regarding violence is much more complex than previously theorized.

Financial analysis of innovative forms of money

The identification and financial analysis of property suspected to constitute proceeds of crime is a difficult activity that must be carried out before such assets can be frozen, seized or confiscated. The lawful seizure of assets as the enforcement of a sentence or a protective measure, or for satisfaction of a claim for damages, requires that the assets be secured in a way that prevents them being placed outside the public authorities’ control and limits the potential for the laundering of funds and their use in further crimes. Effective identification and analysis depends on the active and effective detection and documentation of both the direct proceeds and indirect benefits of crime, their location, character, status and value, the prevention of changes in the persons who have ownership or disposal rights to the assets as well as determination of the total assets of the accused (suspect). The aim of the present paper is to focus attention on the financial analysis of selected assets related to financial markets and new forms of money. It should be emphasised that as technology evolves, it is mirrored by innovation in financial markets and equal development of financial analysis focusing on innovative forms of money. The basic indicator with the greatest significance for financial analysis is regulation and especially whether it covers the relevant forms of money. If they are subject to regulation (in this case by the central bank), they are easier to identify and secure. Things are different if they are not directly regulated by legislation or if they not subject to supervision.

More sneezing, less crime? Health shocks and the market for offenses

A large literature points out that exposure to criminal victimization has far-reaching effects on public health. What remains surprisingly unexplored is that role that health shocks play in explaining aggregate fluctuations in offending. This research finds novel evidence that crime is sensitive to health shocks. We consider the responsiveness of crime to a pervasive and common health shock which we argue shifts costs and benefits for offenders and victims: seasonal allergies. Leveraging daily variation in city-specific pollen counts, we present evidence that violent crime declines in U.S. cities on days in which the local pollen count is unusually high and that these effects are driven by residential violence. While past literature suggests that property crimes have more instrumental motives, require planning, and hence are particularly sensitive to permanent changes in the cost and benefits of crime, we find that violence may be especially sensitive to health shocks.

Deterrence and prevention-based model to mitigate information security insider threats in organisations

Previous studies show that information security breaches and privacy violations are important issues for organisations and people. It is acknowledged that decreasing the risk in this domain requires consideration of the technological aspects of information security alongside human aspects. Employees intentionally or unintentionally account for a significant portion of the threats to information assets in organisations. This research presents a novel conceptual framework to mitigate the risk of insiders using deterrence and prevention approaches. Deterrence factors discourage employees from engaging in information security misbehaviour in organisations, and situational crime prevention factors encourage them to prevent information security misconduct. Our findings show that perceived sanctions certainty and severity significantly influence individuals’ attitudes and deter them from information security misconduct. In addition, the output revealed that increasing the effort, risk and reducing the reward (benefits of crime) influence the employees’ attitudes towards prevent information security misbehaviour. However, removing excuses and reducing provocations do not significantly influence individuals’ attitudes towards prevent information security misconduct. Finally, the output of the data analysis also showed that subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and attitude influence individuals’ intentions, and, ultimately, their behaviour towards avoiding information security misbehaviour.

More Sneezing, Less Crime? Seasonal Allergies, Transitory Costs and the Market for Offenses

The neoclassical economic model of crime envisions crime as a gamble undertaken by a rational individual who is weighing the costs and benefits of offending at the margin. A large literature estimates the sensitivity of crime to policy inputs that shift the cost of offending such as police and prisons. In this paper, we point out that participants in the market for offenses also respond to transitory changes in situational factors and that these are in constant flux. We consider the responsiveness of crime to a pervasive and common health shock which we argue shifts costs and benefits for offenders and victims: seasonal allergies. Leveraging daily variation in city-specific pollen counts, we present novel evidence that violent crime declines in U.S. cities on days in which the local pollen count is unusually high and that these effects are driven by residential violence. While past literature suggests that property crimes have more instrumental motives, require planning, and hence are particularly sensitive to permanent changes in the cost and benefits of crime, we find evidence that violence may be especially sensitive to situational factors.

Maturity of Judgment and Perceptual Deterrence

Recent deterrence literature has found that the degree to which sanction threats are perceived to influence subsequent offending differs within individuals and between individuals over time. This study examines whether three psychosocial aspects (temperance, perspective, responsibility) relevant to the maturity of judgment predict within-individual and between-individual differences in levels of perceptual deterrence. Random effects regression models with fixed effects (hybrid models) are used to estimate the impact of maturity of judgment on the perceived risks, costs, and benefits of crime among a sample of serious juvenile offenders from the Pathways to Desistance study over 7 years of development. The results support both within-person effects and between-person effects. More mature judgment ability is generally associated with the perception of greater risks, heavier costs of punishment, and fewer rewards of crime. The rate of change in perceptual deterrence by maturity of judgment varies between individuals. Implications of the findings are discussed.

CAN RATIONAL CHOICE BE CONSIDERED A GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME? EVIDENCE FROM INDIVIDUAL‐LEVEL PANEL DATA

In the last few decades, rational choice theory has emerged as a bedrock theory in the fields of economics, sociology, psychology, and political science. Although rational choice theory has been available to criminologists for many years now, the field has not embraced it as other disciplines have. Moreover, rational choice scholars have fueled this skepticism of the theory's generality by modeling offender decision making that is one‐sided—large on the costs of crime (sanction threats), short on the benefits of crime. In this article, we directly assess the generality of rational choice theory by examining a fully specified model in a population that is often presumed to be less rational—adolescents from lower socioeconomic families who commit both instrumental (property) and expressive crimes (violence/drugs). By using a panel of N = 1,354 individuals, we find that offending behavior is consistent with rational responses to changes in the perceived costs and benefits of crime even after eliminating fixed unobserved heterogeneity and other time‐varying confounders, and these results are robust across different subgroups. The findings support our argument that rational choice theory is a general theory of crime.

Beyond Rational Choice: the Hot/Cool Perspective of Criminal Decision Making

This paper proposes a general framework of criminal decision making that assumes both ‘cool’ cognition and ‘hot’ affect, i.e. feelings, to influence criminal choice. Drawing from judgment and decision making research and social psychology, the hot/cool perspective extends rational choice and deterrence theories by explaining how affect is likely to influence criminal decisions alongside cognitive considerations, such as the perceived costs and benefits of crime. It is shown how the hot/cool perspective offers a more realistic account of criminal decision making processes than existing decision models and approaches and also allows for the explanation of criminal behaviors that are difficult to explain in terms of rational choice.

Low Resting Heart Rate and Rational Choice: Integrating Biological Correlates of Crime in Criminological Theories

PurposeThe current work examined the association between low resting heart rate and perceptions of the costs and benefits of criminal behavior. MethodsData were gathered from a sample of students in introductory criminal justice classes. Perceptions of the costs and benefits of crime were measured in response to scenarios describing assault, theft and drunk driving. ResultsThose with low resting heart rate perceived a lower likelihood of sanction and were less likely to anticipate a sense of guilt/shame should they commit assault during a confrontation. Those with low resting heart rate were also more likely to indicate that they would commit the act described in the assault scenario. Anticipated guilt/shame mediated the relationship between low resting heart rate and intent to engage in assault. ConclusionsLow resting heart rate was related to estimations of the costs and benefits of offending. Perceived costs (anticipated guilt/shame) mediated the relationship between resting heart rate and intent to commit assault.

Criminal experience and perceptions of risk: what auto thieves fear when stealing cars

In the past two decades criminologists have devoted considerable attention to modeling the decision-making process of offenders. This literature suggests that while there is a general pattern to these decisions, experience with crime likely effects the way offenders assess the costs and benefits of crime. Using interviews with 42 auto thieves we examine how experience shapes auto thieves' perceptions of the risks of stealing cars. We find that experience influences the ways offenders perceive the fears associated with auto theft. Specifically, experienced offenders were most concerned with being confronted (and possibly injured) by owners, while novice offenders were most concerned with being sanctioned by family members.

Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation: Public Investment in High-Quality Prekindergarten

Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation: Public Investment in High-Quality Prekindergarten by Robert G. Lynch, PhD, Washington DC, Economic Policy Institute, 2007, 134 pp, Paperback, $14.95. Despite gaps in population-based comprehensive interventions for children living in poverty, the cumulative evidence indicates that early intervention, Head Start, and quality early childhood experiences significantly contribute to children’s readiness for school, educational success, social competencies, and adult outcomes.1–4 Most recently, economists have examined how investments in young children promote developmental and social-emotional competencies. In Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation, Robert Lynch reviews model studies and gives economically based recommendations for publicly funded high-quality prekindergarten programs. His short monograph reviews four model prekindergarten programs and uses cost-benefit analysis to examine the impact of targeted versus universal prekindergarten programs. The Introduction describes compelling evidence for the necessity of high-quality, publicly funded early childhood development programs in the US. Lynch provides an analysis of the shortcomings of the US system in implementing effective health and educational policies. He demonstrates that how missed opportunities cascade into educational underachievement and adverse health outcomes. He describes the significant impact that high-quality early childhood programs have on school preparedness, graduation rates, special education requirements, teenage pregnancy, and incarceration. Chapter 1 describes characteristics of high-quality prekindergarten programs by analyzing four model programs: the Perry Preschool Project in Michigan, the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention in North Carolina, Head Start, and the Chicago Parent-Child Centers. Lynch places specific emphasis on the Chicago Parent-Child Center program, with recent outcomes to age 24 in which long-term benefits include positive outcomes to individuals, as well as high returns on public investments.4 The subsequent chapters delve into a detailed analysis of the long-term effects of either targeted or universal high-quality prekindergarten programs on government, crime, and the economy. Lynch demonstrates that a targeted program serving the poorest 25% of 3 and 4 year olds would have an extremely high cost-benefit ratio. It would be less expensive to implement, take fewer years to show a net return, and might lower the achievement gap between rich and poor. A universal program for all children, regardless of income, would take longer to have a positive return, but would have larger net benefits in the long-term because of a broader impact on a larger number of children. Lynch asserts that this kind of program would be likely to have greater public support and would benefit both children at highest risk and those without risk. Lynch’s analyses include comprehensive tables and charts that specifically illustrate state-specific costs and benefits of such programs as well as net economic and crime benefits over time. While written from the perspective of an economist, Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation is a succinct and readable review of critically important research. Though at times repetitive and data-laden, Lynch provides compelling evidence for public policy changes that have potential to significantly shape child and family outcomes in the US. This monograph is complimentary to important textbooks of Guralnick,5 Shonkoff and Meisels,6 and Gross et al7 as well as recent writings by Nobel laureate economist James Heckman8 and should be required reading of all child health professionals. Lynch asserts on economic grounds that investments in high-quality prekindergarten programs would powerfully impact all generations and all children regardless of socioeconomic status by improving educational achievement, increasing worker competitiveness, and decreasing adolescent and adult crime rates. Lynch drives home the lesson that currently, as a country, we have not ensured that all children will enter kindergarten ready to learn and that high-quality early childhood intervention is essential to address if we wish to reverse this condition. Sarah Dilley, MS Michael E. Msall, MD Kennedy Research Center on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities University of Chicago Comer and La Rabida Children’s Hospitals Chicago, IL

Análise espacial da criminalidade no Rio Grande do Sul

Este artigo faz uma análise espacial da criminalidade no Estado doRio Grande do Sul. Para este fim, é apresentado um modelo econométricoespacial para os determinantes da criminalidade. O modelo segue as contribuiçõesda economia do crime, porém acrescenta as contribuições da abordagemecológica e as teorias do aprendizado social. No modelo, a criminalidadeem cidades pode ser explicada por características locais em que o ambiente, avizinhança e o histórico do indivíduo afetam a criminalidade. São utilizadosdados municipais agregados para homicídios, roubos e furtos no ano de 2000.Os testes realizados mostram a existência de dependência espacial em roubosfurtos e independência espacial em homicídios. No artigo ficam destacadosos papéis da desigualdade de renda e das aglomerações urbanas como fatoresque potencializam a criminalidade em cidades. No artigo são discutidas tambémas importâncias da família e da escola na explicação da criminalidade.Os resultados obtidos mostram que problemas na estrutura familiar e a ineficiênciado ensino no Estado afetam positivamente a criminalidade. Nesteartigo, os benefícios do crime e os custos de oportunidade são divididos, o quepermite concluir que o crescimento econômico não implica diretamente oaumento da criminalidade. Isto porque se houver um aumento da renda dosmais pobres a criminalidade diminui.

Toward an Integrated Model of Offending Frequency: A Replication Study

Criminology is limited by a paucity of replication studies. As such, the measurement of key concepts and the empirical support for theory is open to skepticism. Drawing on the RAND Survey of Inmates and a replication of it, the current study developed an integrated model of offending frequency that contained measures from the rational choice, criminal identity, and criminal careers literatures. A confirmatory structural equation model revealed that criminal self‐concept partially mediated the effects of background risk factors. Perceived costs of crime had no significant effect. Perceived benefits of crime were directly and indirectly (through criminal identity) related to offending frequency. However, differences in measures and variance across data sets contributed to discrepant model fit. This attests to the importance and increasing need for precise replication in criminological research.

Future‐Oriented Gang Members?

Abstract Two prominent theories of crime (Wilson and Herrnstein 1985; Gottfredson and Hirshi 1990) rely heavily on the notion that criminals are impatient or “present‐oriented.” In brief, the theories posit that present‐oriented individuals will be predisposed to crime because the “costs” of crime (e.g., prison time) lag behind crime's benefits. While the theory has intuitive appeal, it remains controversial. This study considers a data set first presented by Levitt and Venkatesh (2000) that details a drug‐selling gang's activities. In this gang, low‐ranking criminals accept low initial wages in the hope of receiving high future remunerations. As demonstrated in the note, this wage structure is exceedingly difficult to reconcile (both theoretically and empirically) with the notion of present‐oriented criminals. In sum, the study suggests that present orientation is at best an incomplete and idiosyncratic explanation of the causes of crime.

Measuring the Economic Benefits of Developmental Prevention Programs

Three changes need to be made in economic evaluations of the crime-reductive effects of developmental prevention programs. The changes address three questions concerning the appropriate unit of analysis: Individuals or crimes? Society or government? The crime rate and its social consequences or the criminal event and its consequences for the victim? Concerning the first question, the conclusion that developmental prevention is a cost-effective alternative to criminal sanctions for averting crime events cannot be convincingly sustained. Instead, a more holistic, individual-level approach is necessary that values benefits across multiple domains of individual functioning. Concerning the second question, analyses that have valued more than crime benefits, by and large, measure financial effects on the public treasury. This is too narrow a focus. Finally, estimates of the costs of crime focus on victim consequences rather than on aggregate social consequences. While consequences for victims are important, they do not capture the full effects of crime on society. Estimates of the costs of crime should value tangible consequences to nonvictims and victims alike.

Crime and Social Interactions

The high variance of crime rates across time and space is one of the oldest puzzles in the social sciences; this variance appears too high to be explained by changes in the exogenous costs and benefits of crime. We present a model where social interactions create enough covariance across individuals to explain the high cross-city variance of crime rates. This model provides an index of social interactions which suggests that the amount of social interactions is highest in petty crimes, moderate in more serious crimes, and almost negligible in murder and rape.

TIME, MONEY, AND OPTIMAL CRIMINAL PENALTIES

The economic approach to optimal criminal penalties measures the welfare effects of crime and punishment in dollar terms, ignoring differences in the marginal utility of money among people. This paper alternatively proposes using time as the unit of measure in determining optimal criminal penalties, measuring the costs and benefits of crime in hours or days instead of dollars. The policy implications differ substantially from those in the existing economic literature. Equal prison terms impose similar time costs on all individuals rather than being more costly for those with higher foregone earnings. Equal fines impose the same cost on all individuals in the dollar‐based economic models but in a time‐denominated system are costlier to those who require more time to earn the money to pay the fines. In principle, one can use either money or time in setting penalties. However, time‐based penalties are more consistent with the fundamental and widely held principles of justice on which the U.S. legal system rests.

An Evaluation Model for Criminal Justice

This paper focuses on the problems encountered in the evaluation of criminal justice programs. Although experimental research is the preferred design, oftentimes it is infeasible for a variety of reasons. No matter what design the researcher is using, a variety of problems can be anticipated. When there is a conflict between the evaluation design and the needs of the criminal justice system, the design will have to be changed. The author proposes that traditional research designs be supplemented by the utilization of general evaluation models which are applicable to all criminal justice programs. Such models would focus on those attributes which are common across sub-systems and programs. Goal effectiveness and efficiency models are discussed, with emphasis on the weaknesses of goal-oriented evaluation models. The author proposes that evaluation focus on the program's societal impact. This would eliminate the consideration of program goals and means; the focus would be on the program's social benefits and social costs. This approach, known as the social accounting model, allows evalutation across time, across counterpart systems, across programs, and across communities. A social accounting model provides description of the system's social costs and social benefits, and it expresses the program value in terms of a net surplus or a net deficit. The criminal justice system could be evaluated on the basis of relative efficiency, and programs which are equally effective in achieving a goal can be compared in terms of their social surplus or deficit. Formulas for determining social costs, social benefits, social surplus, and cumulative social surplus are identified. Examples of social costs and social benefits are delineated. The author also illustrates the feasibility of expressing the costs and benefits of crime and criminal justice in terms of monetary value. The author advocates the establishment of the Criminal Justice Social Accounting Committee in order to facilitate reliable estimates of the costs and benefits of criminal justice operations. This committee could have an impact on the allocation of resources to criminal justice systems and programs.