Order Offences Research Articles

Associations between public health team engagement in local alcohol licensing and public health and crime outcomes in England and Scotland: a timeseries analysis

BackgroundPublic health teams (PHTs) in England and Scotland engage to varying degrees with local alcohol licensing processes to try to reduce harm to individuals and communities. Evidence is scarce on whether this engagement is effective. We aimed to quantify the effects of PHT engagement in alcohol licensing on selected health and crime outcomes. MethodsWe matched 20 higher activity PHTs and 19 lower activity PHTs, defined on the basis of initial discussions with local authorities, in England and Scotland using propensity score methods. We developed a semi-quantitative metric based on structured interviews, documentary analyses, and expert consultation to provide an estimate for the intensity of each PHT's engagement between April, 2012, and March, 2019. Public health outcomes were ambulance call outs, accident and emergency attendances, alcohol-related hospital admissions, alcohol-related and alcohol-specific mortality. Crime outcomes were violent and sexual crimes and public order offences. Data were analysed using negative binomial mixed-effects models, adjusted for area-level deprivation, age, season, country, time trend, population density, and local alcohol action area. Correlations were assessed between each outcome and PHT scores (range 0–35 points) and cumulative scores (range 0–364) for unlagged and 6-month lagged periods. FindingsThere was no evidence of associations between the primary exposure metric of 18-month average PHT engagement scores and public health or crime outcomes. However, lagged and unlagged cumulative PHT engagement was correlated with accident and emergency admissions for alcohol (–0·001 [95% CI –0·01 to –0·000] per unit exposure). Using the point estimates, had all areas had maximum PHT engagement across the whole period, 318 500 (unlagged) or 227 620 (lagged) accident and emergency admissions for alcohol (equivalent to 14–13%) might have been averted. InterpretationAn important limitation of this analysis is that it is not based on a randomised controlled trial, nor does it use an exposure change (ie a natural experiment), which restricts the strength of causal inferences. However, we report what, to our knowledge, is the first evidence of an association between PHT engagement in alcohol licensing and subsequent effects on public health in England and Scotland. Our findings provide evidence that PHT engagement in licensing might have a measurable positive effect, suggesting allocation of PHT resources to alcohol licensing could be beneficial. FundingNIHR Public Health Research Programme.

Актуальные вопросы совершенствования участия прокурора в производстве по делам об административных правонарушениях в сфере социальной защиты и социального обслуживания инвалидов

Introduction: the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities is one of the priority directions of the modern social policy of any democratic state. Considerable attention is paid to this direction by the state. At an expanded meeting of the board of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin summed up the results of the department's work for 2020 and gave instructions to continue to keep the social protection of disabled people under control. The President of the Russian Federation noted that in 2020 the number of identified, and most importantly, eliminated violations in the field of protecting the rights of persons with disabilities increased.Purpose: to improve the participation of the prosecutor in proceedings on cases of administrative offenses in the field of social protection and social services for disabled people. Results: the author's position on adding to the exclusive competence of the prosecutor the initiation of cases of administrative offenses under Art. 5.41 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, it is proposed to introduce into the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation a norm providing for the notification of the prosecutor about the time and place of consideration of a case on an administrative offense in relation to persons with disabilities of I and II groups.Conclusions: the article raises the problem of bringing officials of public authorities to administrative responsibility. The necessity of amending the Code of the Russian Federation on cases of administrative offenses in order to improve the participation of the prosecutor in proceedings on cases of administrative offenses in the field of social protection and social services for disabled people is substantiated.

Initial impacts of COVID-19 on youth offending: An exploration of differences across communities

A number of international studies have found that the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with reductions in crime, primarily due to changes in the routine activities of the population. However, to date there has been no targeted exploration of how COVID-19 may have influenced youth offending, which may be more heavily impacted by the changes heralded by COVID-19 containment measures. This study examines changes in youth offending in an Australia jurisdiction, Queensland, following the implementation of COVID-19 containment measures from the period April to June 2020. Additionally, differences in impacts across community types were explored. Findings from the panel regression indicated significant declines in youth property offending, offences against the person and public order offences in this period, but no significant changes in illicit drug offences. There were also significant differences across communities according to socio-economic status, per cent Indigenous population, and the extent of commercial or industrial land use. Findings are explored with reference to environmental crime theories and the potential impacts of social, economic and policing changes that occurred in this period.

Inpatient forensic psychiatric care: Legal provision in European countries

Abstract BodyForensic psychiatry is a specialty of psychiatry primarily concerned with individuals who have either offended or present a risk of doing so, and who also suffer from a psychiatric condition. These mentally disordered offenders(MDOs) are often cared for in secure psychiatric environments or prisons. However, the organisation of these services differs greatly between countries due to different traditions and legal frameworks. Some countries, e. g., require absent or reduced criminal responsibility (at the time of the index offence) in order to enter forensic services while others determine access on the basis of current need for treatment. Numbers detained in forensic services also vary significantly as does length of stay, raising significant economic and ethical challenges. This talk will present different legal concepts determining admission to forensic-psychiatric services, data on length of stay as well as approaches to risk assessment and treatment in Europe.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Do patron bans act as a deterrent to future anti-social offending? An analysis of banning and offending data from Victoria, Australia

ABSTRACT Police-imposed patron bans seek to reduce alcohol-related harm in and around licensed premises. This study examined the offending records of people who received bans and explored whether anti-social offences reduced after the imposition of a police-imposed ban. A de-identified dataset was obtained from Victoria Police, comprising persons who received police-imposed bans in one Australian city between 2010 and 2017. Analyses were conducted to examine charging histories and offence types before and after receipt of the ban. Of those who received bans, 70.7% had recorded offences before the ban. The median number of charges before and after receiving a ban were not significantly different with respect to both anti-social behaviours and other behaviours. However, when examining short term effects (two years prior and post receiving a ban), there was a significant increase in anti-social offending, specifically public order offences (d = 0.67), after receiving a ban compared to before. Most of the ban recipients had an established record of anti-social behaviours. As a short-term sanction which limits access to specific locations, Victoria’s police-imposed bans do not appear to deter recipients from repeat offending or change already established patterns of anti-social behaviours. Consideration should be given to extending the permissible length of bans and to ensuring more effective enforcement. In addition, alternative interventions or diversions for those with a record of anti-social offending, which could be initiated on-the-spot, may be more effective in reducing undesirable behaviours in and around licensed premises.

Нормы-дефиниции в законодательстве Российской Федерации об административных правонарушениях

Based on a systematic analysis, the article examines the drafts of the new Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and the Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses in order to determine and study the approaches applied to the use and formulation of evaluative concepts in the legislation on administrative offenses. An assessment is given to individual provisions of draft laws prepared, and moments that may cause difficulties in law enforcement are determined. The author concludes that it is necessary to formulate definitions of the terms used in the draft Procedural Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation within the framework of a separate article.

Aspects of administrative responsibility in a digital environment: problems and prospects

The article examines the features of administrative liability under the administrative proceedings in the context of the trend towards the widespread digitization of different types of judicial proceedings. The authors research current Administrative-tort legislation of the Russian Federation and elements of the electronic justice system typical for such administrative procedures. It is revealed the features of digitalization during the procedure for handling cases on administrative offenses provided by the Draft of Procedural Code of the Russian Federation on administrative offenses. Researching the peculiarities of the procedure for bringing to administrative responsibility, the authors come to the conclusion that a number of significant problems and violations of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of persons participating in the case are inevitable, which will arise as a result of the introduction of an electronic justice system in cases of administrative offenses. As a result of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that there is a need for further scientific and practical understanding of all aspects of the implementation of the electronic justice system in cases of administrative offenses in order to focus it on ensuring high-quality and effectiveimplementation by the participants in proceedings in cases of administrative offenses of their rights, freedoms and legal interests.

SPECIALIST’S CONCLUSION AS A SOURCE OF EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURAL STATE

The article analyzes the essence of a specialist’s conclusion as a result of the use of special knowledge in the pre-trial investigation of criminal offenses in order to determine his/her procedural consistency as a source of evidence in the investigation of criminal offenses. The results of the analysis substantiate the position regarding the inconsistency of the established procedure for obtaining and verifying the specialist’s conclusion as a source of evidence to the criteria that are presented with evidence in criminal proceedings. The authors conclude that it is advisable to perceive the expert’s conclusion as the only possible result of the use of special knowledge, which can act as a source of evidence in the investigation of both criminal offenses and crimes as well.

The prospective impact of 10-day patron bans on crime in Queensland's largest entertainment precincts.

Night-time entertainment precincts (NEP) are the site of a disproportionate amount of alcohol-related violence, injuries and anti-social behaviour. To combat this the Queensland government introduced patron bans in October 2014, giving police the power to exclude individuals from NEPs and preventing patrons from remaining in or entering the designated area or from designated premises for the ban duration. Mandatory identification scanners within licensed venues were also introduced, which are used to enforce patron bans. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of police-issued 10-day patron bans for preventing alcohol-related violence or anti-social behaviour occurring within NEPs during high-alcohol hours. Queensland's largest NEPs; Brisbane central business district, Fortitude Valley and Surfers Paradise central business district; were examined. Time-series autoregressive integrated moving average analyses were used to estimate the influence of 10-day patron bans on police-recorded serious assaults, common assaults and good order offences. Analyses controlled for the introduction of relevant policy and identification scanners. The number of police-issued patron bans did not significantly predict changes in serious assault, common assault or good order offence trends the weekend following the ban (within the 10-day period). The current study was unable to find evidence indicating that 10-day patron bans reduced alcohol-related harms experienced in Queensland's largest NEPs in the short term. Further research needs to be conducted examining other types of patron bans, particularly longer bans issued in other jurisdictions or by licensees, and whether bans change individual's behaviour.

El control de convencionalidad como instrumento para integrar tipos penales: su viabilidad a partir del principio de legalidad

El control de convencionalidad ha cobrado relevancia como mecanismo de garantía de los derechos humanos; sin embargo, sus alcances aún no han sido completamente delimitados. En este trabajo se analiza si a través de este mecanismo hermenéutico es posible, tomando en consideración el principio de legalidad, ampliar tipos penales a fin de ajustarlos a los estándares internacionales.

Estimating the extent and nature of offending by Sudanese-born individuals in Victoria

The involvement in crime of some young Sudanese-born Victorians has received sustained public attention in recent years. The media coverage of these occurrences has been extensive, with some outlets criticised for sensationalist reporting and prejudiced undertones. A range of views were held across the commentariat including, for example, the notion that Sudanese-Victorian criminal involvement has been overstated; that some level of justice over-representation was inevitable due to the demographics of Sudanese-born Victorians, which skew young and male (i.e. the demographic hypothesis); and that offending rates may be associated with heightened law enforcement responses following a high-profile criminal incident in March 2016 that received protracted media coverage and political commentary (i.e. the racial-profiling hypothesis). This paper sought to address these contentions by (i) examining the offending rates of both young and adult males across three cultural sub-groups (i.e. Sudanese-born, Indigenous Australian, Australian-born) across several offending categories between 2015 and 2018 and (ii) exploring the impact of a high-profile criminal incident in March 2016, on the offending rates of Sudanese-born Victorians. Offending rates were calculated using offender incident data from the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency and population estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data. Findings indicate that Sudanese-born individuals figure prominently in both youth and adult offending categories relative to other major cultural sub-groups. Rates for ‘crimes against the person’ were especially pronounced for Sudanese-born youth and significantly higher than rates for crimes more subject to police discretion (i.e. public order offences). The ‘demographic hypothesis’ did not hold for the specified age range of 10 to 17 years. An increase in offending was observed post-March 2016 across two offending categories for Sudanese-born Victorians. Findings are contextualised within.

A Typology of Lifetime Criminal Justice Involvement Among Homeless Individuals With Mental Illness: Identifying Needs to Better Target Intervention

This study aimed to characterize lifetime criminal involvement among homeless people with mental illness in Canada ( N = 1,682). A latent profile analysis yielded five classes. Most participants fell within the Fewer Needs (75.5%) group, characterized by less complex psychosocial histories and few criminal charges. Participants with Extensive Criminogenic Needs (5.0%) and Acute and Extensive Criminogenic Needs (5.0%) had more charges for justice administration, violent, and mischief/public order offenses and were more likely to have been charged before their first homelessness episode. Participants with Needs Associated with Homelessness (10.6%) and Needs Associated with Drugs (3.8%) were similar, although the former had the longest history of homelessness and the latter had more drug-related charges and were most likely to have drug use disorder. This typology, which sheds light on the cumulative needs associated with different patterns of lifetime criminal involvement among homeless people with mental illness, could guide prevention initiatives and intervention strategies.

Estimation of Economic-Compulsive Drug-Related Crime in the Czech Republic

BACKGROUND: Drug-related crime has multiple characteristics. Criminal offences committed to acquire drugs represent a significant part of drug-related crime. This article presents detailed results of a study performed by the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction in cooperation with the National Drug Headquarters and the Police Praesidium of the Czech Republic in 2018. AIMS: The aims of the study were to estimate the range of criminal offences committed by drug users attempting to obtain funds for purchasing drugs for personal consumption and provide insights into the structure of this group of crimes. METHODS: The study was designed as a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The respondents were police officers working in regional departments. Data was collected through a 42-item questionnaire. The estimate was related to 2017. SAMPLE: A total of 80 district and city police headquarters were contacted, 78 of which completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: In 2017, drug users committed an estimated 46,300 criminal offences in order to acquire funds for drugs for personal use, which represented 23% of all the crimes registered in that year. Converted to cleared-up offences, an estimated 14,400 crimes (i.e. 15% of cleared-up criminal offences) were committed by drug users. The most frequent offences included simple theft, burglary, and the manufacturing, distributing, and other unauthorized handling of drugs. The highest proportion of offences committed by drug users was estimated for the manufacturing, distributing, and other unauthorized handling of drugs, simple theft, unauthorized possession of payment instruments, and burglary. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limitations of the methodological framework, the study provided valuable insights into the incidence of drug-related crime in the Czech Republic, as this data is not collected in any existing data collection system. The results suggest that drug-related crime represents a significant share of the total registered crime and special attention should be paid to this problem. At the same time, in interpreting the results, the identified drawbacks and limited scope of the study need to be borne in mind. Therefore particular effort should be invested in the improvement of data collection in this area.

Mapping public order offenses: a study of the spatial distribution of perceived risk intensity in the city of Krakow, Poland

ABSTRACTThe article presents a new quantitative approach to studying the feeling of safety and risk perception and proposes a new method for determining the intensity of this phenomenon based on data from the National Safety Risk Map in Krakow. The quantitative methods used for data analysis enabled the authors to identify a clustered process in their research, as well as to locate clusters and to perform data generalization. Based on ungeneralized and generalized data obtained through kernel density estimation, the authors determined the density distribution for two categories of offense (acts of vandalism and alcohol consumption in prohibited places) in Krakow. The final stage of the analysis involved estimating the degree of perceived risk associated with public order offenses which the authors defined using the Perceived Risk Intensity Coefficient (Ipr). This coefficient was calculated as the ratio of ungeneralized density distribution to generalized distribution. As a result, the authors identified those areas where the Ipr coefficient was highest, i.e. those places in which local residents’ threat perception was most intense.

Lessons from Orgreave: Police Power and the Criminalization of Protest

In October 2016, the Home Secretary ruled out a public inquiry into the ‘Battle of Orgreave', arguing that ‘very few lessons’ could be learned from a review of practices of three decades ago. It was suggested that policing has undergone a progressive transformation since the 1984–5 miners’ strike, at political, legal, and operational levels. This article, in contrast, charts a significant expansion of state control over public protest since the strike, including a proliferation of public order offences and an extension of pre‐emptive policing powers. Whilst concerns have been raised about the impact of these developments on protest rights, there is an absence of socio‐legal research into the operation of public order powers in practice. In this article, I begin to fill this lacuna. Drawing on three empirical case‐studies of protesters’ experiences of arrest and the criminal justice process, I highlight the relevance of Orgreave for contemporary policing practice.

Priority and collision avoidance system for traffic lights

In this paper, a collision avoidance system is presented to detect red light running and warn nearby vehicles and pedestrians in real time in order to prevent possible accidents. No complex infrastructure-based solution such as those based on radars or cameras is here required. Instead, a new solution based on smartphones carried by drivers and pedestrians is proposed so that it is the device inside the vehicle violating a traffic light, the one that self-reports the offence in order to generate alerts and warn nearby vehicles and pedestrians to prevent accidents. The proposal could also be used by road authorities to collect data on traffic lights that are most frequently violated in order to define an action plan to investigate causes and look for solutions. It includes a classifier for learning and estimating driver behaviour based on collected data, which is used to predict whether he/she is about to run a red light or detect whether that has already happened. In the first case, the system broadcasts warnings directly to close vehicles and pedestrians through Wi-Fi, while in the second case, the proposal warns vehicles and pedestrians in the neighbourhood through a server. The solution also includes a prioritization system based on changing traffic lights at intersections according to the needs and characteristics of the traffic at all times, giving the top priority to emergency vehicles. Furthermore, the proposal involves the use of cryptographic schemes to protect authenticity and integrity of messages sent from traffic lights, smartphones and servers, and privacy and anonymity to promote the use of the system. A beta version with some parts of the proposal has been implemented and the obtained results are promising.

Healthcare assistants’ experiences on forensic mental health wards

PurposeIn forensic mental health wards, patients spend more time with healthcare assistants (HCAs) than qualified nurses. Despite this, there is no universally utilised standardised HCA training. The purpose of this paper is to assess the HCAs’ experiences in the HCA role in order to better understand how to build on the HCA role to ensure safe practice, and enhance staff well-being.Design/methodology/approachHCAs working on low and medium secure NHS forensic mental health units were recruited through purposive methods. HCAs engaged in a semi-structured interview, with questions surrounding their support needs, clinical decision making and perception of risks in the role. Template analysis was used, applying an a priori template based on the existing literature to interview transcripts.FindingsThe participants described the HCA experience to be defined by two master themes: “HCA factors” and “organisational factors”. HCAs valued a holistic patient view which prized patients’ experiences. The participants described a lack of role clarity which may be defined through ward expectations and professional experience.Originality/valueHCAs seek a holistic view of the patient; however, some overlooked patient offences in order to do their job. Future research should address how looking past offences impacts security and HCAs’ well-being long term.

Elicitation of Association Rules from Information on Customs Offences on the Basis of Frequent Motives

The fight against fraud and trafficking is a fundamental mission of customs. The conditions for carrying out this mission depend both on the evolution of economic issues and on the behaviour of the actors in charge of its implementation. As part of the customs clearance process, customs are nowadays confronted with an increasing volume of goods in connection with the development of international trade. Automated risk management is therefore required to limit intrusive control. In this article, we propose an unsupervised classification method to extract knowledge rules from a database of customs offences in order to identify abnormal behaviour resulting from customs control. The idea is to apply the Apriori principle on the basis of frequent grounds on a database relating to customs offences in customs procedures to uncover potential rules of association between a customs operation and an offence for the purpose of extracting knowledge governing the occurrence of fraud. This mass of often heterogeneous and complex data thus generates new needs that knowledge extraction methods must be able to meet. The assessment of infringements inevitably requires a proper identification of the risks. It is an original approach based on data mining or data mining to build association rules in two steps: first, search for frequent patterns (support >= minimum support) then from the frequent patterns, produce association rules (Trust >= Minimum Trust). The simulations carried out highlighted three main association rules: forecasting rules, targeting rules and neutral rules with the introduction of a third indicator of rule relevance which is the Lift measure. Confidence in the first two rules has been set at least 50%.

Behind Bars: The Truth about Drugs in Prisons

The consumption and dealing of drugs has long been a criminal offence, so how are drugs finding their way into prisons that are meant to be secure places of law enforcement? To be able to confront the problem, an in-depth understanding is needed on the current situation of drugs within prisons. This review focuses on three aspects, firstly looking at the main ways drugs are trafficked into prisons, secondly looking at the issues linked to the use of drugs within prisons and finally evaluating what is being done to try to tackle the problem. Drugs find their way into prisons in numerous ways, which causes problems for the prison system. Prison officials need to be able to keep up with the creative and inventive ways inmates are developing to traffic drugs into prisons. A third of prisoners in England and Wales claimed it was easier to get hold of drugs in prison than it was outside. This undermines prison security and creates problems with violence together being linked with reoffending. Two in five prisoners in England and Wales are known to commit offences in order to get funds to purchase drugs. Health risks are created by inmates sharing syringes, leading to the transmission of infectious diseases. This in turn causes the costs of treatments and detection methods to spiral out of control. Governments are constantly trying to proactively find ways to tackle drugs in prison; these include the use of sniffer dogs and employing more thorough searches by staff. But more needs to be done to eradicate drugs completely.

Local Immigration Enforcement and Arrests of the Hispanic Population

Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which was added to the INA by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), allows the federal government to enter into voluntary partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration law. Upon entering these agreements, law enforcement officers are trained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and receive delegated authority to enquire about an individual's immigration status and, if found to be removable, to detain the individual while ICE makes a determination of whether to initiate deportation proceedings. In some instances, this inquiry about immigration status takes place as part of the intake process when a criminal defendant is arrested and placed into a criminal jail. In other instances, task force officers are trained to inquire in the field about immigration status and enforce immigration law against people who have not committed any criminal offense. The key difference between the two models is that task force agents can arrest for immigration violations undocumented individuals who have not committed any criminal offense, whereas in the jail model individuals must be arrested on some other criminal charge before immigration status can be determined. The 287(g) program has raised several concerns regarding its implementation and results. First, the program could lead to racial and ethnic profiling. In particular, given that the majority of undocumented immigrants hail from Latin American countries, it is highly plausible that Hispanics, regardless of immigrant status, might be disproportionally affected by this program. That is, in a jurisdiction that participates in the jail model, an officer might arrest a Hispanic individual for a very minor offence in order to process them through the jail and determine their immigration status, when perhaps without the program they may have only issued a citation. Another concern with the program is that it may lead to tensions between state and local law enforcement and the local community. If the program creates an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust by community members toward state and local law enforcement agents, even law abiding individuals may choose to avoid interaction with law enforcement agents. This can make victims and witnesses hesitant to come forward, for fear that their undocumented status will be uncovered. Such a situation inhibits law enforcement's ability to do its job and can, ironically, make communities less safe. This study explores the effects of implementation of the 287(g) program in Frederick County, Maryland on the arrests of Hispanics. Using data from individual arrest records from the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, which has a 287(g) agreement with ICE, and the Frederick Police Department, which does not, I analyze the changes in arrests between the two agencies before and after the 287(g) program was implemented in 2008. I find that overall, the arrests of Hispanics fell, suggesting that the Hispanic community avoided interaction with law enforcement when the program began. However, I also find that the program led to a significantly higher number of arrests of Hispanics by the Sheriff's Office than would have occurred in its absence, indicating that attention was focused toward the Hispanic community as a result of the program. These results suggest that, if the program is to continue, additional safeguards are needed to prevent abuses and civil rights violations.