Criminology Research Articles

Диалектика взаимодействия опорных концептов уголовного судопроизводства

Dialectical duality as a specific methodological tool is widely demanded by criminal procedure science. The need for dialectic dichotomy is especially evident in the essential sections of the criminal procedure theory, primarily in the study of the types and forms (models) of criminal proceedings. However, a typology is not so much a theory of process models as a theory of the relationships that arise between these models during the general evolution of criminal proceedings. Based on this, the ideology of criminal proceedings is determined not only by the supporting concepts that underlie “typological ideologies”, but also by the complex relationships that are established between these concepts. There are complex multi-level relationships between the concepts of competition and inquisitionism. Criminal procedural ideology is ultimately only a volatile form of innovative (progressive) operation with invariable (conservative) basic concepts. According to our ideas, modern criminal procedural science approaches these relations sufficiently.

Perceived school climate and delinquency among Chinese adolescents: A moderated mediation analysis of moral disengagement and effortful control

Although scholarly interest in the association between perceived school climate and adolescent delinquency is growing, research on how and for whom perceived school climate relates to delinquency is underdeveloped. Based on social control theory and the general theory of crime, the present study established a moderated mediation model to examine whether moral disengagement would mediate the relationship between perceived school climate and delinquency and whether the mediation process would be moderated by effortful control. A total of 1529 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.74 years, SD = 1.48) from seven middle and high schools completed anonymous questionnaires on perceived school climate, moral disengagement, effortful control, and delinquency. After controlling for gender, age, and socioeconomic status, the results indicated that: (a) perceived school climate was negatively related to adolescent delinquency; (b) the relationship between perceived school climate and delinquency was partially mediated by adolescent moral disengagement; and (c) effortful control moderated the direct and indirect relationships between perceived school climate and adolescent delinquency, such that these relationships were only significant for adolescents with low levels of effortful control. These findings shed light on how and for whom perceived school climate is associated with adolescent delinquency, and they can inspire practitioners to pay attention to the interaction of social control (e.g., perceived school climate) and self-control (e.g., effortful control) when providing prevention and intervention.

ECOLOGY OF CRIME IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN AREA – SPATIAL PATTERNS OF CRIME IN NIS (SERBIA)

Ecological perspective in criminology has been introduced with the cartographic school at the beginning of criminology science. Ecology theory of crime has been developed in the city of Chicago and it is followed by the routine activity theory, crime pattern theory, and rational choice theory. The impact of the ecological theory in research of crime is noticeable in today's studies too. Modern scientists, researchers, and practitioners are studying crime using the geographic information system, mapping crime, using statistical and geostatistical methods. With the aim to study spatial patterns of crime, empirical research of the poverty and violent criminal acts committed in the City of Nis, Republic of Serbia, during the years 2008, 2013 and 2018. All the cases are geocoded into spatial units that represent urban and suburban areas in Nis. A descriptive statistic is used to identify areas where crime happens the most. The application of Andersen’s Spatial Point Pattern Test is used to check the hypothesis that spatial crime pattern is stable over time. This hypothesis is not confirmed and it is found that crime move from the city core towards cities’ urban and suburban settlements. The results from the empirical research are of scientific and practical value. This kind of spatial analysis is one of the first in Serbia and Balkans, and the application of the Spatial Point Pattern Test is very first in this region. The results could be useful when creating security strategies and policies to prevent crime by the police, decision-makers, and others.

Criminological Ethnography: An Introduction. By James Treadwell (Sage, 2019, 240pp, £29.99 pb)

Criminological Ethnography: An Introduction. By James Treadwell (Sage, 2019, 240pp, £29.99 pb)

Crime and coronavirus: social distancing, lockdown, and the mobility elasticity of crime

Governments around the world restricted movement of people, using social distancing and lockdowns, to help stem the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We examine crime effects for one UK police force area in comparison to 5-year averages. There is variation in the onset of change by crime type, some declining from the WHO ‘global pandemic’ announcement of 11 March, others later. By 1 week after the 23 March lockdown, all recorded crime had declined 41%, with variation: shoplifting (− 62%), theft (− 52%), domestic abuse (− 45%), theft from vehicle (− 43%), assault (− 36%), burglary dwelling (− 25%) and burglary non-dwelling (− 25%). We use Google Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports to calculate the mobility elasticity of crime for four crime types, finding shoplifting and other theft inelastic but responsive to reduced retail sector mobility (MEC = 0.84, 0.71 respectively), burglary dwelling elastic to increases in residential area mobility (− 1), with assault inelastic but responsive to reduced workplace mobility (0.56). We theorise that crime rate changes were primarily caused by those in mobility, suggesting a mobility theory of crime change in the pandemic. We identify implications for crime theory, policy and future research.

Imaginative Criminology by Maggie O’Neill & Lizzie Seal

Imaginative Criminology by Maggie O’Neill & Lizzie Seal

The evolution of unethical behavior engagement amongst longshoremen in France: A 70-year perspective

Our study builds theory about why employees’ engagement in workplace misconduct changes over time. Data collected from 72 interviews with longshoremen, their employers, and port officials in two French ports, supplemented with 70 years of archival data revealed how factors from both the organizational context and greater societal context combine to create a setting in which the seeds of misconduct persist even as the type of misconduct itself transforms. We have three primary findings. First, we find that strain and social control play distinct roles in inciting and allowing unethical behavior. Second, we find ostracism at the societal level plays a critical role in driving societal-targeted misconduct. Third, we find that generational “carry-over effects” from earlier periods’ strain and ostracism account for instances of misconduct left unexplained by classical theories of crime and ostracism.

Control over Crime Theory in the Rome Statute

The International Criminal Court has adopted the control over crime theory, to establish criminal responsibility for co-perpetration and indirect perpetration under article 25(3) (a) of the Rome Statute. As a result the court has been facing a wide range of criticism. It is important to clarify the notion of the control theory and make a reasonable interpretation of co-perpetration and indirect perpetration within the meaning of article 25(3) (a) according to the control theory for distinguishing between principles and accessories and secure the convection of multiple accused who in spite of being removed from the scene of the crime, control or mastermind its commission because they decide whether and how the offence will be committed.

Validation of the Low Self-Control Scale Spanish Version: a bifactor model approach

General Theory of Crime has considered low self-control as the main cause of crime, and the Low Self-Control Scale (LSCS) is the tool derived from this theory to measure it. However, a debate exists about self-control dimensionality, and the LSCS has been used as a suitable tool in spite of this discussion. The present work explored the LSCS psychometric properties in 272 offender and non-offender adolescents from Argentina. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the scale is best represented by a bifactor structure, so a general latent self-control factor exists beyond its elements and vice versa. Internal consistency indexes were good to excellent for total and elements scores. Criterion validity analyses indicated that risk-seeking and self-centered subscales are associated with different types of deviance to the same extent as the total scale. The present study aims to provide new evidence on the use of the LSCS in research and professional practice.

Crime control in Nigeria: how relevant is remittance inflow?

Purpose This paper aims to draw on extant literature to ascertain the relevance of remittance receipts in improving the level of crime control in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The study uses time series data spanning for a period of 1986–2017. It adopts dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), vector auto regression impulse response function, variance decomposition and Toda and Yamamoto causality approach to analyse the data. Findings The following findings are established: DOLS shows that remittance receipt has negative and significant impact on crime rate in Nigeria. The impulse response function indicates that a positive shock to the remittance inflows reduces the level of crime in Nigeria. Moreover, a positive shock to the crime rate decreases the remittance. This implies that both variables respond to each other. Toda and Yamamoto causality approach shows that there is unidirectional causality moving from remittance inflow to criminal activities in Nigeria. These results persist after considering other institutional variables. These findings support the previous evidences on remittances-crime nexus and as well support the opportunity cost theory of crime. Originality/value Apart from being the first study in African region that evaluates the relevance of remittances in crime control, it also analyses the dynamics between crime rate and remittance receipts using time series econometrics which makes the study to be unique. The study shows that remittances can be used as part of toolkits for controlling criminal activities in Nigeria.

Book Review: Lizzie Seal and Maggie O’Neill, Imaginative Criminology of Spaces Past, Present and Future

Book Review: Lizzie Seal and Maggie O’Neill, <i>Imaginative Criminology of Spaces Past, Present and Future</i>

Nazi Criminology: Continuity and Radicalisation

Contrary to the ‘rupture thesis’ favoured in Anglo-American academic discourse, Nazi criminal law did not emerge from a vacuum; nor did it disappear after 1945. The article explains and defends this ‘continuity thesis’. In fact, Nazi criminal law adopted earlier authoritarian tendencies of German criminal law and exacerbated them (the ‘radicalisation thesis’). It is for this reason that Nazi criminal law should not lightly be dismissed as ‘non-law’, thus omitting any further engagement with it. The article will show that the same continuity and radicalisation arguments can be made, mutatis mutandis, for German Nazi criminology, which ultimately became a legitimating science (‘Legitimationswissenschaft’) for Nazi criminal justice policy. The argument is developed in four stages. First, an account is given of the racist and criminal-biologistic foundations of National Socialist criminology, including their continuity both with the past and into the future. This is followed by an explanation of the influence of criminal anthropology (particularly that of Lombroso) on the ‘scientification’ of criminology (the ‘Kraepelin and Aschaffenburg paradigms’). Third, the National Socialist radicalisation of criminology on the basis of the criminal-biological utopia of the ‘blood-based’ Volksgemeinschaft is described. Thus, Nazi criminology derived its strength from and built upon biological theories of crime, which in turn laid the foundations of the deadly Nazi criminal justice policy. The discipline became a science that legitimated National Socialism, contrary to Wetzell's thesis of a somewhat dissident ‘mainstream criminology’. With regard to disturbing developments in current German politics, all this will make clear that the approach of the (German) ‘New Right’ to criminal justice is not novel at all but is derived from the ideologically infused theories and policies of Nazi criminologists during the 1930s.

Police Officers’ Theories of Crime

What factors do police officers point to in explaining offending and victimization? A limited amount of prior research has addressed this question, despite the possibility that such theories impact police practice. Moreover, the findings that do exist are based solely on municipal police; yet a different socio-environmental context could lead officers to adopt different explanations. In the present paper, we draw on qualitative data obtained in interviews with campus police officers to explore how they explain common crimes on campus. They theorized petty larceny, underage drinking, and drug possession to result from a variety of factors, including opportunity, social learning, supervision, culture, peer pressure, the psychopharmacological effect of alcohol on crime, and deterrence; as a collective, these ideas form officers’ rational choice theories. After presenting our findings, we suggest how officers’ explanations of crime may be shaped by working in particular contexts and also affect how they police; implications for future research and police practice are discussed.

Juridical Analysis Of Application Of Forgiveness (Rechterlijk Pardon) As A Basis Of Judge Consideration In Deciding The Criminal

The formulation of the problem in this study are: How is the principle position Rechterlijk Pardon in the criminal system in Indonesia, how the principles are applied Rechterlijk Pardon in a criminal ruling Decision Number 241 / Pid.B / 2019 / PN.Mjl andHow the development / concept of the Rechterlijk Pardon principle in the renewal of the Indonesian criminal law that will come related to the draft criminal law on the monodualistic principle?This study uses a sociological juridical approach, with descriptive analytical research specifications. The data used in this study are secondary data obtained through library research and primary data obtained through field research which are then analyzed qualitatively using legal theory, the forgiveness agency theory, criminal justice system theory, and progressive legal theory. Based on the results of that study The position of the Rechterlijk Pardon Principle in the Criminal System in Indonesia is forgiveness is a form of forgiveness / deliverance from mistakes made. As a form of forgiveness, then with forgiveness, someone who is guilty is not sentenced or does not need to feel the punishment. Provisions such as this basically exist in conditional criminal conduct (voorwaardelijke veroordeling) regulated in Article 14a-14f of the Criminal Code. Conditional penalties are also referred to by part of the community with the term criminal trial or there is also termed as conditional punishment. Application of the Rechterlijk Pardon Principle in Criminal Verdicts Number 241 / Pid.B / 2019 / PN.Mjl it is applied later to act as the final safety valve in the criminal justice system if a case is not filtered at the prosecution and preliminary hearing judge stage. Development / Concept of the Rechterlijk Pardon Principle in the Future Renewal of Indonesian Criminal Laws Associated with the Draft Criminal Laws on the Monodualistic Principle are Forgiveness institution, is an important element to answer problems that cannot be accommodated with only 3 (three) types of decisions (free, loose, criminal funds).Keywords : Institutions; Forgiveness; Rechterlijk Pardon; Considerations; Judges; Decisions.

Ambient Population and Larceny-Theft: A Spatial Analysis Using Mobile Phone Data

In the spatial analysis of crime, the residential population has been a conventional measure of the population at risk. Recent studies suggest that the ambient population is a useful alternative measure of the population at risk that can better capture the activity patterns of a population. However, current studies are limited by the availability of high precision demographic characteristics, such as social activities and the origins of residents. In this research, we use spatially referenced mobile phone data to measure the size and activity patterns of various types of ambient population, and further investigate the link between urban larceny-theft and population with multiple demographic and activity characteristics. A series of crime attractors, generators, and detractors are also considered in the analysis to account for the spatial variation of crime opportunities. The major findings based on a negative binomial model are three-fold. (1) The size of the non-local population and people’s social regularity calculated from mobile phone big data significantly correlate with the spatial variation of larceny-theft. (2) Crime attractors, generators, and detractors, measured by five types of Points of Interest (POIs), significantly depict the criminality of places and impact opportunities for crime. (3) Higher levels of nighttime light are associated with increased levels of larceny-theft. The results have practical implications for linking the ambient population to crime, and the insights are informative for several theories of crime and crime prevention efforts.

Lessons and current Challenges for Urban Sociologists. A Conversation with Robert J. Sampson

In this interview, Robert J. Sampson discusses main lessons and current challenges for urban sociologists, starting from his personal experience and perspective. The interview recaps his important works on factors and events that can determine criminal behavior, the important Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, that he led with his innovative theories and empirical results on violence, race and ethnic segregation, inequality, order and disorder in urban environments, and the shifting structure of community network. The interview also reflects on the process and encounters that led him to the formulation of a theory of race, crime and urban inequality with William J. Wilson (1995). Our discussion spanned over areas of research interests of Professor Sampson, including crime, disorder, life course, civic engagement, inequality, ecometrics, and the social structure of the city, with particular attention to neighborhood effects. Finally, the interview deals with current challenges for urban sociologists, focusing on two main problems: poor quality of data and limit of funding.

Causes of Kidnapping in Nigeria and Proposed Solutions

Nigeria is a complex society with a rapid growing population of roughly 200 million people. The country has around 500 different languages and 250 distinct ethnic groups. Thus, uniting these complex groups into one unified political entity since the amalgamation of the country in 1914 proved difficult. Comparatively, Nigeria is one of the secured and peaceful nations in the West African sub-region; however, contemporarily, this endowed nation suddenly plunged into waves of kidnapping and other heinous crimes such as armed robbery and banditry. The phenomenon has escalated and led to numerous lives lost, which also crippled socio-economic activities. Generally, as enshrined in chapter 2, section 14(2b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the security of lives and property is one of the primary responsibility of the state. This study aims to identify the causes of kidnapping in Nigeria and offer some strategic solution to the problem. The study adopted a Qualitative method and also adopt both Marxian and strain theories of crime. The study`s findings through descriptive and historical method shows that abject poverty, corruption and fraud, political influence, joblessness, terrorism, lack of capital punishment by the government, the changing value system and quick-money syndrome are the major causes of kidnapping in Nigeria. Finally, the study went further to profound remedies that will stop the ugly menace of kidnapping in Nigeria, such as job creation, New policy adaptation and implementation, public awareness and empowerment programs, Sim cards registrations, quitting ransom payment, re-modified community policing and stoppage of small and light arms proliferation in the country. Considerably, by adopting such measures, we hope that the menace will perish in Nigeria for a better and productive society.

Book review: Olga Petintseva, Rita Faria and Yarin Eski, Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology

Book review: Olga Petintseva, Rita Faria and Yarin Eski, <i>Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology</i>

Why and How Criminology Should Be Free

Why and How Criminology Should Be Free

End-of-life decisions amid the Covid-19 pandemic as a practical problem of criminal law theory

The current Covid-19 pandemic threatens to overwhelm health care systems. Because many patients have to be provided with ventilators, there is a risk that not all patients will receive the medical help they require. This has already happened for example in Italy, Spain and France and at the time of writing, during the second week of April 2020, it appears likely that other countries will face the same shortages. In some countries, guidelines have been created to determine under which circumstances a patient will be allocated a ventilator. This allocation of scarce life-saving resources raises significant concerns regarding the protection of the right to life and respect for human dignity. By determining that a person’s life has to end in order to re-allocate resources such as a respirator in an intensive care unit the patient is no longer an actor but becomes the mere object of the decision made by others. This is incompatible with the concept of human dignity, in particular when one takes into account the definition of human dignity employed by the German Federal Constitutional Court in several cases. This notion can be traced back to Immanuel Kant. In practice, however, medical decision-makers will be forced to choose between different patients. These choices can be deadly for one patient and potentially life-saving for the other, violate human dignity and place an inhuman burden on those who have to decide. This text aims to investigate this matter from the perspective of criminal legal theory and to provide guidance as to whether ending life-saving measures amounts to an action or an omission.