Criminology Research Articles

A conversation with American Maverick Sociologist and Criminologist, Lonnie Athens

A conversation with American Maverick Sociologist and Criminologist, Lonnie Athens

Macbeth and Criminology

Macbeth and Criminology

A global consumer decision model of intellectual property theft

Purpose Intellectual property theft amounts to billions of dollars per year worldwide. The first step in stemming this loss is to understand the underlying precursors of this behavior. This paper aims to propose and test a model of consumer choice to purchase or pirate intellectual property, specifically music. This paper combines and applies the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and Becker’s theory of crime to develop a more comprehensive model of digital piracy behavior. Culture was tested as an antecedent to the attitudes and the perceptions of risk associated with music piracy. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 4,618 participants was conducted across 23 countries. Construct measures were validated using confirmatory factor analysis in LISREL. A conceptual model was tested using logistic structural equation modeling in MPlus. Respondents were asked about the last music they acquired to test a behavioral model of music piracy. Findings The results indicated that culture, specifically rule orientation and uncertainty avoidance, had a significant impact on attitudes toward the music industry, ethical perceptions of music piracy and risk perceptions. Respondents’ ethical perceptions of downloading had the highest impact on music piracy behavior. The personal/copy risk associated with the illegal downloading of music had a significant impact while the relative channel risk did not. The market value, quality and selection also had a significant impact on downloading behavior, as did the respondent's ability to find and download music. Research limitations/implications While this paper was limited by focusing on the illegal downloading of music, the results can provide guidance in the design of future research concerning the piracy and unlicensed downloading of other types of intellectual properties such as movies/videos, TV, paywall content and e-books. Practical implications In recent years, improved access to music and video through online streaming and online stores has significantly decreased music piracy. This research indicated that further inroads into this behavior could be made through better online purchase access and through consumer education about the ethics and results of digital downloading. Further, efforts are more efficient by targeting cultures with lower levels of rule orientation with ethics education and targeted risk messages in countries with higher uncertainty avoidance. Social implications Yearly losses to the music industry amount to about $5-29bn. Many find music and video downloading and “sharing” as acceptable. The model developed in this research has implications to affect this mass loss of revenue to the music industry and perhaps the societal view of downloading behavior that is illegal but commonly accepted. Originality/value This model is the first to integrate cultural aspects into models of digital piracy. In addition, the model is developed from a strong theoretical base (TRA and Becker’s theory of crime) to integrate multiple antecedents to intellectual property theft research.

The strain theory of suicide

Suicide is a global public health problem, but very few theories have been developed for its etiology and effective prevention. Presented in this article is a comprehensive and parsimonious theory explaining the socio-psychological mechanism prior to suicidal behavior. Strain, resulting from conflicting and competing pressures in an individual’s life, is hypothesized to precede suicide. The strain theory of suicide (STS) proposes four sources of strain leading to suicide: (1) value strain from differential values; (2) aspiration strain from the discrepancy between aspiration and reality; (3) deprivation strain from the relative deprivation, including poverty; and (4) coping strain from deficient coping skills in the face of a crisis. This new model is built on previous notions of anomie (Durkheim, 1897/1951 ), strain theories of deviance (Merton, 1957 ) and crime (Agnew, 1992 ), although suicide is not a major target for explanation in those theories. Future research with rigorous quantitative data needs to be conducted to further test STS on a more comprehensive level.

Killer Folklore

This article considers the development of identity within the True Crime Community (TCC) and examines the contagion theory of crime surrounding serial and mass murder within the United States. The TCC is an online Tumblr group that shares pictures, jokes, legends and other narratives surrounding such killers. TCC members are frequently blamed by outsiders for creating spaces where killers become celebrities which, in theory, creates more killers. Two issues arise out of contagion theory. The first is that modes of participation with crime representations and the production of texts around true crimes is shaped by contagion theory and vernacular debates about fandom. Second, contagion theory itself is open to critical cross disciplinary investigation for which folklorists, examining communities who participate in (re)producing true crime texts can offer valuable data, approaches and theory. Moreover, as folklorists working in rumour and contemporary legend have noted, we may have a role to play in interrupting crime cycles themselves.

Assessing the benefits of robbery reduction: The case of a large Brazilian city

Abstract We estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for a first-order stochastic reduction on the risk of robbery at a large city in Brazil. We develop a structural choice model that nests a process of contingent valuation among non-degenerate lotteries and estimate it by both maximum likelihood and geographically weighted regression (GWR) using a dataset from the city of Fortaleza that contains a precise measurement of individual's subjective probability of victimization among detailed socioeconomic measurement, willingness to pay, and police presence variables. Expected loss, gender, age, education, and perception of patrolling explain WTP. Our global model estimated a mean WTP of R$ 19.23 (U$ 10.33) per month. Our local model, estimated by GWR, suggests that there is a reasonable amount of spatial heterogeneity that follows the city's socioeconomic spatial distribution profile. Although the city's northwest periphery presents higher WTP, as long as we go inwards, there is plenty of heterogeneity on its spatial distribution. Our results support a theory of crime with an active role for victim's (costly) precautions influenced by socioeconomic spatial heterogeneity.

Stay or Flee? Probability Versus Severity of Punishment in Hit-and-Run Accidents

The empirical literature testing the economic theory of crime has extensively studied the relative importance of the probability and the severity of punishment with reference to planned criminal activities. There are, however, also unplanned crimes and in this paper we focus on a very serious and widespread one, hit-and-run road accidents. In fact, it is not only unplanned, but also largely committed by citizens without criminal records and the decision whether to stay or run must be taken within a few seconds. Using Italian data for the period 1996-2016, we rely on daylight as an exogenous source of variation affecting the probability of apprehension and find that the likelihood of hit-and-run conditional on an accident taking place increases by around 20% with darkness. Relying on two legislative reforms which increased the penalties in case of hit-and-run, we find no significant effect on drivers' behavior. Our results show that criminal activities in unplanned circumstances and under intense time pressure and emotional distress are deterred more by the certainty rather than the severity of legal sanctions.

Definitions Favorable to Terrorism? SSSL and Radicalization: A Case Study Approach

Although social structure and social learning (SSSL) theory has oft been proposed as a general theory of crime, it has rarely been applied to that which qualifies as ideologically-motivated. We seek to rectify this notable gap in the research by examining the suitability of an SSSL framework to radicalization; an understudied, yet vital process to enacting evidence-based counterterrorism efforts. Utilizing a “most likely” case study approach, we find several themes consistent with SSSL principles, primarily within its social learning constructs. We conclude that SSSL does indeed offer promise for explaining all forms of crime including acts of terrorism.

Shaking Criminal Incentives

We study criminal incentives exploiting the devastating shock of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Evidence shows that the earthquake decreased burglaries but left other crime types unaffected. The effect stays significant even after controlling for unemployment, policing and income. We corroborate this by instrumenting damages with the distance from the earthquake epicentre. These findings survive various robustness checks under different specifications. The evidence is consistent with a simple theory of crime, value and specialization. We conclude that burglars respond to damages that devaluate their prospective takings. Yet, they cannot shift their specialization and substitute burglaries with other crime types.

‘Gender’ and general strain theory: investigating the impact of gender socialization on young women’s criminal outcomes

ABSTRACTThe gender gap in crime is one of the most highly researched issues in criminology. Despite women’s consistently low representation across all crime statistics, general theories of crime are commonly utilized to understand women’s pathways to offending without acknowledging their distinct lived experiences. Broidy and Agnew’s gendered general strain (GGST) attempts to bring gender forefront within a general strain theory framework by outlining the differences in experiences and responses to strain between women and men. An underlying assumption of GGST, however, remains under-examined – the role of gender socialization. This study investigates the influence of gender socialization on criminal outcomes for young women. We address a central overarching research question: does the degree of internalized gender norms – either heteronormative femininity or masculinity – influence young women’s experiences or responses to strain as well as their likelihood of engaging in illegal behaviors? Using a sample of female college students, we find internalized gender norms – either being more traditionally feminine or more traditionally masculine – condition experiences and responses to strain in distinct ways. Our findings highlight the need to explore the differential impacts of gender identity and internalized gender norms. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

Crime Follies: Overcriminalization, Independent Prosecutors, and the Rule of Law

This chapter from Peter W. Morgan & Glenn H. Reynolds, Appearance of Impropriety: How The Ethics Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business, and Society describes how the combination of politically inspired prosecutions and indeterminate criminal offenses has served to undermine fairness and faith in government. Excerpt: In the old days, we would refrain from ringing up the cops until after there was fairly clear evidence of a crime, such as Professor Plum lying in a pool of blood in the conservatory. Off everyone would go looking for clues, with the concrete fact of Professor Plum's corpse to focus their energies. Today, though, we frequently summon our sophisticated investigative technicians before there is evidence of a crime. We run to the phone as soon as someone suggests Colonel Mustard might have committed some impropriety. We then try to solve the mystery of whether this or some other past indiscretion of Colonel Mustard just might constitute a crime. Nowadays, it is more remarkable when the ethics crime laboratory cannot come up with a viable theory of criminality than when it can. Particular attention is paid to the False Statements Act, 18 U.S.C. 1001.

The role of land use and walkability in predicting crime patterns: A spatiotemporal analysis of Miami-Dade County neighborhoods, 2007–2015

This study investigates the relationship between land use, walkability, and the outcomes of neighborhood crime rates of larceny and aggravated assault. We use a combination of OLS regression models, harmonic analysis of diurnal patterns, and geospatial statistical techniques to examine the spatial patterning of larceny and aggravated assault in 782 Census blocks in Miami-Dade County, Florida with long-term data from 2007 to 2015. The results show that neighborhoods (i.e., Census block clusters) with higher levels of walkability have greater levels of aggravated assault. We also find that the increasing land-use diversity increases both aggravated assault and larceny. Finally, aggravated assault peaks during late night hours, while larceny peaks during daytime hours. Based on the results of our study using conventional and geospatial analyses, routine activity and social disorganization theories of neighborhood crime are partially supported, in that more motivated offenders and potential targets increase crime rates, while increased guardianship and informal social control reduce crime rates. The results of this study have important implications for security experts, law-enforcement agencies, and urban planning policy specialists focused on reducing crime in metropolitan areas. It is also relevant for theoretical frameworks designed to explain and predict temporal and spatial crime patterning.

El indígena frente a la ley penal: Una posición desde los Derechos Humanos de los pueblos indígenas

El desarrollo actual de los Derechos Humanos de los pueblos indígenas nos exige repensar las diferentes áreas del derecho para garantizar y efectivizarles un trato digno e igualitario. Ante este escenario, debemos repensar la posición del indígena frente al derecho penal. El presente trabajo busca proponer una posición en construcción sobre el tratamiento del indígena dentro de los estratos analíticos de la teoría del delito. Una posición que tiene en cuenta el actual reconocimiento de los Derechos Humanos de los pueblos indígenas, y ofrece a la dogmática jurídico-penal, una alternativa acorde a la diversidad cultural y respetuosa de los principios que rigen el sistema penal.

Self-Control and Deviance: A Test of the General Theory of Crime in Argentina

ABSTRACTGottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory of Crime (GTC) has been one of the most cited and tested theories in criminology. It posits to be in effect transcultural in its application and relevant for any norm-violating behaviors. As most empirical work has been completed in English speaking countries, the current study tested some of the main theoretical postulates in a sample of 214 Argentinean male adolescents, both offenders and non-offenders. More specifically, it tested the relationships between parental practices, self-control, criminal opportunities, and deviance. Findings provide evidence that offenders reported more deviant behaviors and more risk factors than non-offenders. They also provide partial empirical support for the main theoretical propositions. Maternal closeness, support. and monitoring had different effects on self-control and on deviance; both low self-control and opportunities had direct effects of deviant behaviors. Theoretical, research, and practical implications of study findings are discussed.

Scared or Attached? Unraveling Important Links in Strain-Crime Relationships Among School Students.

Drawing on general strain theory of crime, the study employs the survey data from a random sample of 600 school students in Lviv, Ukraine, to examine how sanction risks and social bonds mediate and moderate the relationship between strain and adolescent delinquency. Findings from negative binomial regressions and the KHB decomposition procedure demonstrate that fear of sanctions and levels of social control mediate the relationships between strain and delinquency to a different degree, depending on the type of strain experienced. Results concerning conditioning effects are mixed, with only parental monitoring found to be a moderator of the strain-delinquency link. However, the direction of the interaction effect is unexpected. Future research needs to improve the specification of strain models and evaluate them in other sociocultural contexts.

The Effects of Life Domains on Cyberbullying and Bullying: Testing the Generalizability of Agnew’s Integrated General Theory

In 2005, Robert Agnew published his book Why Criminals Offend in which he synthesized an array of theoretical predictors of crime and delinquency into a parsimonious integrated general theory. He argued that delinquency is influenced by mechanisms found in five distinct life domains: self, family, peer, school, and work. Using longitudinal data from South Korea, the current research tested the generalizability of Agnew’s theory by applying it to bullying and cyberbullying. Results from a negative binomial regression model provided mixed support for Agnew’s theory as a general theory of crime. The significant effects of life domains were found to differ across types of bullying.

Public Wrongs that Violate Human Rights—Following Duff, The Realm of Criminal Law

In his book The Realm of Criminal Law,1 Duff offers a theory of criminalization grounded on political theory. According to that theory, criminal law is concerned with public, rather than with moral, wrongs. Public wrongs violate the polity’s civil order. The civil order defines which activities of its citizens are the polity’s business and as such belong within the public realm. The primary addressees of the criminal law are citizens, who are bound by the criminal law, and in whose name the criminal law calls those who commit public wrongs to account. In this comment, I will argue that a political theory of criminalization ought to grant “human rights” a more central role. Such a role requires distinguishing between two kinds of duties violated by crime: duties that we owe to our fellow citizens and duties that we owe to each other as human beings. When calling to account wrongdoers, who violate their duties quo citizens, as in cases of election malpractice, tax evasion, the polity speaks in the name of its citizens. When calling to account wrongdoers, citizens and non-citizens alike, who violate within the polity’s jurisdiction, what we owe to each other quo human beings, as in cases of murder and rape, the polity speaks in the name of human beings. The idea that while calling to account a polity can speak in different voices is not entirely new. When domestic courts exercise their universal jurisdiction over wrongdoers who commit international crimes (such as crimes against humanity, genocide), the domestic courts speak in the name of the international community.2 In such cases, the wrongdoers are accountable to the international community in whose name the domestic courts speak. The claim of this comment is that the polity can speak in different voices while calling to account wrongdoers that are accountable to the polity itself.

DEKRYMINALIZACJA POSIADANIA I UŻYWANIA NARKOTYKÓW WEDŁUG DOUGLASA HUSAKA. PERSPEKTYWA POLSKA

Artykuł przedstawia teorię kryminalizacji Douglasa Husaka, która aspiruje do bycia normatywnym miernikiem zasadności regulacji prawnokarnych. W przeglądzie dorobku naukowego i publicystycznego profesora Husaka ukazane jest, jak konkretyzuje się ona w przypadku zakazu posiadania i zażywania narkotyków. W drugiej części artykułu przedstawione są dokonania polskiej doktryny na tym polu oraz przeprowadzona jest analiza porównawcza teorii Husaka i polskiej nauki. Artykuł zwieńczony jest omówieniem wyroku Trybunału Konstytucyjnego dotyczącego kryminalizacji posiadania oraz uprawy marihuany w świetle postulatów amerykańskiego naukowca.

Toward an Integrated Multilevel Theory of Crime at Place: Routine Activities, Social Disorganization, and The Law of Crime Concentration

We propose and test a multilevel theoretical model of crime concentration by combining criminal opportunity and social disorganization into a single hierarchical model. Our theoretical model simultaneously answers calls to integrate routine activities theory and social disorganization theory and provides a logical framework for understanding the connections between neighborhood context and micro-spatial environmental conditions. To test our theory we used multilevel negative binomial regression with controls for spatial dependence to estimate street segment level crime counts. Findings showed the expected direct effects on street segment-level violent and property crime of both micro- and neighborhood-level characteristics. Our results for cross-level interaction effects provided evidence neighborhood context moderates the association between street segment-level variables and crime. Model comparisons using likelihood ratio tests revealed that including neighborhood-level characteristics improved explanatory power relative to single level models. This study lends support to a multilevel theory of the law of crime concentration that includes both neighborhood and street segment level conditions.

Underage Drinking in America: An Explanation through the Lens of the General Theory of Crime

ABSTRACTDespite the high rate of drinking among adolescents and its negative consequences, studies regarding causality of drinking behaviors have been under-examined. Regarding causal factors of underage drinking, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime provided a useful theoretical frame. Using the data set of “Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth,” this study conducted multiple regression analyses with the selected sample data set of 4,626. The results indicated that adolescents with a lower self-control were more likely to drink than those with a high self-control. Furthermore, opportunity (i.e., accessibility of alcohol and drinking peers) was a strong predictor of underage drinking. Particularly, this study found a significant effect of the interaction between low self-control and opportunity on drinking among American youth. Thus, this study strongly supports the general theory of crime as well as provides an approach to reduce underage drinking in America.