Individual Offenders Research Articles

Neighborhood Disadvantage, Rational Choice, and Offending

Objective: Recent contributions have highlighted the compatibility of choice- and structural-based perspectives of crime. Drawing on those insights, this study examines the mechanisms that may link neighborhood disadvantage to individual differences in subjective expectations of the risks, costs and rewards from crime. We also evaluate the extent to which subjective expectations may account for the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and individual offending. Methods: Using data from the Pathways to Desistance study and structural equation modeling, we decompose how experiences and interactions with others mediate the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage, subjective expectations and offending. Results: The impact of neighborhood disadvantage on perceived arrest risk is mediated by direct and vicarious arrest experiences. Social capital and commitment to conventional values partially mediate the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and anticipated social costs, and peer delinquency and peer attitudes partially mediate the association between disadvantage and perceived social rewards. Finally, we find that subjective expectations account for about one-third of the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and individual offending. Conclusions: Our study illuminates the value of integrating rational choice and sociological perspectives and highlights the utility of advancing multilevel rational choice theories of offending.

When failure is the option: Unravelling sexual assault outcomes

We investigate the concept of “criminal failure” in sexual crimes and the relevance of various theoretical frameworks for its understanding: individual offender's rational choice, environmental influences and routine activities, victimological characteristics from lifestyle theory, and crime interaction factors. We examined a sample of 1121 “failed” cases (i.e., attempted but not completed) and 1500 “successful” cases (i.e., completed) of sexual assault that occurred in France between 1990 and 2018. We used 32 predictors that mapped on the four theoretical frameworks and conducted bivariate followed by multivariate analyses. Multiple theoretical frameworks are relevant to understand criminal failure, which is a product of perpetrator, environmental, victimological, and interactional factors. Two distinct patterns are specifically associated with failure: lack of preparation and lack of social skills. In addition, failure was best understood not as a unitary concept, but as multifactorial by distinguishing between different types of failure, specifically: offender intentionally released the victim before completion, victim escaped or third party rescue. Finally, patterns of failure were different in sexual crimes against children compared to those against adults. Criminology should pay closer attention to failure in crime. This understudied area can yield important theoretical knowledge and practical implications regarding the prevention of sexual crimes.

Comparison of the Legal Regulation of the Rechterlijk Pardon in Indonesia and the Netherlands

The concept of rechterlijk pardon represents a new legal formulation introduced in Indonesia through Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code, aimed at aligning criminal law with contemporary societal conditions. Beyond traditional deterrence, this concept empowers judges to consider mitigating circumstances and individual offender situations. Several European countries, including the Netherlands, have long regulated rechterlijk pardon, prompting a comparative analysis of its application between the Netherlands and Indonesia. This normative legal research compares the provisions of rechterlijk pardon in the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP) with those in Dutch law. The findings reveal both similarities and differences: both systems require judges to justify their decision for granting pardon and offer alternative pardon requirements, yet Indonesia includes specific considerations of justice not detailed in Dutch law. The study underscores the importance of clarifying the criteria for rechterlijk pardon implementation in Indonesia to preempt potential conflicts. Ultimately, the research advocates for a clear and harmonized framework for judicial pardon in Indonesia, ensuring consistency and fairness in its application within the criminal justice system

First-Line Antituberculosis Drug Challenge Reactions in Drug Reaction With Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome in an HIV Endemic Setting

BackgroundIn high HIV prevalence settings, first line anti-tuberculosis drug (FLTD)-associated DRESS poses therapeutic challenges. Sequential and additive drug challenge (SADC) of FLTDs best identifies offending drug(s), avoids unnecessary exclusions, and optimises re-initiation of non-offending drugs. However, SADC-associated reaction complexities limit its utility. ObjectiveWe aimed to describe characteristics of FLTD-associated DRESS patients, their treatment-limiting SADC reactions and related outcomes. MethodsPatients hospitalized with FLTD-associated DRESS from 2013–2023 in a South African tertiary hospital and enrolled (retrospectively or prospectively) in an existing registry were eligible. ResultsSADC was undertaken in 41 patients. Overall, 47 classifiable reactions occurred, 34/47(72%) in 29/41(71%) patients, were treatment-limiting and 12/41(29%) reinitiated FLTDs uneventfully. Fifteen single and eight multiple drug-reactors were identified. Rifampicin, in 13/23(57%) reactors was the commonest individual offender. Ethambutol was most frequently involved in multiple drug-reactors. Median(IQR) time to a detectable reaction was 24(12-120) hours, 6/34(18%) being immediate (<6hours). Itch (65%), eosinophilia (56%), fever (41%), atypical lymphocytosis (41%), rash (38%), transaminitis (32%) and facial oedema (18%), singly or in combination were commonest features. Three reactions, one epidermal necrolysis and two liver derangements, were CTCAE grade 4 (life-threatening) events. No predictors of multiple drug-reactivity were identified, but multiple reactors were hospitalised significantly longer, 125(100-134) versus 60(45-80) days. ConclusionsSADC optimises FLTD reinitiation. However, timing, clinical presentation and severity of SADC-associated reactions following FLTD-associated DRESS is markedly heterogenous. Additionally, multiple drug-reactors are a complex group requiring longer hospitalisation, and without routine biomarkers to differentiate true multiple drug hypersensitivity from non-specific flare-ups and guide long-term drug avoidance strategies.

Unraveling the Intricacies of Implementing Judicial Pardon within UAE Legislation

This study delves into the utilization of judicial pardon within the framework of Article 152 of the UAE Federal Law on Crimes and Penalties, serving as an alternative to short-term prison sentences. The examination of this system reveals a range of organizational and judicial challenges inherent in its implementation, stemming from the existing gaps in the provisions of Article 152. The research investigates the efficacy of judicial pardon for both the individual offender and broader society. The conditions and stipulations outlined in Article 152 are scrutinized for a comprehensive understanding, encompassing elements relevant to both the offender and the committed offense. Furthermore, the study evaluates the judiciary's role in dispensing pardons to culpable individuals, leading to the cessation of legal and judicial prosecution against the offender. This study is especially significant as it marks a pioneering effort within the Emirati legal context, underscoring its valuable contribution to the future enhancement of the judicial pardon system. Utilizing a descriptive and analytical methodology, this study embarks on a jurisprudential and legislative inquiry. It examines legal regulations and judicial rulings to derive suitable resolutions for the identified challenges. The research draws from primary and secondary sources, including case law, statutory provisions, legal literature, and scholarly publications. Ultimately, the study culminates in a collection of outcomes and recommendations that advocate for objective and procedural remedies to enhance the implementation of this system.&#x0D; &#x0D; Received: 7 September 2023 / Accepted: 25 November 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

Evidence-based sentencing and scientific evidence.

Evidence-based sentencing (EBS) is a new name for an aspiration that has deep roots in criminal law: to apply the sentence most appropriate to each offender's risk of reoffending, in order to reduce that risk as far as possible. This modern version of the traditional sentencing goals of rehabilitation and incapacitation fits into the broader approach of so-called "evidence-based public policy." It takes the view that the best existing evidence for reducing reoffending are modern structured risk assessment tools and claims to be able to achieve several goals at once: reducing reoffending, maintaining high levels of public safety, making more efficient use of public resources, and moving criminal policy away from ideological battles by basing it on the objective knowledge provided by the best available scientific evidence. However, despite the success of this approach in recent years, it is not clear to what extent it succeeds in correctly assessing the risk of individual offenders, nor whether it achieves its intended effect of reducing recidivism. This paper aims to critically examine these two issues: the quality of the scientific evidence on which EBS is based, and the available data on the extent to which it achieves (or does not achieve) its intended goals.

Users of Online Child Sexual Abuse Material

Online communities on darknet contribute to sexual violence against children. They provide offender access to Child Sexual Abuse Material and to a group of peers that supports criminal activities. This article sheds light on online child sexual abusers and their justifications for Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). It describes different offender profiles and motivations for CSA, followed by a section on policing these offences. The article then lays out psychological models, such as cognitive distortions, that are used to understand pedophiles’ behavior. The discussion is complemented by direct citations from a darknet community of CSA offenders, showing that these models are not just theoretical considerations. The last part of the article concentrates on online communities of CSA offenders. It describes different types of members of such communities and explains how the communities support individual offenders and how they provide learning models that facilitate criminal behavior. The article concludes with a short reflection of its findings, including novel insights for investigators of these crimes and proposed venues for further research.

Исследование мотивации противоправного имущественного поведения несовершеннолетних правонарушителей

The article presents the results of a study of the need-motivation sphere of juvenile offenders who have committed crimes against property. The purpose of the study is to study the structure of criminal motivation of adolescents and young men who have experience in committing property crimes, to establish their leading motives and actualized needs that are satisfied in the process of committing theft. As the main psychodiagnostic material, the author's specialized projective technique for diagnosing the motives of delinquent property behavior of minors, based on the complex use of the possibilities of interpretive and additive projective techniques, is applied. 82 juvenile offenders registered in juvenile affairs units for committing crimes against property took part in the study. The results of the study allowed us to determine the significance of each type of motives in the structure of criminal motivation of juvenile offenders: the dominance of a potential criminal selfish motive was established, which the diagnosed showed more often and more intensively than others; the leading motivating value of a potential security motive was revealed; a significant role of potential motives for self-affirmation and self-esteem enhancement was established; the significance of potential criminal motives of envy, revenge, playful and humane, as not having, in general, a decisive influence on criminal behavior, but prevailing in the need-motivational sphere of individual offenders, has been established; situationally significant influence of the physiological motive has been revealed. The study also showed that juvenile offenders are not characterized by avoidance of illegal behavior, a desire to minimize the damage caused or to apologize to the victim. The results of the study of the criminal motivation of juvenile offenders, conducted for the first time using a specialized projective technique that allows leveling the factor of insincerity of the subjects, allow all subjects of the prevention of juvenile delinquency to carry out preventive measures taking into account the characteristics of the motivational components of the personality of juvenile offenders.

Recent Anti-corruption Legal Reforms in China

Corruption is one of the thorny issues in any modern society, especially in China. The new leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by President Xi Jinping has robustly initiated an anti-corruption campaign as soon as he took over as the party chief in the end of 2012. Several legal reforms aiming at fighting harder against corruption crimes drew attention from home and abroad, including foreign investors. These reforms include the enactment of the National Supervision Law in 2018, the introduction of “trial in absentia” in the 2018 Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) amendment, and the establishment of a special proceeding of confiscation of illegal gains in the 2012 CPL amendment. Another undergoing reform is on the corporate compliance non-prosecution. China used to adopt a dual punishment approach upon unit crimes, which means imposing punishments on individual offenders, usually the directly responsible persons, and on the enterprises separately. However, the traditional sanction against enterprises tends to cause secondary harms to the society. For example, when a corporate is bankrupted, thousands of innocent people will be unemployed. Therefore, non-prosecution might be a more effective way of ensuring corporate compliance as well as minimalizing the harm mentioned above. This paper explores the anti-corruption mechanisms Chinese government has created or improved over the past decade and attempts to provide a whole picture of China’s anti-corruption law.

Theoretical and methodological bases for the use of criminal analysis by operative units of law enforcement agencies in Ukraine

This article examines the concept, content and nature of intelligence-led policing. The role of criminal analysis, supplemented by criminal intelligence, in countering crime is examined. The specifics of interaction between operative units of law enforcement agencies and criminal analysis units are identified.&#x0D; The model of police activity guided by intelligence analytics is currently the most suitable for overcoming the existing challenges and threats in the field of fighting crime. ILP is a model of policing, according to which intelligence serves as the basis for conducting operations/investigations, and not vice versa. Criminal analysis and criminal intelligence are key elements of the Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP).&#x0D; The organization of police activities guided by ILP means the planning and management of police work activities, thanks to which the products of criminal analysis serve as the basis for determining strategic and operational goals in the field of preventing and stopping crime. This enables the effective allocation of resources based on the areas of activity of individual offenders, organised crime groups and the criminal environment as a whole.&#x0D; Criminal analysis is aimed at supporting effective law enforcement activities. The results of criminal analysis form the basis for the organization of police activities guided by intelligence analytics. That is, the products of criminal analysis serve as the basis for building the organization of police activity according to a new philosophy - a transition from reactive methods of police activity - reaction to a criminal event, to proactive - when police activity is guided by conclusions about the analysis of patterns and trends that are identified in the criminal environment. This approach allows you to take timely and effective measures regarding a problem or situation with the intention of eliminating or mitigating its consequences.&#x0D; The interaction between employees of operative units and criminal analysts has certain features and takes place mostly within the framework of criminal intelligence analysis. An important aspect in the effective cooperation of operatives and criminal analysts is the introduction of specialization in certain areas of work. Criminal analysis is aimed at supporting effective law enforcement activities. The results of criminal analysis form the basis for the organization of police activities guided by intelligence analytics. That is, the products of criminal analysis serve as the basis for building the organization of police activity according to a new philosophy - a transition from reactive methods of police activity - reaction to a criminal event, to proactive - when police activity is guided by conclusions about the analysis of patterns and trends that are identified in the criminal environment. This approach allows you to take timely and effective measures regarding a problem or situation with the intention of eliminating or mitigating its consequences.&#x0D; The interaction between employees of operative units and criminal analysts has certain features and takes place mostly within the framework of criminal intelligence analysis. An important aspect in the effective cooperation of operatives and criminal analysts is the introduction of specialization in certain areas of work.

Toward a penology of organizational offending

The punishment of organizational offending has largely been overlooked by penologists, despite the fact that organizational actors such as corporations and the state perpetrate the most serious forms of offending. Accordingly, this paper represents a step toward foregrounding organizational offending within the discipline of penology. We begin by discussing the implications of several Classical School ideals and theories of punishment for organizational offending, with special emphases on challenges and contradictions. We then review control strategies that are unique to organizational offending, and we go on to contemplate how expressive and non-institutional tactics might potentially factor into how organizational offending is punished. When taken together, these sections reveal the limitations of penology's traditional assumptions of an individual offender and individual offending. We conclude by outlining our view of what a penology of organizational offending should accomplish.

Relationships Between Offenders’ Crime Locations and Different Prior Activity Locations as Recorded in Police Data

Understanding the relationships between individual offenders’ crime locations and their prior activity locations is important to enable individual level predictions to support crime prevention and investigation strategies. This study examined a wider range of crimes and activity locations than included in previous studies, to determine whether offenders are more likely to commit crime near some types of activity locations than others. Using discrete spatial choice models, we identified relationships between proximity to pre-crime activity locations recorded in a police database (e.g., offenders’ homes, family members’ homes, schools, prior crimes, and other police interactions) and the locations of 17,054 residential burglaries, 10,353 non-residential burglaries, 1,977 commercial robberies, 4,315 personal robberies, and 4,421 extra-familial sex offences in New Zealand. Offenders were generally more likely to commit crime closer to their activity locations than farther away, and closer to those visited more frequently (e.g., home versus family homes) or more likely to impart relevant knowledge about crime opportunities (e.g., prior crimes versus prior victim or witness locations). The observed patterns for different activity locations and crime types broadly support a recently proposed extension to crime pattern theory and illustrate the benefits of differentiating activity location and crime types when examining criminal spatial behaviour. The results have implications for offender risk assessment and management, and geographic profiling in police investigations.

Investigating Factors Related to Criminal Trips of Residential Burglars Using Spatial Interaction Modeling

This study used spatial interaction modeling to examine whether origin-specific and destination-specific factors, distance decay effects, and spatial structures explain the criminal trips of residential burglars. In total, 4041 criminal trips committed by 892 individual offenders who lived and committed residential burglary in Tokyo were analyzed. Each criminal trip was allocated to an origin–destination pair created from the combination of potential departure and arrival zones. The following explanatory variables were created from an external dataset and used: residential population, density of residential burglaries, and mobility patterns of the general population. The origin-specific factors served as indices of not only the production of criminal trips, but also the opportunity to commit crimes in the origin zones. Moreover, the criminal trips were related to the mobility patterns of the general population representing daily leisure (noncriminal) trips, and relatively large origin- and destination-based spatial spillover effects were estimated. It was shown that considering not only destination-specific but also origin-specific factors, spatial structures are important for investigating the criminal trips of residential burglars. The current findings could be applicable to future research on geographical profiling by incorporating neighborhood-level factors into existing models.

Elder Family Financial Exploitation Offenders: Examining the Complexities of Problematic Behaviors

ABSTRACT Elder family financial exploitation (EFFE) affects victims, families, and society, yet little is known about the problematic behaviors of EFFE offenders. The purpose of this study was to (a) explore the range and scope of problematic behaviors of EFFE offenders; and (b) examine common combinations of EFFE offenders’ problematic behaviors. Interviews were conducted with 28 non-victim, non-offender family members from 23 families. Seven themes reflecting problematic offender behaviors were identified: mental health concerns, financial dependence, other abuse, financial irresponsibility, substance abuse, a sense of entitlement, and legal problems. An in-depth understanding of the behaviors was identified, including how and why behaviors were connected to each other. Offenders exhibited two to six problematic behavioral themes. The findings suggest a need for multiple, integrated interventions that fit the complex behavioral realities of individual offenders and the family systems in which EFFE occurs.

Ethical Considerations and Reimaging State Corrections: Education and Work Partnerships for Offenders Return to Home and Community

This paper describes a mixed method study of 16,000 postings on Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit related to corrections (prison) reforms and a survey of 140 participants in this discourse who expressed a strong interest in reform focused on ethics, education, and work partnerships. The theoretical modeling of “what works,” arguably, can facilitate the reform of individual offenders as well as rehabilitation and recidivism-reduction programs. The methodology combined a review of empirical research for years 1990 to 2018 with social media posts by members of the public and a narrative survey of public professionals. The results indicated that work, education, and morality all have significant roles to play in reimagining prison systems so that simply warehousing prisoners and “nothing works” thinking become ideas of the past. The COVID-19 pandemic and social justice concerns about prisoners have created conditions conducive to social media activism aimed at making prisons more humane. Accordingly, corrections professionals, policymakers, and students need solid research on these issues to assess the outcomes of corrections policies for communities.

Making an ‘ASH’ out of Gladue: The Bowden Experiment

The Gladue requirements have been an active element of the criminal law in Canada for over two decades, yet Indigenous incarceration rates have continued to rise precipitously and established approaches to risk management in sentencing and corrections have relegated many Indigenous offenders to longer sentences served predominantly in higher security institutions. In 2006, Correctional Service Canada “incorporated the spirit and intent of Gladue [into] case management practices both in the institutions and in the community,” stressing that Gladue provided ‘direction’ and that Indigenous “social history must be taken into consideration in developing policies and in decision-making impacting on the individual offender.” This paper analyzes CSC’s adoption of Gladue principles in its practices, focussing on the use of the ‘Aboriginal Social History’ and its impacts on Indigenous case management, especially with regard to security classifications and overrides. A comparison of Gladue reports and Aboriginal Social Histories informs of the troubles in the trickle-down from Gladue principles to practice in CSC.

MODELING OF DYNAMIC AIR SITUATION IN THE ZONE OF CRITICALLY IMPORTANT INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES

One of the urgent tasks of our time is the protection of various technical structures and facilities, including the prevention of the unauthorized actions of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used by organized criminal groups and individual offenders. A serious threat to modern society is posed by potentially possible attacks by UAVs on critically important infrastructure facilities (CIIFs), which include airports, nuclear power plants, key information infrastructure facilities, treatment facilities, laboratories that house dangerous pathogenic microorganisms, etc. This paper deals with the problem of modeling a dynamic air situation in the zone of infrastructure facilities of critical importance. The environment model includes a model of a random flow of aircraft crossing the outer boundary of a zone related to a critically important object, and an algorithm for modeling various types and forms of unmanned aerial vehicles, the range of which is constantly expanding and updating. The developed mathematical models make it possible to study complex information systems designed to detect and prevent unauthorized actions of UAVs in the CIIF zones by the method of statistical modeling using computers or by the method of mixed modeling by converting the mathematical models, obtained during modeling, into a physical form.

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Good eggs

The Criminal Cannibal: Examining the Similarities of Cannibalistic Offenders

Cannibalism is sometimes practiced by particularly violent offenders. This article discusses this behavior as it presents across 26 individual offenders convicted of murder. The similarities examined among these offenders present uniting features within the sample. These features include similar murder methods utilized, parts of the body consumed, and presence of sexual assault and/or necrophilia. Discussion of these similarities concludes that, while there are a variety of uniting characteristics across these offenders, it is necessary to utilize empirical phenomenological interview techniques in order to understand the significance of these behaviors to the individuals practicing them. Keywords: cannibalism, violent crime, paraphilia, homicide, serial murder

Justice Capital: A Model for Reconciling Structural and Agentic Determinants of Desistance

The emerging literature on desistance (and recovery from addictions) has largely focused on key life-course transitions that can broadly be characterised as the need for jobs (meaningful activities), friends (transitioning from using and offending to pro-social) and houses (a place to live that is free from threat). The recovery literature has coined the term ‘recovery capital’ to characterise the personal, social and community resources that an individual can draw upon to support their recovery, partly bridging agentic (personal) and structural (community) factors. The development of the concept of ‘justice capital’ furthers this reconciliation, by focusing on both the resources an individual can access and the resources that an institution can provide and support. We build on this idea by outlining the concept of institutional justice capital (IJC) to examine the role of criminal justice institutions in supporting or suppressing the growth of recovery capital, particularly in excluded and marginalised groups. We use a case study approach, drawing on recent research experience in prisons in Australia and the United Kingdom to develop a model of justice capital at an institutional level and discuss how this can shape both reform of, for instance, prisons, and how it can be matched to the needs of individual offenders. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions in implementing an IJC model, to deliver a strengths-based approach to supporting and promoting desistance and creating a metric for assessing the rehabilitative and relational activities of institutions.Â