Crime Problem Research Articles

What do the Rural Folks Think? Perceptions of Police Performance

Abstract Several highly publicized incidents have drawn the public’s attention to the problem of rural crime in Canada, and this focus is appropriate given that rates of rural crime in most provinces are higher than in urban areas. This study reports the results of an examination of urban and rural residents’ perceptions of the police in Saskatchewan, Canada. Controlling for their socio-demographic characteristics, prior victimization, perceptions of crime, and contact with the police, the results of 1,791 phone surveys reveal that rural residents are less likely than their urban counterparts to indicate their police do a good job of enforcing the laws, promptly responding to calls for service, providing them with crime prevention information, ensuring their safety, or cooperating with them to address their concerns. We also found that both urban and rural residents who felt their communities were unsafe or neutral (neither safe nor unsafe) were less likely to indicate the police did a good job in all the seven categories of police performance examined in this research. Implications for rural policing practice and research are identified considering these findings.

Using a Rural Index to Assess Crime Risk and Crime Prevention Behavior Across the Urban–Rural Continuum: A Japanese Case Study

The study proposes a new method of crime analysis combining data from multiple secondary data sources (census, open crime data, and social survey) to assess the risk of victimization and crime prevention behavior in resource-limited settings. Principal component analysis was performed on municipal-level census data ( n = 1,883) to generate a rural index that represents the ecological characteristics of each municipality across the urban–rural continuum. Multilevel logistic analyses were then applied to crime incident data ( n = 207,771) to assess the municipal-level effects on victims’ use of locks in motor vehicle and bicycle thefts. A linear pattern of victimization was found for bicycle theft (the risk was about one-thirtieth in the most rural municipalities than that in the most urban municipalities), while the pattern found was nonlinear for motor vehicle thefts. The analysis also revealed that victims in rural areas were less likely to have locked their vehicles before they were stolen than those living in urban areas. Using the rural index developed in this study, police forces can have a better understanding of crime problems in their jurisdiction across the urban–rural continuum. The study discusses the implications of the results for crime prevention and problem-solving policymaking in the urban–rural continuum.

Doing a Madoff: The Psychology of White-collar Criminals

This article deals with the problem of white-collar crime—nonviolent financial crimes that include Ponzi schemes, insider trading, fraud, identity theft, copyright infringement and many more. White-collar crime is a major reason why approval and trust in businesspeople have eroded public opinion. The concept of the “Fraud Triangle” is introduced, identifying three major forces that influence white-collar crime: pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. There is evidence that white-collar criminals spend surprisingly little time thinking about the consequences of their actions. The article considers the extent to which personality differences play a role in white-collar crime, examining factors like greed, poor self-control, thrill-seeking, narcissism, and psychopathy. Neuro-criminological observations suggest that individuals with psychopathic tendencies show decreased amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex responses to emotionally provocative stimuli. Concerning the detection and exposure of white-collar crime, journalists and whistleblowers are apparently more proactive than standard law-enforcement agencies. The article concludes with a discussion of the preventive measures that can be taken to pre-empt white-collar crime, including a potentially important role for business schools to play.

A Current and Future Challenge to Contemporary Policing: The Changing Profile of Crime and the Police Response. Examples of Policing Fraud in Two Police Jurisdictions: England and Wales and South Korea

Abstract This article considers recent developments in the policing of fraud and provides an evaluation of the police response to the growing problem of fraud in England and Wales and South Korea. The size and nature of the fraud problem has most recently been recognized by HMIFRS in its 2019 Report which, drawing on data provided by the Office of National Statistics, notes that fraud now makes up almost one-third of total crime and was now the largest stand-alone crime type. In light of this changing profile of crime growing interest has been directed at the police response to this ever-increasing challenge. Drawing on data provided by a variety of sources the current role and status of the police response in England and Wales is identified and explored. The evidence suggests that a police organizational culture has proved reluctant to engage with this now major crime problem. The article then considers the police response to fraud in South Korea. As is argued although sharing some cultural features with the police service in England and Wales it would appear that inhibitions arising from these can be successfully challenged and overcome. It is also evident, however, that alternative enforcement structures may be needed to fully engage with the fraud problem but what form they should take remains uncertain and the subject of continuing debate.

Scientific Heritage of Professor G.S. Gaverov in the Science of Criminal Law

On July 12, 2021 the community of legal scholars celebrated the 90th anniversary of Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Professor Grigory Stepanovich Gaverov. This article presents an overview of the scientific career of a famous criminal law scholar, the author of a substantial number of research publications on a wide range of different aspects of criminal law, its effectiveness, and problems of crime and punishment, who made an invaluable contribution to the criminal law theory and practical work of the law enforcement bodies. The authors describe key milestones of the career path of Professor G.S. Gaverov, present an overview of his major achievements in the spheres of research and teaching, as well as educational methodology. They prove that the scientific school of criminal law was formed and outline the scope of major scientific interests of G.S. Gaverov which widened as Grigory Stepanovich acted as mentor for postgraduate researchers who later successfully defended their Ph.D. in Law theses. Special attention is paid to the legacy of G.S. Gaverov in the area of educational methodology, which kept up with the major developments of criminal law. The scholar’s talents in the sphere of publicistic writing are highlighted. Special place is given to an overview of a research conference «Scientific heritage of Irkutsk scholars of criminal law» organized in Baikal State University on June 11–12, 2021 in honor of the 90th anniversaries of two outstanding Irkutsk scholars — Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Professor G.S. Gaverov and Doctor of Law, Professor V.Ya. Rybalskaya.

Liveability of Indian Cities and Spread of Covid-19-- Case of Tier-1 Cities

Cities are widely considered to be the engines of economic growth, as they contribute for more than 70% of global economy. However, the haphazard urbanisation trends are today resulting in widespread problems of urban sprawl, pollution, housing, crime and disaster and so on. While India is one of the least urbanised large developing countries of the world, the country is witnessing rapid urbanisation (projected to add 404 million of urban population by 2050). However, the associated problems are impacting the liveability of the cities in India. In light of that, this study aims to evaluate the liveability of Tier-1 cities of India. In reference to the existing literature, eleven key indicators have been identified for the evaluation of liveability. For the ease of analysis, these indicators are broadly clustered under five categories, that is, health, environment, transport, geography and socio-economy. The correlation analysis between the indicators and the number of Covid-19 cases in selected cities of India reveal a significant relationship between the individual categories such as ‘quality of life’ and ‘health index’.

Social Media, Youth Mobilization and Urban Crime

This paper was focused on exploring the drivers of urban crime through social media mobilization of youths. Adopting the use and gratification theory, the paper x-rays the extent to which social media has been adopted by youths in Nigeria for social participation and activities including the perpetration of crime. In addition to changing the way information is shared, social media also provides a veritable tool for the creation of criminal networks which have proved challenging to effective functionality of justice system in Nigeria. The paper further explores the intersection between poverty, youth violence, drug peddling, and activism on the one hand, and social media utilization. To address the problem of urban crime, the paper suggest that government at all levels should engage in massive employment of youths and provides greater focus on positive utilization of social media.

Evaluation of Occurrence of Crime Rates in Kenya within the Years 2014-2020

Controlling crime continues to be a big problem probably because crimes are on the increase and there is little probability for a drop in crime rates anytime in the near future. Kenya has shown a marked increase in the contemporary years in the occurrences of lawbreaking and violations. The rate is alarming and has attained an epidemic proportion in Kenya that everyone has gradually become not only concerned but also worried. It is evident in the empirical data, audio-visual electronic, newspapers, and print media which highlight criminal activities in numerous parts of the country, most of which are stated to have happened in big towns. United Nations surveys in Kenya have revealed that over half of the inhabitants worry about crime constantly. Roughly 75% feel unsafe while at home. Notwithstanding these continuous reports of criminal actions, the problem of crime continues, in effect escalates and fewer crimes are stated. Only up to 45% of urban crimes are normally informed. When crimes are not reported to the police, victims may not be able to get necessary services to cope with the persecution, offenders may go scot-free, and law implementation and community resources may be misdirected due to a lack of precise information about local crime complications. Accepting the characteristics of crimes unknown to police, victims who do not report crimes, and the reasons these crimes are not reported may help identify gaps in the provision of criminal justice services and inform police practice and policies. Common motivations for reporting a crime include punishing the offender a lesson and discouraging other offenders

Drugs Abuse, Law, and Society: The Role of Penitentiary Institution

The problem of criminal narcotics crime has become the problem of nations and nations in the world that is always talked about. Around the world the problem of narcotics abuse is almost all the problems of nations. Narcotics abuse can certainly lead to physical damage, mental health, emotions, and attitudes in society. Problems of narcotics abuse have been threatening society and nation to become an organized crime in the national scope as well as to the international world. This study aims to analyze the problem of how the application of criminal law regarding the regulation of narcotics crime in Indonesia and how the criminal law system concerning the regulation of narcotics crime in Indonesia. Research method in scientific journal is done by normative juridical approach that is by doing analysis of problem through approach of law principles and referring to legal norms contained in legislation. The data used in this scientific journal is secondary data. This study found and emphasized that penitentiary institution has an important and strategic role on rehabilitating the drug abuse actors. However, in some cases, the penitentiary.

Analysis of Temporal Characteristics of Burglary Crime

Social security order had generally stabilized, and various major criminal crimes had been effectively controlled, but the problem of burglary crime was very serious. Burglary crime had gradually shown the different characteristics from the past, making it increasingly difficult to control. Data of Burglary crime from 2015 to 2019 in Danyang City, Jiangsu Province, was collected. The main contents of the study included temporal trend analysis based on time series, temporal hotspot analysis based on Biharmonic Spline Surface Interpolation, and temporal correction analysis based on Time Period Probability. Characteristics of burglary cases in yearly scale, monthly scale, and daily scale were extracted in this paper. This study found that the burglary cases in Danyang showed different temporal distributions on different time scales. This study further enriched the spatio-temporal analysis methods of burglary crime, and put forward targeted and reliable suggestions for police departments.

소년사건에서의 이른바 역송(逆送)에 따른 절차의 존재방식 - 일본 ｢소년법｣ 제20조 제2항의 해석론을 참고로 하여 -

In Japan, the Family Court holds jurisdiction over all delinquent juveniles, which differs from juvenile justice system of Korea. However, there are many similarities to the Korean system, in regards to the principle of delinquency control and the characteristics of juvenile protection proceedings. In Japan, the ferocity of juvenile crimes has been seriously recognized, and there has been a discussion about the age of juveniles subject to the juvenile law. For Korea, which shares the problems of juvenile crime, it is useful to take a look at the reality of Japan''s juvenile justice system and the challenges it faces, in order to suggest the direction of future policy. In Korea, discussions about juvenile justice policy that expands the application of criminal punishment as a reaction to a series of heinous juvenile crimes or violent juvenile crimes has been supported by the public and the media. Examining the discussion in Japan regarding the method and procedure of the decision to referral (remitment) to a prosecutor (Article 20 of Japan’s Juvenile Act), and the methods of holding criminal trials of juveniles after a remitment-to-prosecutor, it can be seen that much valuable consideration has been constantly presented to carry out the fundamental ideal and basic framework concerning juvenile justice by ensuring appropriate procedures (‘due process’) for juveniles and promoting the healthy growth and development of juveniles. This point is considered to be significant in determining the direction of rational problem-solving in relation to the phenomenon of juvenile crime that we are facing in Korea.

Program Bimbingan Untuk Mengatasi Penyelewengan Perilaku Sosial Dan Kriminal Remaja

Teenagers are the nation's next generation. Adolescents are expected to have a character that is in accordance with the norms prevailing in society. However, the fact is that many crimes are committed by teenagers and originate from juvenile delinquency which is caused by various factors. Both from internal factors such as the psychological condition of adolescents themselves who are unstable due to various changes and problems that have started to emerge in their lives or external factors from an environment that is too free and has a bad impact on adolescents so that they dare to commit crimes. The guidance program is a program aimed at developing social skills and also as a medium for personal development. This research is a qualitative research that uses the literature study method by collecting various scientific articles related to the research topic. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the guidance program was able to solve the problem of social behavior deviance and crime in adolescents based on pre-existing research and it is hoped that this research can add references to academic literacy. From the various studies that have been conducted, it can be concluded that the guidance program is able to be a solution to dealing with deviant social behavior and juvenile crime. In addition, the guidance program must also be adjusted to the needs and problems faced in order to produce effective results.
 Key Words: guidance, teen, juvenile crime

Danish cannabis policy revisited: Multiple framings of cannabis use in policy discourse.

Aim:This article traces recent developments in Danish cannabis policy, by exploring how “cannabis use” is problematised and governed within different co-existing policy areas.Background:Recently, many countries have changed their cannabis policy by introducing medical cannabis and/or by moving toward legalisation or decriminalisation. Researchers have thus argued that traditional notions of cannabis as a singular and coherent object, are being replaced by perspectives that highlight the multiple ontological character of cannabis. At the same time, there is growing recognition that drug policy is not a unitary phenomenon, but rather composed by multiple “policy areas”, each defined by particular notions of what constitutes the relevant policy “problem”.Design:We draw on existing research, government reports, policy papers and media accounts of policy and policing developments.Results:We demonstrate how Danish cannabis policy is composed of different co-existing framings of cannabis use; as respectively a social problem, a problem of deviance, an organised crime problem, a health- and risk problem and as a medical problem.Conclusion:While the international trend seems to be that law-and-order approaches are increasingly being replaced by more liberal approaches, Denmark, on an overall level, seems to be moving in the opposite direction: Away from a lenient decriminalisation policy and towards more repressive approaches. We conclude that the prominence of discursive framings of cannabis use as a “problem of deviance” and as “a driver of organised crime”, has been key to this process.

Between Citizenship and Prisons: Criminalizing LGBTphobia in Brazil

This article aims at understanding, from the case of the criminalization of LGBTphobia in Brazil, how criminalizing demands were articulated by social movements with the defense of democracy and human rights. Considering that Brazilian LGBT activism has grown in struggles against the repression of the criminal justice system towards sexual and gender dissidents, we intend, at first, to understand how demands for criminalization policies arose among activists. Departing from queer criminological studies that have analyzed how gender and sexuality structure prisons and the criminal justice system, we reflect on how prisons and prison struggles have become structuring features of contemporary sexual politics. From this case, at last, we seek to illuminate aspects of the historical process underway in Brazil in the last decades in which democratization has gone hand in hand with the expansion of the criminal justice system and mass incarceration. The object of this study is the speeches of the hegemonic groups in the Brazilian LGBT movement, in order to investigate in them how demands for criminalization and incarceration were built. Thus, we are based on an empirical analysis of the documents produced by Brazilian LGBT activism since the 1980s, as manifestos, records of national meetings and law projects. In following the rising and rooting of this agenda, we argue that not only has LGBT phobia become a problem of crime and prison, but LGBT struggles have become criminalizing and carceral. Keywords: crime; LGBT movement; democracy; criminalizing rationality DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-11-10 Publication date: June 30 th 2021

The problem of hate crimes in the United States of America

The aim of this article is to draw attention to an issue that has a long history: the problem of hate crimes in the United States of America. There is no doubt that hate crimes are the type of crime that attack the very principle of individuality that is an entitlement under the equal protection of the law (in the U.S.). Bearing the foregoing in mind the above, and that the number of such crime has increased at an alarming rate, this article describes and discusses types of hate crimes such as: Racist and Religious Hate Crimes, Sexual Orientation-Based Hate Crimes and Disability Hate Crimes as an extended projection of the analysis, several solutions have been proposed to mitigate tensions and combat the prevalence and severity of hate crime in all its forms.

A tainted reputation it deserves? Crime in the trotting sector of Dutch horse racing

The Netherlands are a small country with an urban underworld history before a serious problem of organized crime has developed since the 1980. The interest of the mob in Horse Race Betting flourished before that time. After a long period of Prohibition since 1911 horse racing (especially trotting) and betting on the results has become a very popular pastime since it was permitted in 1948. Especially during the nineteen seventies and eighties horse races drew a large audience and to a lesser degree they still do. However, bookmaking has always been forbidden since 1911 and that by itself presented in invitation to (organized) crime. Other well-known criminal byproducts of horse racing such as drugging horses, laundering money and matchfixing have been observed but as we measured only to a very moderate degree. The social variety of aficionados for the races is amazing. While doing historical and ethnographic field research at the race tracks we registered a mixture of people of humble origins as well as big entrepreneurs. There were members of the royal family but also well-known criminals. It is amazing to find out to what degree the latter have been accepted by the entire horse racing community.

Conspicuously Concealed: Federal Funding, Knowledge Production, and the Criminalization of Gun Research

A popular narrative in the U.S. gun debate concerns federal funding of gun research: Because of a right-wing backlash against gun-related public health research (centered on the controversial Kellermann et al. study), federal funding of gun research has been frozen since the mid-1990s. How accurate is this popular “funding freeze” narrative—or is the federal funding of gun research better described as a “chill”? If the latter, what kinds of funding have persisted within this “chill”? Drawing on public data on funded project abstracts from 1996 to 2016 from three major federal institutes (the National Institute of Justice, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health), this paper shows that despite funding cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), federal funding for gun research has continued, especially for studies that construct the focus of their study as gun crime. Specifically, we find that a criminal justice approach to the study of guns and gun-related topics dominates the project abstracts analyzed and that this approach also casts a shadow on other approaches—especially public health and social justice approaches—to the research of guns. Examining federally funded gun research from a social constructionist lens provides insight not just into federal funding of gun research but also into the dominant framings of gun policy within the United States: criminal justice approaches to gun research may reinforce an understanding of gun violence as a problem of crime and justify criminalizing strategies in gun policy.

Data-informed crime prevention at convenience stores in Atlantic City

ABSTRACT The Atlantic City Police Department intervened to reduce robberies with an evidence-based approach grounded in problem-oriented policing. Informed by risk terrain modeling and hot spot analysis, police commanders implemented a place-based intervention focused around convenience stores. Target areas throughout the city were reprioritized each month to create a dynamic deployment strategy that efficiently allocated resources to the most vulnerable places. Risk reduction actions, such as business checks, were favored over law enforcement against people. Robberies significantly decreased by 63% within four months. There was a significant spatial diffusion of benefits and there were fewer arrests, as should be expected with fewer crimes and a tactical place-based, not person-oriented, approach. Implications for policy and practice are discussed within the contexts of rapid evidence-based police responses to urgent crime problems, police culture, and data analytics.

Crime victims: journalistic strategies for representing stories in the Ukrainian media

The professional duty of a journalist is to present a chronicle of events in social reality, but at the same time to focus attention on the problems of society (in particular, crime), to attract experts for a professional assessment and search for solutions to these problems. Coverage of criminal issues in the Ukrainian information space is characterized by fragmentation and discreteness. This means that the focus of attention of journalists is on concrete facts of reality, which are presented out of context and do not form a holistic, full-fledged, voluminous view of the problem of crime. The study focuses on journalistic strategies for representing the stories of victims of crime. Based on the results of the analysis of the stories selected for the study, it became obvious that the priority for journalists is: to demonstrate (and leave in the epicenter of attention) stories that have already acquired resonance in society, or to submit stories that can attract the attention of the audience, which can contribute to an increase in the rating of specific mass media (in particular, thanks to the emphasis on the exclusivity of information). It has been determined that journalists are not sensitive to the problem of crime, and even more so to the traumatic experience of a specific person — a victim. For journalists, the main challenge is to create a resonant story that can generate interest from the audience. The narrative of material in a story depends on the journalistic strategy: «to shock» or «to amaze». The strategy «to shock» is to detail / naturalize the essence of the crime, to demonstrate the chronicle of the commission of criminal acts against the victim. The strategy «to amaze» is to reflect the victim’s emotions at the time of the crime and how the victim feels after the incident. The article draws attention to the way in which journalists, presenting stories, violate the recommendations regarding communication with victims (in particular, when interviewing juvenile / minor victims).

Proxy Crimes and Overcriminalization

A solution to the problem of “overcriminalization” appears to be decriminalization of certain crimes. This Essay focuses on a group of crimes that has been labeled “proxy crimes” as a candidate to be eliminated. What are proxy crimes? Douglas Husak defines them as “offenses designed to achieve a purpose other than to prevent the conduct they explicitly proscribe.” Michael Moore describes them as involving situations where we “use one morally innocuous act as a proxy for another, morally wrongful act or mental state.” Put that way, proxy crimes seem highly problematic, and Larry Alexander and Kimberly Ferzan bluntly put it, “We reject proxy crimes.” This Essay asks whether we should reject proxy crimes by presenting and evaluating Alexander and Ferzan’s treatment of the subject. After describing several different types of crimes that may be characterized as proxy crimes and Alexander and Ferzan’s rejection of most of them and their arguments for doing so, this Essay argues that their rejection of proxy crimes is incomplete, which leaves their theory open to a range of possibilities regarding the proper place of proxy crimes in criminal law. This Essay concludes that getting a handle on the problem of proxy crimes and overcriminalization requires a theory of the state and an articulation of the proper relationship between the state and its citizens that can give guidance on when the state can demand obedience from citizens to support the state and when failures to comply with such demands render one criminally culpable. Without such a theory, proposals to address overcriminalization cannot travel very far.