Criminogenic Influence Research Articles

The Attitude of the Criminogenic Individual Social Environment

Social environment of a person has a significant impact on criminalization of a person . Scientific literature analyzes the criminogenic influence of its individual participants — family members and relatives, members of informal groups and communities . Consequently, its structural organization, key functions of relations with social environment, possibilities of their change for decriminalization and post-penitentiary reintegration are unclear . Objective of the study: to examine relationship of a criminogenic person with social environment . Methods: method of data collection is a survey . Parameters of social environment that are studied: volume, stability, homogeneity, limitations of autonomy and reference; studied characteristics of interaction: received support and assistance, effectiveness of interaction, influence . The methods of processing results are descriptive statistics and rank comparison criterion (Mann-Whitney U-criterion) .The study sample consists of 388 people, 171 of whom are classified as persons with law-abiding behavior (Mean age — 36,3 years, SD — 12,3 years; men — 77 %) . The remaining part is made up of persons under administrative supervision, of whom 114 persons were under criminal punishment for the first time (Mean age — 31 .5 years, SD — 8 .42 years; men — 84 %); 103 persons who had been previously subjected to criminal punishment (Mean age — 37 .7 years, SD — 11 .13 years; men — 73 %) .Results and novelty: new information was obtained about parameters of social environment of a person with criminogenic behavior (small volume, high stability of composition and homogeneity of participants, low referentiality, selectivity of social relations) . The influence of parameters of social environment of a person and relations with it on post-penitentiary re-integration is noted.

Do Peers Protect People or Put Them at Risk of Recidivism? Friendship Quality and Peer Crime Among Justice-Involved Youth

Despite theoretical acknowledgments that peers can be either “good” or “bad” for criminal offending and recidivism, criminological research most often models peers as a criminogenic influence on offending behaviors. To explore the impact of peer relationships and to expand on theoretical conceptualization of peer relationship quality, the current study uses Pathways to Desistance data to examine the effects of peer quality and peer delinquency in recidivism over time among a sample of 1,272 individuals adjudicated during adolescence. Findings from a series of mixed-effects models demonstrate that peer quality is significantly predictive of increased aggressive offending. However, quality mitigates the relationship between peer delinquency and income offending, highlighting a need for further research considering potential protective aspects of peer relationships.

ШЛЯХИ ВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ШТРАФУ ЯК ВИДУ ПОКАРАННЯ НЕПОВНОЛІТНІХ У КРИМІНАЛЬНОМУ ПРАВІ УКРАЇНИ

The article analyzes the problematic issues of applying criminal punishment in the form of a fine to minors, compared to community and correctional works. There is an opinion that the fine as a type of punishment has a rudimentary character and therefore has lost its relevance. However, any type of punishment must be considered based on the very phenomenon of punishment and its features, the juvenile offender, who in most cases is a victim of brutal treatment, involved in begging, drunkenness or other anti-social activities, or is generally a victim of criminogenic influence before convictions. The characteristics that affect the development of the personality of minors and the state of criminal behavior of minors were considered, this is determined by the psychophysiological and socio-psychological characteristics of the minor offender. That is why the biosocial and psychophysiological characteristics of minors must be taken into account in legislation and law enforcement practice when deciding on the admissibility of a particular type of punishment for minors. Psychophysical characteristics of a minor include emotional lability, lack of critical thinking, lack of ability to timely and fully assess the situation, biosocial ones include lack of physical ability to cause resistance, etc. Today, the state shows humanism, thereby giving priority to the best interests of a minor who has come into conflict with the law. The author is convinced that such reformation of the criminal legislation would significantly improve the work with juvenile offenders and would provide the desired results, since, based on the frequency of punishment in the form of a fine to minors, its presence in the Criminal Code is only nostalgia and conservatism of the domestic legislator. Each person must be personally responsible for the committed socially dangerous influence and, if he cannot fulfill the punishment in the form of a fine, the legislator provided, although not ideal, an alternative – community and correctional works. It is manifested in this the principle of individualization of punishment. Key words: correctional works, public works, institution of juvenile punishment, court practice, fine.

Current issues of cybergrumming in Ukraine

The article is devoted to the study of topical issues of criminal liability for cybergrooming. A new composition of the criminal offense under Art. 156-1 - "Harassment of a child for sexual purposes." The article notes that criminal offenses against sexual freedom and sexual integrity of a person are characterized by a high level of latency and require high professionalism both from law enforcement officials (detection and response) and from other professionals involved in pre-trial investigation to prosecute persons for committing criminal offenses related to sexual violence against children. At the same time, children are the most vulnerable to criminogenic influence of the Internet group, in connection with which I want to consider such a socio-legal phenomenon as cybergrooming. On the basis of the conducted research the definition of cybergrooming is given, its purposes and phases, and also types of groomers are analyzed. The main purpose of cybergrooming is illegal, immoral acts that encroach on public relations protected by criminal law. Types of groomers such as "caregiver", "adapter" and "hypersexual" are distinguished and described. The phases of cybergrooming determine the following stages of development of the relationship between the child and the perpetrator: the formation of friendships and relationships, risk assessment, isolation phase, intimate phase. Against the background of the disastrous consequences of cybergruming, which is currently in the legal field in Ukraine, the state and society face the task of creating safe conditions for children and adolescents when using the Internet. The article concludes that the criminal law protection of children and adolescents from sexual exploitation in cyberspace, given the criminological situation in the country, needs increased attention.

Does national moral context make a difference? A comparative test of Situational Action Theory

ABSTRACT This study examines whether Situational Action Theory (SAT) can explain variation in delinquent offending between countries grouped along shared moral values. Thirteen countries were categorised in terms of “contextual morality” according to results from the World Values Survey. Then, survey data from a cross-section of 12 to 16-year-old youths in the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3) were employed to test hypotheses that SAT operates differently between countries in “low contextual morality” and “high contextual morality” clusters. Multivariate analyses reveal that SAT is a generalisable theory of offending, since criminal propensity, self-control and personal morality operate in both low and high contextual morality country clusters. While exposure to criminogenic influence is the most salient, it is significantly higher in the “high contextual morality” cluster, suggesting that delinquent behaviour is more frequent when there is inconsistency between personal morality and the broader moral context. We conclude with implications for theory and policy.

Decomposition of the Role of Family in Reentry: Family Support, Tension, Gender, and Reentry Outcomes

A vast body of reentry research has investigated the role of family in facilitating reentry success. However, it is largely unknown whether family can both be a source of support and conflict and if so, whether these impacts are gender-specific. This study explores the heterogeneous elements that family brings to the reintegration process. Findings suggest that released prisoners’ families can bring either crime-inhibitory or criminogenic influences depending on the familial environment. Support from family members protects respondents from criminal recidivism, while strained family relationships are a significant predictor for drug use. Moreover, the detrimental effect of family tension is gender-sensitive: Females released from prison suffer an amplified risk of reentry failure under family tension. Implications for correctional programming are discussed.

Inflation and Cross-National Homicide: Assessing Nonlinear and Moderation Effects Across 65 Countries, 1965–2015

Criminologists have long speculated that economic conditions play a role in driving crime trends. Emerging research finds that inflation rates are associated with crime rates both within the United States and cross-nationally. Inflation is hypothesized to increase crime by incentivizing illegal markets and organized criminal activity and by reducing the legitimacy of social institutions. Existing research on the association between inflation and homicide rates has been limited to single-country studies or multicountry studies consisting of developed countries only. Moreover, there has been limited attention to the potential complexity of this relationship, including whether it is nonlinear, as crime rates may only increase after a certain threshold of inflation is reached, and whether the criminogenic impact of inflation may be moderated by socioeconomic development, as developing countries are anticipated to be more adversely impacted by the criminogenic influence of inflation. Drawing on a sample of 65 economically diverse countries from 1965 to 2015, we find a positive direct relationship between inflation and homicide rates, although we do not find evidence that this association is nonlinear. Finally, contrary to expectation, we find that the inflation–homicide relationship is most impactful in countries with higher levels of development. We discuss these findings in the context of cross-national predictors of crime.

ІНФОРМАЦІЙНО-АНАЛІТИЧНЕ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ОПЕРАТИВНОРОЗШУКОВОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ... ОПЕРАТИВНИХ ПІДРОЗДІЛІВ УСТАНОВ ВИКОНАННЯ ПОКАРАНЬ

In recent years, there has been a permanent reform of the system of bodies and institutions of criminal punishment, by determining the place of such bodies and institutions in the system of state institutions, amendments to legislation to bring it in line with the best international standards. At the same time, the problem of providing information to the work of penitentiary institutions has remained unresolved for a long time, which was ineffective due to the lack of a centralized electronic register of persons serving criminal sentences. A significant positive step towards solving this problem was the formation of a register of convicts and detainees. A special achievement of such an information system was the introduction of automated programs to assess the possibility of recidivism by persons serving a criminal sentence on the basis of static and dynamic factors. At the same time, the implementation of this system has not solved the problematic issues of information and analytical support for combating crime in prisons, which identifies this problem as relevant for research at the present stage. The purpose of the article is to develop proposals for the formation of operational units of places of imprisonment of a separate module of operational purposes and its structural construction. The result of the author’s study of this issue is the analysis of the implemented algorithm for assessing the risks of recidivism by persons serving a criminal sentence, in particular, static and dynamic factors are analysed in detail. The directions of use of the specified module by operative divisions of penitentiary institutions are defined. The necessity of introduction of a separate module of operational purpose into the practice of work of operative subdivisions of penitentiary institutions and inclusion of the following databases in its structure is substantiated: subjects of increased criminal influence; individuals seeking to build a criminal career; groups of negative convicts; criminogenic influence of will; operational and investigative work. The grounds for accounting for information about a particular convict in the relevant database are identified, as well as the content of each of them is described.

Социально-психологические детерминанты рецидивной преступности

This article examines the socio-psychological determinants of recidivism. At the socio-psychological level, the determinants of crime are manifested in the criminogenic impact on the individual from small social groups. The closest environment has the most serious influence on the formation of personality. This environment is represented by such small social groups as the family, educational and work teams, everyday and informal milieu. Repeat offenders have no family connection and contacts with educational and work teams. Most repeat offenders are unmarried, they do not work or study. Family desocialization of criminals, their negative attitude towards educational and work activities lead to alienation from the main social institutions and positive microgroups, which is accompanied by joining an informal antisocial environment and establishing strong ties with it. In the course of the study, the author generalized criminological views on the determination of recidivism, analyzed information on the characteristics of repeat criminals, and studied the data on the level of recidivism among those convicted to various measures of criminal liability and the statistics of convictions. The author also surveyed the staff of penitentiary institutions about the causes and conditions of recidivism, and convicts who committed a repeat crime and were serving imprisonment. When studying the determinants of crime recurrence, it is necessary to take into account the criminogenic influence of the factors that determined the primary crime, including at the level of small social groups. After conviction, criminals, as a rule, do not change their immediate environment and contacts, and continue to lead the same way of life. Deficiencies in the punishment system also play a criminogenic role in the determination of recidivism. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that, at the socio-psychological level, the repeated commission of crimes is due to the absence of positive changes in the convicts' microenvironment with a negative immediate environment retaining its influence and also due to the ineffectiveness of the current punishment system, which is unable to ensure the correction of convicts and prevent recidivism.

Packing Heat in the Classroom: Public Support for “Armed Teacher” Policy

ABSTRACT Recently, states have enacted teacher-carry laws. While controversial, little scholarship has tapped public attitudes toward such reforms. Because public opinion shapes policy, the public is an important stakeholder in this debate. Thus, we investigated three questions. First, how supportive is the public of arming teachers? Second, what demographic and social divides exist, if any, for reform approval? Finally, do crime-related perceptions, concerning views about public safety, and criminogenic influences shape policy preferences? We test these questions using a 2018 poll of Virginia residents (N = 521). Overall, approval for teacher-carry is split. Crime-related perceptions mediate some of the initial social and demographic divides in opinion but other correlates, such as parental status, remain salient predictors of views. Implications are discussed.

Migration criminality in the modern megapolis: risk management

The existence interrelationship between migration and criminality is one of the controversial issues, rising in the discussion of migration processes. The authors propose to consider immigration criminality as a mass social, legal, socially dangerous phenomenon, consisting of the totality of crimes, committed by migrants in various spheres of life of the region, ensure personal and public safety of its population, public order. The risks of migration criminality in the modern Russian metropolis, as well as their perception and evaluation of representatives of society are the basis of appearance of social tension and can increase the level of conflict between local people and newcomers. Certain causes and conditions specific criminal activities, laying on the social, economic factors of migration exert a criminogenic influence on migrants. At the risk of the migration criminality the authors in their study propose to distinguish the extent possible danger caused by migration processes, directly affecting the stability and well-being crime, living in a certain area of people.The article also presents the main results of author’s sociological research of the risks of migration criminality, which are based on studies of subjective evaluations of residents of the Moscow megapolis and experts, representing 4 groups of experts: heads of departments of the Moscow government, representatives of public organizations, law enforcement agencies and the media. The risks of migration criminality have identified and described in the study. The performed analysis has allowed us to formulate the basic suggestions for minimizing the risks of migration criminality. These proposals require special attention and further scientific reflection with further improvement of the migration policy of Moscow.

Protection of national security of Ukraine: The role of mass media

Today, in the context of the problem of protection of the national security bases, the destructive/criminogenic influence of those media that spread false or distorted information should be recognized. If such information inflames interethnic and inter-religious enmity, it promotes aggression and violence, separatism and terrorism in Ukraine. If the activities of the media are aimed at causing damage to the national security of Ukraine, then they should bear the responsibility provided for by the law, including criminal ones. In addition, the media should be actively involved in shaping public opinion, responsible attitude of the population to the rule of law, lawful activity of law enforcement agencies and the court. The development of scientific, theoretical and practical foundations for the prevention of crimes against national security of Ukraine should include the concept of minimizing the criminogenic influence of the media and enhancing their educational activities in order to form a legal culture, patriotism and justice of the citizens of Ukraine. In this context, the media play a leading role in the formation of a collective consciousness that creates a moral and patriotic social environment that compels each person to adopt the modes of action and thinking that are prevalent in this society. In the future, the findings obtained will help to develop the measures necessary for the effective implementation of educational propaganda by the domestic media among all segments of the population aimed at maintaining and securing the bases of Ukraine's national security. Prospects for improving the media activities in the field of ensuring the foundations of Ukraine's national security should be considered in the context of enhancing their positive impact on the will and consciousness of citizens.

The Enduring Influence of Cohort Characteristics on Race-Specific Homicide Rates

AbstractThis study extends research on cohort effects and crime by considering how bifurcated population dynamics and institutional constraints explain variation in homicide rates across racial groups in the United States. Drawing upon the extensive research on racial residential segregation and institutional segmentation, we theorize how the criminogenic influences of cohort characteristics elucidated in prior work will be greater for Black cohorts than for White cohorts. We assess our hypothesis by estimating Age-Period-Cohort Characteristic models with data for the total population and separately for the Black and White populations over the 1975–2014 period. The results reveal persistent effects of relative cohort size and nonmarital births on Black cohort-specific homicide rates but null effects among the White population. These effects follow Black birth cohorts across the life course, leading to higher rates of both homicide arrest and homicide victimization.

КРИМИНОГЕННОЕ ВЛИЯНИЕ НАСИЛЬСТВЕННЫХ ПОСЯГАТЕЛЬСТВ В МЕСТАХ ЛИШЕНИЯ СВОБОДЫ НА ПРЕСТУПНОЕ ПОВЕДЕНИЕ И ВИКТИМИЗАЦИЮ ВИЧ-ИНФИЦИРОВАННЫХ ОСУЖДЕННЫХ

КРИМИНОГЕННОЕ ВЛИЯНИЕ НАСИЛЬСТВЕННЫХ ПОСЯГАТЕЛЬСТВ В МЕСТАХ ЛИШЕНИЯ СВОБОДЫ НА ПРЕСТУПНОЕ ПОВЕДЕНИЕ И ВИКТИМИЗАЦИЮ ВИЧ-ИНФИЦИРОВАННЫХ ОСУЖДЕННЫХ

Examining interactive effects of characteristics of the social and physical environment on aggravated assault

Prior studies have largely focused on socioeconomic and demographic correlates of neighborhood crime rates. A largely distinct literature has highlighted the criminogenic influence of the built environment. Recent research cross-pollinated these literatures and demonstrated that, controlling for structural socioeconomic disadvantage, an aggregated neighborhood risk of crime (ANROC) measure capturing the influence of the built environment has a strong and robust influence on neighborhood crime rates. Instead of viewing variation in crime as a product of social factors or characteristics of the built environment, the current study advances the literature by exploring an interactive model viewing crime as a product of social factors and the built environment. Conceptually, we describe two distinct processes (attenuation and amplification) by which social structural sources of violence and characteristics of the environmental backcloth may interact. In assessing the salience of these processes, the current study provides a more accurate assessment of how divergent ecological contexts work contemporaneously to influence neighborhood levels of crime. Results of our block-group level analyses of a single city indicate structural disadvantage is an exceptionally robust predictor of crime, but the influence of the ANROC measure is contingent upon levels of socioeconomic disadvantage in the neighborhood at-large.

The Criminogenic Influence of Family on Substance Use During Reentry: A Life-Course Perspective on Between Individual Differences and Within Individual Changes

A large body of prior research has demonstrated a clear link between family support and desistance from substance use during reentry. Emerging research also suggests that family conflict may play an independent role in this process. Accordingly, this study moves towards an understanding of how baseline between-individual differences in both family support and conflict prior to release interact with within-individual change in the respective constructs to affect substance use during the reentry time period. Results of cross-lagged dynamic panel models examining four waves of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative data demonstrate baseline between-individual differences and within-individual changes in family conflict, but not support, significantly relate to polysubstance use. While these results suggest that families play a criminogenic role in reentry, a series of interaction terms demonstrates that within-individual increases in family support can help offset the negative influence of family conflict.

ADHD modulates the course of delinquency: a 15-year follow-up study of young incarcerated man.

There is growing evidence of an association between ADHD and rule-breaking behaviour and that subjects with ADHD are more likely to be involved in the legal system. However, the research on ADHD as a risk factor not only for delinquency but also for recidivism is scarce and findings are controversial. Therefore, we explored the impact of ADHD on the course of delinquency in a sample of incarcerated young men. We conducted a 15-year follow-up study by investigating the criminal records of 106 former youth prisoners. Criminal recidivism was operationalized through three variables: criminal recidivism; frequency of recidivism; and time to recidivism. The incremental predictive validity of ADHD was analysed using survival analysis and controlled for confounders associated with recidivism. Offenders with ADHD (n=74) reoffended 2.5 times faster and showed a higher rate of recidivism and further incarcerations compared to non-ADHD offenders (n=33), even when controlling for general risk factors such as antisocial personality disorder. Median survival rate ranged between 6 and 7months in the ADHD groups and 25months in the non-ADHD group. Our results revealed that ADHD has an incremental predictive power on criminal recidivism, even above general risk factors. Moreover, the criminogenic influence of ADHD appeared to be crucial in terms of the interplay of childhood ADHD, irrespectively of the persistence of the symptomatology into later life. Our findings therefore highlight the importance of early intervention and consequently prevention.

SPATIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE EFFECT OF NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE ON DELINQUENCY*

Research examining the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and adolescent offending typically examines only the influence of residential neighborhoods. This strategy may be problematic as 1) neighborhoods are rarely spatially independent of each other and 2) adolescents spend an appreciable portion of their time engaged in activities outside of their immediate neighborhood. Therefore, characteristics of neighborhoods outside of, but geographically proximate to, residential neighborhoods may affect adolescents’ propensity to engage in delinquent behavior. We append a spatially lagged, distance‐weighted measure of socioeconomic disadvantage in “extralocal” neighborhoods to the individual records of respondents participating in the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort (N = 6,491). Results from negative binomial regression analyses indicate that the level of socioeconomic disadvantage in extralocal neighborhoods is inversely associated with youth offending, as theories of relative deprivation, structured opportunity, and routine activities would predict, and that the magnitude of this effect rivals that of the level of disadvantage in youths’ own residential neighborhoods. Moreover, socioeconomic disadvantage in extralocal neighborhoods suppresses the criminogenic influence of socioeconomic disadvantage in youths’ own neighborhoods, revealing stronger effects of local neighborhood disadvantage than would otherwise be observed.

With or Without You? Contextualizing the Impact of Romantic Relationship Breakup on Crime Among Serious Adolescent Offenders.

The decline and delay of marriage has prolonged adolescence and the transition to adulthood, and consequently fostered greater romantic relationship fluidity during a stage of the life course that is pivotal for both development and offending. Yet, despite a growing literature of the consequences of romantic relationships breakup, little is known about its connection with crime, especially among youth enmeshed in the criminal justice system. This article addresses this gap by examining the effects of relationship breakup on crime among justice-involved youth-a key policy-relevant group. We refer to data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, a longitudinal study of 1354 (14% female) adjudicated youth from the juvenile and adult court systems in Phoenix and Philadelphia, to assess the nature and complexity of this association. In general, our results support prior evidence of breakup's criminogenic influence. Specifically, they suggest that relationship breakup's effect on crime is particularly acute among this at-risk sample, contingent upon post-breakup relationship transitions, and more pronounced for relationships that involve cohabitation. Our results also extend prior work by demonstrating that breakup is attenuated by changes in psychosocial characteristics and peer associations/exposure. We close with a discussion of our findings, their policy implications, and what they mean for research on relationships and crime among serious adolescent offenders moving forward.

A natural experiment of the consequences of concentrating former prisoners in the same neighborhoods

More than 600,000 prisoners are released from incarceration each year in the United States, and most end up residing in metropolitan areas, clustered within a select few neighborhoods. Likely consequences of this concentration of returning prisoners include higher rates of subsequent crime and recidivism. In fact, one-half of released prisoners return to prison within only 3 y of release. The routine exposure to criminogenic influences and criminal opportunities portends a bleak future for individuals who reside in neighborhoods with numerous other ex-prisoners. Through a natural experiment focused on post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana, I examine a counterfactual scenario: If instead of concentrating ex-prisoners in geographic space, what would happen to recidivism rates if ex-prisoners were dispersed across space? Findings reveal that a decrease in the concentration of parolees in a neighborhood leads to a significant decrease in the reincarceration rate of former prisoners.