Criminology Research Articles

Norm Confirmation and Identity Balance: On the Legitimacy of Punishing

“Why is the State allowed to punish?” This is the prominent question underlying every serious examination of criminal law. The author’s answer covers a broad range of fundamental legal issues. Following the republican idea of freedom, he conceives punishable wrongdoing as a violation of the duty to contribute to the maintenance of the legal system. In its practice of punishment, the legal community demonstrates the correlation between the performance of the citizens’ duty of cooperation and their enjoyment of personal freedom. Nevertheless, practitioners of criminal law cannot escape their responsibility for the hardships associated with the imposition of punishments. They cannot help but strive for a balanced relationship between their professional activities and their personal integrity. With its combination of arguments from the fields of philosophy and of the theory of crime, this article is the result of the author’s long-term examination of the fundamental issues of criminal law.

Gender, Self-Control, and Opportunity: Applying the General Theory of Crime to Online Harassment

Gender, Self-Control, and Opportunity: Applying the General Theory of Crime to Online Harassment

Mapping the individual and structural theories of financial crimes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue for an integrated explanation of financial fraud. Greater emphasis must be placed on the structural and situational factors that are the elements of fraud risks and fraud. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a review of the literature on the explanation of financial fraud. Both micro- and macro-theoretical explanations of fraud were analysed to allow for a broader picture of the types of individuals that were involved in fraud, the rules governing their conduct and the types of law they broke. Findings The main reason why people commit fraud is that their crime propensity interacts with the elements present in criminogenic environments. Indeed, because most of the research on structural theories of fraud focuses on general criminality, not much has been done in the area of financial fraud. More research needs to be carried out to excavate the subterranean cluster of narrative on fraud risks and fraud. Research limitations/implications To address the future contingency of fraud risks, the paper adopted a similar position of prior accounting research on financial crimes. The structural explanation of fraudulent behaviour considers individuals’ actions to be less the result of individual deviance and more the cause of societal forces. Structural theories take into consideration the individual psychology of the offenders and position it to reflect the various realities – institutional, structural and cultural life – they are caught up in. Future research must endeavour to address these concerns. Originality/value The manuscript is among a new stream of literature that addresses the structural elements of financial fraud.

Level of Awareness of the Havoc and Consequences of Academic Dishonesty among College of Education Students in Nigeria

It is expected that students from Colleges of Education will lead learning for the next generation. For this reason, any unchecked dishonest behavior in these students may have far-reaching consequences. This study assesses the awareness of the havoc and consequences of Academic Dishonesty (AD) among students of Federal College of Education Zaria Nigeria. The students were administered valid questionnaires using purposive sampling technique and the data collected was analyzed by relevant statistics tools. Overall, the results indicated that Students’ Poor Awareness of the Havoc and Consequences of AD (SPAHCAD) significantly (p<0.05) predict AD. The findings in this study corroborate Becker’s Crime Theory and suggest that improving students’ awareness of institutional policies, serving severe penalties to defaulters and reviving interest in honor codes could better bring down the menace of unethical academic behaviors in our schools.

Does Parental Control Moderate the Effect of Low Self-Control on Adolescent Offline and Online Delinquency?

The article elaborates on central interpretations of the general theory of crime regarding parental control, self-control, and delinquency by analyzing the effect of parental control on the association between low self-control and adolescents’ offline and online delinquency. Analyses employ mediation and moderation models via structural equation modeling with a nationally representative sample of Finnish adolescents (N = 6,061). Results indicate parental control had direct and indirect associations (via self-control) with offline delinquency. Whereas, parental control had only an indirect association with delinquency online. The direct association between self-control (internal control) and offline and online delinquency was moderated by parental social control (external control). General theory of crime provides a useful perspective for exploring the effect of parental control on adolescents’ delinquency. Findings bring new evidence on the dynamics between low self-control and parental control. Future studies should continue investigating the interplay between internal and external controls.

The Problematic Execution Of Criminal Sanction For Minimum Fines In The 1945 Constitution Number 35/2009 Concerning On Narcotics (Legal Region Of Dharmasraya District Attorney)

This research explained about problematic execution of criminal sanctions for minimum fine in 1945 constitution number 35/2009 concerning on narcotics in legal region of Dharmasraya District Attorney Office and the effort to overcome those problematic based on constitution number 35/2019 concerning in narcotics in legal region of Dharmasraya District Attorney Office. This research used criminal theory and law enforcement theory, the method used here is empirical research category and research location within Dharmasraya District Attorney. The result of this research indicates that the whole problem of criminal concern in narcotics which handled by Dharmasraya District Attorney, none of the convicted people implementing judge decision of criminal sanction. Most of the convicts choose to take a prison sanction as a substitute of paying penalty money rather than paying penalty money itself. There are two main factors of why most convicts choosing that decision, economic limitation of every convicts and the possibility of every convicts to take a prison punishment with a quite short period and it considered better than paying penalty as punishment. On its implementation of making criminal punishment decision, public attorney could not make a maximum effort to make convicts obeying the punishment penalty. Public attorney only able to asking for charge, however if the convicts cannot pay the punishment money, they will get a declaration letter of incapable to pay and being imprisoned.

An Integrated Model of Athletes’ PED Use: A Test of Low Self-Control, Opportunity, Deviant Peer Associations, and Control Deficit

ABSTRACT The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED) in sports is an important social issue. This is particularly true given the recent high-profile doping incidents from a multitude of professional athletic competitions around the world. Because of the numerous individual, team, and socio-political consequences that can stem from sports doping, it has become vital to explore the etiology of PED use among athletes. As such, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime is one theory that may help explain this deviant behavior. Using an integrated theoretical model, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of low self-control, opportunity, deviant peers, and control deficit on professional athletes’ use of PEDs. Survey data from 709 professional athletes in Iran was collected and analyzed. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that all of the theoretical variables had direct and significant effects on PED use. Specific findings, policy implications, and study limitations are discussed.

O Direito Penal e o liberalismo: considerações a respeito do papel do Direito Penal em um estado liberal

O presente artigo trata da função que o Direito Penal deve ter em um estado liberal e tem o objetivo de defender que a função primordial do Direito Penal é a proteção de bens jurídicos, individuais ou coletivos, considerados essenciais em um ordenamento jurídico. Ao longo do texto, será feita uma análise a respeito da evolução do conceito de bem jurídico ao longo do desenvolvimento da teoria do crime. Serão fixados, ainda, alguns critérios para que o legislador escolha os bens jurídicos que devem ser protegidos pelo Direito Penal, já que, por ser a ultima ratio, este deve eleger apenas alguns bens jurídicos como objeto de proteção.

Does Parental Intervention Matter to Diminish Drinking Behaviors among American Adolescents?

Background: Drinking problem among American adolescents is one of the major concerns to generate various issues, such as violent crime, sexual assault, family deprivation, and physical and mental health problems. Despite growing concerns about the alcohol consumption among American adolescents, not many studies have examined the correlates and predictors of their alcohol behaviors.Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationship between drinking behaviors, parental intervention, low self-control, and opportunity.Methods: Based on the theoretical framework of Gottfreson and Hirschi’s (1990) theory, this study conducted Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with a national American youth data (N = 5,030).Results: Results in this study were consistent with previous empirical studies, supporting the general theory of crime. In addition, this study found the role of parental intervention in the theory was significant: particularly, decreases in low self-control, opportunity, and drinking behaviors. Further, the significant moderation between low self-control and opportunity on underage drinking was found in this study.Conclusion: Those findings will provide a solution to reduce drinking problems among American adolescents.

Proposal for a typology in criminology from a place-oriented perspective

Crime is a major ‘research subject’ in the social sciences and a ‘concern’ in policy making. Hence, criminology emerged as a specialised discipline which is gradually building a theoretical body of its own. However, since the phenomenon of crime is highly complex and multi-dimensional, any single theory of crime cannot cover all aspects. What is more critical is the effective use and improvement of these theories. Through analytical investigation, theories are categorised and represented both in a ‘generic diagram’ and in a ‘detailed typology for criminological theories from a place-oriented (spatio-temporality) perspective’, according to their “placeliness” and “placelessness”; direct or indirect relationship to place-based or other causal contexts; and scale of ecological analysis as micro, meso, or macro. These categories, within which new ecology is further differentiated as “early” and “late”, are identified with respect to their reasoning and perception of the concept in the historical-structural conditions they were founded in, the research question, the research fields and the policy proposals. It is expected that drawing a holistic picture of theories has a potential to support criminology researchers with a higher awareness of their domain.

Positive Peers-The Neglected Stepchildren of Social Influence Theories of Crime.

Despite being one of the least studied components of social influence, positive peer associations have much to offer social learning theories of crime. The purpose of the current investigation was to determine whether positive peer associations moderate the peer influence effect central to social learning theory. Data provided by 3869 (1970 boys, 1899 girls) members of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) were used to test the hypothesis that positive peer associations interact with components of peer influence to protect adolescents against future delinquency. A simple mediation analysis confirmed the existence of a significant indirect effect running from peer delinquency, to low empathy, to participant delinquency. When positive peer associations were added to the model as moderators, they achieved a significant negative moderating effect on the peer delinquency-low empathy path and a significant positive moderating effect on the low empathy-participant delinquency path. In this study, positive peer associations increased empathy in children with fewer delinquent peer associations and decreased offending in children with lower levels of empathy. Given evidence of their ability to inhibit negative peer influence and promote empathy in the service of reduced delinquency, positive peer associations deserve more attention from social learning theories of crime than they have thus far received.

Contestability in criminology

Contestability in criminology

Specific theories of crime? A longitudinal assessment of the competing effects of psychopathy and self-control

ABSTRACT The association between psychopathic personality traits (PPTs) and offending behavior has been studied extensively. Self-control also enjoys strong empirical support in its association with antisocial behavior. Further, research has shown that those with higher PPTs and those with lower self-control are more likely to be antisocial and are more likely to have protracted criminal careers. The current study used latent class growth analysis to compare how PPTs and self-control predict membership in longitudinal offending trajectories among an all-male sample of adjudicated delinquents (n = 726) from the Pathways to Desistance data. The results indicated that PPTs predicted membership across the persistent offending and desisting groups more often than self-control. Self-control, however, more often predicted membership within the persistent offending groups. Although both factors were among the most salient predictors of group membership, the results illustrated specific differences in how each factor can influence longitudinal patterns of offending.

Correctional rehabilitation and human functioning: An embodied, embedded, and enactive approach

Theories of crime are based in an underlying understanding of human functioning. In this paper we argue that current theories of correctional rehabilitation imply a model of functioning which is reward - oriented , multifactorial , norm - based , and non - agential . This approach is seen as affording limited explanatory value, leading to problems with treatment efficacy. We outline an alternative perspective of functioning as being embodied , embedded , and enactive (3e). 3e places an emphasis on the individual as an embodied whole, in an adaptive relationship with their physical and social environment. We argue that 3e prioritizes the experience and agency of the individual, with a commitment to viewing a person as a functional whole drawing on comprehensive multilevel explanations. 3e places a strong emphasis on the role of individual affectivity and emotion as a core component of functioning. Finally, implications of the 3e model for correctional practice are discussed.

Criminal Execution of Special Minimum Amercement Sanctions in Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 35 of 2009 Concerning Narcotics (Case In jurisdiction of the Dharmasraya State Prosecutor's Office Jurisdiction)

This study discusses about In this thesis discusses the execution of criminal fines specifically in narcotics crimes in the Dharmasraya District Attorney from 2014 to 2017 which have never been carried out, because the amount of criminal fines imposed is too high so that the convicted person is unable to pay. The convicted person prefers to pay a fine as regulated in article 148 undang-undang nomor 35 tahun 2009 about narkotika concerning Narcotics to be replaced with a maximum imprisonment of 2 (two) years. problem of the execution of a special minimum amercement sanctions in undang-undang nomor 35 tahun 2009 about narkotika and to resolve the problem of the execution of a the execution of a special minimum amercement sanctions in undang-undang nomor 35 tahun 2009 about narkotika in the jurisdiction of the Dharmasraya State Prosecutor's Office. The research method used in this thesis is a sociological (empirical) juridical research method. Theories used to analyze these problems are Criminal Theory and Law Enforcement Theory. The technique of collecting and processing data from document studies and interviews and analyzed with qualitative analysis is to use percentages. The method used is the type of empirical research with the location Dharmasraya State Prosecutor's Office Jurisdiction. The results is all of narcotics criminal cases handled by the Dharmasraya State Prosecutor's Office Jurisdiction, none of the convicted persons carried out criminal fines decided by the judge. The convicts chose to carry out imprisonment in lieu of fines rather than pay criminal fines. This is due to two main factors namely the economic limitations of the convicted persons and the possibility of the perpetrators to replace the fines with substitute imprisonment which is very short term and is considered more profitable. Efforts to resolve it need improvement in three aspects, namely the law enforcement aspect by increasing the professionalism of prosecutors, regulatory aspects need to be improved so that criminal fines can be applied in accordance with economic conditions, and aspects of society by increasing Knowledge and public opinion of criminal fines also need to be improved in particular that criminal fines are also one of the main criminal sanctions that can also fulfill the purpose of criminal fines.

İyiniyet Kavramının Ceza Hukukundaki Yeri

Good faith is unfamiliar to criminal law because it is a private law-based concept. In criminal law, the concept of good faith has no normative counterpart in crime theory. Moreover, the doctrine of criminal law does not include the notion of goodwill within the theory of crime. However, since the concept of good faith does not have a normative counterpart in crime theory, it is not possible to accept it as a form of appearance of the moral element of the crime or as a form of view of the moral element, nor it is able to substitute intention. Because the intention is the deliberate and desired realization of the objective elements of the crime, it has a completely different meaning and function to the concept of good faith.

Social Control Theory: The Legacy of Travis Hirschi'sCauses of Delinquency

The publication of Travis Hirschi's Causes of Delinquency in 1969 was a watershed moment in criminology. There are many reasons for the work's lasting influence. Hirschi carefully examined the underlying assumptions of extant theories of crime in light of what was known about the individual-level correlates of offending. He then developed critical tests of hypotheses derived from social control theory and competing perspectives and empirically assessed them using original self-report delinquency data. Many of his key findings, such as the negative correlation between attachment to parents and delinquency, are now established facts that any explanation of crime must consider. Causes of Delinquency is still cited hundreds of times per year, and it continues to spark new research and theoretical development in the field. Perhaps the most lasting legacy is the volume of criticism it has attracted and fended off, leading to its enduring contribution to the study of crime and delinquency.

Theory of Differential Association

In the broad spectrum of criminological theories on the causes of deviant behavior, sociological theories of criminality involve particular importance. These theories, the causes of such behaviors are only seen in the conditions and social interactions of the individual in their environment. However, with scientific explanations about the causes of criminal behavior, special place has the theory who gives a special importance to the delinquent's interaction with its environment. This is known as theory of various associations or more commonly known as the theory of differential association. The creator of this theory is the famous American sociologist and criminologist Edwin Sutherland, who has left indelible imprints on the relatively short but very important tradition of American criminological theories of criminality. The famous creator's lessons have been taken and modified by many prominent criminologists in their reviews of criminal etiology. As a result this lesson has also been the basis for numerous subsequent empirical research on criminal behavior. In this paper, using the comparative, theoretical, and meta-analysis methods, will be presented the views of some criminology authors and their interpretation of Sutherland's lessons on differential association. Due to this, a brief section of some empirical studies of delinquent behaviors based on E. Sutherland's lessons will be presented, and also the final discussion on these issues will be discussed.

Sanksi Pidana Kerja Sosial Terhadap Tindak Pidana Ringan Sebagai Upaya Pembaharuan Hukum Pidana Nasional

This study aims to evaluate the provisions related to social service crime in the draft criminal law (R-KUHP) in the act of national criminal law reform. The study uses a normative juridical with a statue approach. The urgency of social service as the main criminal sanction against minor offenses can be justified through a combined criminal theory. Social service appropriate in the case of minor criminal offenses because this criminal has the advantage, i.e., the criminal sanction is punitive and still maintaining that the perpetrator can reintegrate into the community. The provisions of social service in the R-KUHP are quite complete and comprehensive. But several things can be noted, i.e., the need for adjustments to several clauses in the R-KUHP related to the provisions of social service and assessment to test the defendant’s readiness to work in the community needs to be more oriented towards community safety.

Urban social security survey

The article is devoted to security topics, which is one of the key requirements for improving the quality of life. The article presents the results of a study aimed at improving the safety of people in the area of the largest cities. Questionnaires were prepared and data were collected among residents of the study area on identified security problems as a result of field observations of the vicinity of Tehran (Iran). The study area is Lashkar district in Tehran 8 and east of Tehran where security is very low and the environment is relatively worn and width. The method of this research is descriptive-research. For the purpose of analyzing and assessing the security at the neighborhood level, a set of indicators are used, such as quality of passages, lighting, texture compaction, openness and closure of space, physical form. The following tables are presented in the article: Types of Security, The four theories of crime and violence in urban space, in the context of Swat Lashkar District. The study presented specific proposals (Solutions and Suggestions to create security in the Lashkar neighborhood) for measures of urban planning policy of the study area in Iran.