Severity Of Crime Research Articles

Predicting support for community corrections: Crime type and severity, and offender, observer, and victim characteristics

The aim of the current research was to examine the contribution of crime type and severity as well as offender, observer, and victim characteristics to prediction of perception of community correction (CC) as an appropriate punishment. We conducted a telephone survey among Israeli citizens. A random and representative sample of 573 respondents, aged 20 to 74, evaluated the seriousness of crime scenarios and the appropriateness of CC for each scenario. In different versions of crime scenarios, we manipulated offence type as well as offender and victim characteristics. The results of a logistic regression indicate that perceived lower crime severity, a crime that is not murder, older offender age, and being a secular observer are related with an increased likelihood of supporting community corrections. The discussion addresses these findings in the context of punitive goals (e.g., revenge, retribution), public perception of offender dangerousness, and social identity theory.

After the downturn: Perceptions of crime and policing in the southeastern Saskatchewan oil patch

The relationship between crime and the rapid growth and industrialization associated with resource‐based booms in large boomtowns is well‐documented. This study focuses on changes in police‐reported crime and perceptions of crime and disorder in a region experiencing a mini‐boom after the boom subsides. Analyses of survey results of 1,336 respondents living in oil‐impacted and non‐impacted communities in southeastern Saskatchewan reveal several noteworthy differences between these two groups. Inconsistent with prior research, respondents in the oil‐impacted region were less fearful of being victimized than their counterparts in non‐impacted communities and did not believe that a lack of law enforcement was a problem. Our analyses also revealed that the economic downturn after oil prices and production plunged was associated with significant decreases in rates of reported crime, crime severity, and traffic collisions. Implications for establishing a more comprehensive theory of the boom‐crime relationship and future research are discussed.

Die „kalte Verjährung“ der nationalsozialistischen Morde in Österreich im Jahr 1975

The timeframe for the prosecution of Nazi crimes was limited in Austria by extinctive prescription. In the late 1960sand early 1970s, only the last and most severe crimes were still punishable and hardly any Nazi trials took place. Inthe few trials, the juries reached a number of scandalous acquittals, which caused international outrage and criticism.On the other hand, the Austrian population was not interested in dealing with the Austrian participation inthe atrocities committed during the Nazi regime. There was also agreement in politics to ‘put the past behind’.Against this background, the new Austrian Criminal Code (StGB) entered into force on 1st January 1975. Unrecognizedby the international community, the Austrian media, the population and even most politicians and legalscholars, it contained provisions (§§ 61, 62 and § 65 StGB) which led to the sudden prescription of most of the stillpunishable Nazi crimes. In the following article, the development of sections 61, 62 and 65 of the Austrian CriminalCode and their effects on the possibility of prosecuting Nazi crimes in Austria will for the first time be examined. Inaddition, it will address the question whether the de facto ‘amnesty of Nazi murderers’ brought by the new CriminalCode was planned or merely a legislative accident.

Психологические детерминанты отношения молодежи к экстремистской деятельности

The article is dedicated to the study of psychological determinants of young people's intolerant behavior towards individuals of other cultures and ethnic groups as a prerequisite to one's inclination to extremist activity. Theoretical analysis revealed that a tendency towards extremist activity is formed from cognitive and behavioral manifestations such as low awareness of the problem of extremism, rejection of other values and cultures, negative attitudes towards other ethnic groups and difficulties in determining legitimacy of one's actions. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of young people from Kaluga aged 18-25. The Volitional Control Questionnaire, the Big Five Personality Inventory and a specially developed questionnaire have been used. It has been established that a large part of the youth is informed about the manifestations of extremism but isn't fully aware of the severity of such crimes. A link between behavioral and cognitive manifestations related to extremism with certain personality determinants such as high sensitivity, inadequate self-assessment, insufficient maturity of outlook-related attitudes, lack of goodwill and rigidity of opinions is demonstrated.

Major Socio-Economic Factors Responsible for Crimes

Crime in Pakistan has been increasing day by day with the passage of time. This research discussed two particularly influential approaches to the explanation of the role of Socio-Economic factors that are responsible for crimes. One of these approaches emphasizes social orientations and the other economic deprivation. Certain groups allegedly endorse values that are supportive of criminal behavior. In this study Quantitative research method is used and universe of this study is district jail Sargodha. Data is collected through questionnaire and 110 respondents included in this study which is selected after applying simple random sampling technique and through SPSS (statistical packages for social sciences) data analysis is comprises. Even though statistical significance is often difficult and problematic but this technique is used to logically and scientifically approve the factors including social and economic which create a sense of disturbance and responsible for creating the rebellion traits in that individual. These result shows crimes have directed attention to poverty, injustice, unemployment, lawlessness, anomic situation, general economic inequality, and inequality. So socio-economic factors often present and held responsible behind every criminal act that is done by a human. Now as the result the people chose the path of crime that satisfied and pulled out him from the tense situation temporarily but they have to pay the consequences of their criminal actions in the form of a few year prison in corresponding to a small type of crime and sometimes its declared as a lifetime time prison and death penalty according to the severity and intensity of crime.

Typologies of Serial Arson: Explorative Study based on Latent Class Analysis

Serial arson is a severe crime than other violent crimes in severity of damage. Nonetheless, there is rarely been studied in terms of motivation and crime scene behaviors. This study empirically aims to investigate typology of serial arson based on motives and crime scene actions for helping to solve arsons. By Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a sample of 39 serial arsonists from the Korean National Data-base (i.e., SCAS) was analyzed. A cross-tabulation analysis was conducted to see relationships between offenders’ motive and crime scene information. In addition, chi-square analyses were used in between arson types and sociodemographic characteristics. As a result, types of serial arsons were classified into three classes, respectively; hybrid, revenge, release on motives and distant-inside, distant-outside, nearby-inside on crime scene behaviors. The associations by these classes possibly provide importation source to hypothesize arsons’ motive from crime scene actions for efficient policing. This empirical study could put stepstone on the offenders’ profiling to prioritize suspect especially in fire investigation.

How downplaying or exaggerating crime severity in a confession affects perceived guilt

This study investigates how judgments of guilt are influenced by factual errors in confessions that either amplify or downplay the severity of the crime. Participants read a confession statement and police report in which either the confession was consistent with the police report, the suspect admitted to a worse crime or the suspect admitted to a lesser crime. Mediation analyses showed that, compared to consistent confessions, both types of directional errors reduced judgments of guilt. Inconsistencies that made the suspect look better – but not those that made the suspect look worse –also increased judgments of guilt via a direct effect. Confessions that contain errors that appear to exaggerate the severity of the crime prompt no higher judgments of suspect guilt; however, errors in confessions that are perceived to downplay the severity of the crime can prompt an increased perception of suspect guilt compared to a consistent confession.

Psychological Risk Factors of Future Drug Offending among Young Offenders in Hong Kong - A Longitudinal Study

In recent years there is a growing concern on drug offenders in Hong Kong. Despite its over-representation in prison and recidivists, drug offending has seldom been studied systematically in risk factor research. The issue as to whether drug offending has specific psychological risk factors or they share a common set of risk factors with general offending remains largely unaddressed. This research applied a longitudinal design to investigate this issue. Using a data-set on young offenders’ psychological characteristics established in 2004 in the Hong Kong Correctional Services, and re-conviction data retrieved 11 years later in 2015, ANCOVA with planned orthogonal contrasts and Discriminant Function Analysis, Correlation and Regression analyses were used to analyze factors predicting post-release outcomes including recidivism, drug offending, and crime severity. Results revealed two sets of psychological risk factors with little overlap that could predict general recidivism (of all types of crime) and future drug offending. Recidivism could be predicted by low Future Time Perspective and Empathy, and high Assertiveness. Low Empathy was predictive of post-release crime severity of non-drug offending recidivists. Drug offending, in contrast, could be predicted by high Impulsiveness and Social Problem-solving deficits during adolescence. These two variables, together with low Assertiveness, also predicted post-release crime severity of drug-offending recidivists. Implications to future intervention and research were discussed.

Victim-Offender Overlap in Violent Crime: Targeting Crime Harm in a Canadian Suburb

Research QuestionTo what extent are victims of violent crime also offenders, and vice versa, with what concentrations of total crime harm across each person who has ever been reported as both a victim and an offender within the study period?DataWe analyse 27,233 unique individuals who were the subject of violent crime reports to the Peel Regional Police Service in Canada, either as offenders, victims, or both, for crimes reported between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2016. Each individual linked to a violent crime in this period was tracked for the 730 days subsequent to the first crime report naming them.MethodsWe coded each crime with the Canadian Crime Severity Index (CCSI) to calculate victimization and offending harm totals across all incidents for each individual. We then computed each individual’s ratio of total CCSI from victimization to total CCSI from victimization. Based on the distribution of these ratios of CCSI from all offending to all victimization, we show how police can distinguish three categories of victim-offenders (VOs): predominant victims (PVs), predominant offenders (POs), and balanced victim-offenders (BVOs), as well as the single-category absolute offenders (AOs) and absolute victims (AVs).FindingsAcross all 27,233 individuals tracked, 17,138 (64%) appeared first as victims, and 10,095 (36%) appeared first as suspects. Of those appearing first as victims, 997 (6%) are linked to a violent crime as an offender within 730 days. Among those appearing first as offenders, 1019 (10%) are subsequently reported as victimized within 730 days. The total of this combined group (VOs) = 1665 individuals (6% of the entire population). Using a 3.5:1 ratio of victim to offender harm, we subdivide the 1665 VOs further into 322 predominant victims, 280 predominant offenders, and 1063 balanced victim-offenders. The 20% of individuals (n = 5455) with highest harm are linked to 71% of overall harm. On average, predominant offenders (who have also been victimized) are associated with 2.7 times as much harm as absolute offenders, and predominant victims (who have also been offenders) have three times as much harm as absolute victims.ConclusionsThis research shows how combining records of victimization and offending to target higher harm levels with greater potential benefits for police investments in harm reduction and prevention.

Gendered judicial discourse in the sentencing of sexual offenders: a new explanatory model

ABSTRACT Sentencing that favours female sexual offenders (FSOs) over male sexual offenders (MSOs) has negative consequences for victims, offenders and the community. There have been calls to utilise qualitative methods to provide a richer understanding of why these disparities exist. As such, this study aimed to examine whether perpetrator gender influenced judges’ sentencing discourse of convicted sexual offenders. Using a systematic matching process, sentencing remarks for sexual perpetrators (n = 9 MSOs and n = 9 FSOs) sentenced in Queensland between 2012 and 2019 were thematically analysed. Three main themes and two sub-themes emerged: (1) gendered discourse about sexual offenders are predicated on crime severity (sub-themes included reduced culpability of non-assaultive FSOs compared with non-assaultive MSOs and the villainisation of violent FSOs compared with violent MSOs); (2) gender differences in offender contrition; and (3) judges’ emphasis on parental abuse of trust, rather than a gendered responsibility, in child abuse cases. An explanatory model was developed to explicate the findings using cognitive dissonance, social role and sexual script theories. The model advances current conceptualisation of this phenomenon, thereby addressing limitations of previous theories.

Criminological characteristics of the manifestations of the shadow economy

The article analyzes the features of the criminological characteristics of the manifestations of the shadow economy. The essence of the concept of “shadow economy” and its characteristic are investigated. As a result, it turned out that the shadow economy is one of the biggest obstacles to the development of the country's competitiveness, the growth of social standards of living of the population and integration into the European community. It is a reflection of the active criminalization of economic processes, the high corruption of state authorities and the low legal and tax culture of legal entities and individuals. The study found that the shadow economy gives rise to economic crime, which is harming the economic interests of the state and citizens protected by law, through theft, economic and mercenary official crimes. Statistical data of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine for recent years are analyzed. Based on the results, it is established that a tendency towards an increase in the severity of economic crimes is observed in the country. Analysis of crimes in the field of economic activity (by types of economic crimes) indicates an increase in tax evasion, misuse of budget funds, etc. So, criminological studies indicate the growing urgency of economic crime in the country. Criminological theory is investigated, persons who commit economic crimes, their relationship between men and women and areas of professional activity are examined and characterized. According to the results of the study, it was found that in the structure of economic crimes, a third are attacks against property, and almost half are criminal acts using official powers. The urgent issue is the prevention of economic crimes, effective and more specific are criminological preventive measures, which include the performance by the relevant authorities of inspections for the implementation of commodity-money transactions by business entities, it is advisable to use budgetary funds, legally conduct operational search activities in in order to counter the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, and more. Only with strict observance of all procedural rules and the rule of law, is it possible to overcome the country's shadow economy.

Tracking Police Arrests of Intimate Partner Domestic Abuse Suspects in London: a Situational Factors Analysis

Research QuestionWhat were the odds of named suspects being arrested for a reported crime of intimate partner abuse over one 12-month period in one area of London (UK), and how did those odds vary across twelve predictive situational characteristics, including the presence or absence of the suspect?DataThis study analyses 1000 intimate partner domestic abuse (DA) crimes recorded in the South West Basic Command Unit of the London Metropolitan Police Service in the 12 months between 1 February 2018 and 31 January 2019.MethodsTwelve factors present at the time of police recording an intimate partner abuse crime were analysed in an odds ratio analysis predicting whether a named suspect would be arrested for the crime. Separate analyses were conducted for cases in which the suspect was present at the time police arrived to interview the victim and in cases in which the suspect was absent. Analyses were also conducted by crime type and crime severity scores, with a descriptive analysis of reasons police gave for not making arrests.FindingsPolice arrested the suspect in 90% of the 287 cases in which suspects were present when police arrived, and in 47% of the 713 cases in which the suspect was absent on arrival. There was no difference in crime severity scores between cases in which arrests were made vs. not. After suspect absence, victim unwillingness to press charges was the second strongest predictor of no arrest being made, with 21% reported unwilling to cooperate when suspects were present and 29% unwilling when suspects were absent. Arrests were more likely when suspects were male than female and less likely with male victims than female victims.ConclusionsThese data show that in an area housing about 12% of London’s population, police make arrests in 90% of intimate partner crimes when the suspect is still present at the scene, and almost half of those in which suspects leave before police arrive. The primary predictor of non-arrest, controlling for offender absence, is victim unwillingness to support prosecution. Various policy options can be considered in light of these findings.

Court sentences to forensic-psychiatric treatment and imprisonment in Germany: Types of crimes and changes from 1995 to 2009

The management of mentally disordered offenders varies widely across countries. Given the high prevalence of individuals with mental disorders throughout the criminal justice system, it is not always clear why some people receive forensic treatment and others a prison sentence. This project investigated trends in criminal justice sentencing practices in Germany from 1995 to 2009. We analysed officially recorded data taken from 14,100,329 court rulings to describe differences in the index offences committed by individuals sentenced to prison of at least two years and those given a forensic treatment order. The distribution of offence types differed substantially. Forensic patients committed 6.6% of all severe crimes. There was a 50% increase in the number of forensic treatment orders compared to a 11.6% increase in the group of individuals sentenced for crimes of a similar severity. Forensic patients were more likely to have committed a serious offence. This paper provides key epidemiological data and offers a basis for future comparative research. It also concludes that these trends are indicative of a moderate penal policy, without a drift towards penal populism arguably visible in other jurisdictions. Instead, it is argued that the findings are consistent with actuarial social control policies oriented towards risk prediction and crime prevention of high-risk offender groups.

Transnational Crime and its Trends in South-East Asia: A Detailed Narrative in Vietnam

While implementing economic and political reforms to develop society and the economy since 1986, Vietnam has faced serious challenges to national security and social order associated with the complexities of transnational crimes (e.g., illegal drugs, human trafficking, green crimes and high-tech crimes). Additionally, as an uncharted territory in the field of criminology and policing, overall assessment of these crimes in Vietnam is still absent. Lack of knowledge and background on transnational crimes in Vietnam is considered one of the barriers to full understanding of the nature of cross-border criminals in comparison to other South-East Asian countries. This study analyses specific characteristics and modus operandi of transnational crimes in Vietnam by examining these particularly severe crimes. Findings show there are sophisticated cunning associated with flexible activities to avoid law enforcement monitors. Findings call for further research to inform policymakers and scholars.

Legislating for Profit and Optimal Eighth Amendment Review

We derive a profit maximizing legislator's decisions to criminalize and punish offenses, and compare them to the optimal scope of criminalization and punishment. A profit maximizing legislator overcriminalizes and overpunishes all criminalized acts when the degree to which it internalizes harms from crimes increases proportionally with the harm from crime until it fully internalizes the harms from the most severe crimes. An analysis of Eighth Amendment review, in the form of an upper bound on the fine that the legislator may impose, reveals that in addition to reducing the fines imposed by the legislator down to optimal levels, there are gains to imposing strict upper bounds for low harm crimes to remove the legislator's incentives to criminalize these acts in the first place. These results provide a rationale for asymmetric judicial review wherein upper bounds are imposed on punishment, but not lower bounds.

A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY ABOUT PERCEPTION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS REGARDING PUNISHMENT OF RAPE FOR ACCUSED

Background: Rape is a significant social and public health problem that has severe shattering effect on victims, including negative consequences on physical health, mental health, academic performance, and interpersonal and social relationships. It is important to know the perception and opinion of young people about the punishment of rape and increase transparency and one’s participation in the implementation of act.
 Aim: To spread awareness and portray severity of crime by learning the perception of medical students towards the punishment given for rape accused and to examine dimensionality of rape attitudes and its law in youth.
 Methods: Data was collected from 100 randomly selected medical students with the help of questionnaire and verbal discussion with them.
 Results: All the students were in the age group of 18 to 24 years. Only 47% were aware about the exact punishment given for accused. Maximum (75%) participants feel that death should be the ideal punishment and it should be given immediately as soon as the accused is found guilty. Inadequate mentality and lack of sex education are considered as major causes that provoke a person to commit rape. Majority of the cases are not reported because of social stigma and family reputation.
 Conclusion: Education is the most favored approach to sex related violence in the community. It is important to support every individual, as it plays a vital role in gaining media and government attention, which is a step forward for the betterment of the society, and soon towards the complete eradication of such social and public health issues like rape and sexual assault.

Context effect and confirmation bias in criminal fact finding

PurposeFact finding is an important part of the job of criminal trial judges and juries. In the literature, several potential pitfalls hindering fact finding have been identified, such as context effects (i.e. an unintended effect of non‐probative information on conviction) and confirmation bias (i.e. a skewed selection of and overreliance on guilt‐confirming evidence and neglect of exonerating information). In the present study, the effect of irrelevant contextual information on conviction and subsequent confirmation bias was tested.MethodA sample of Dutch professional criminal trial judges (N = 105) studied a case file and decided on their conviction of the suspect’s guilt, and subsequent investigation endeavours. There were two versions of the file, differing in non‐probative details that might affect conviction, such as crime severity and facial appearance of the suspect.ResultsFindings suggest that context information indeed affected conviction, and the subsequent preference for guilt‐confirming investigation endeavours.ConclusionProfessional judges may be susceptible to bias threatening the objectivity of legal decision‐making.

“I only relieve myself when I get home in the afternoons”

abstract This article investigates how lesbian students experience microaggressions in bathrooms at a South African university. We conveniently and purposively used in-depth interviews with 17 lesbian students largely from one of the faculties. Our findings show that notions of microaggression in university bathrooms were not always subtle but pervaded with strong intentions of cissexism and heteronormative messages that had serious implications for the wellbeing of same-sex sexual identity students. Although the university’s intent to introduce gender-neutral bathrooms was to address concerns of safety and forceful sexing of the body through the architecture of the traditional gender-binaried bathrooms, lack of engagement with the diverse student populations created confusion and anxiety. In light of the severity of hate crimes towards lesbians in South Africa, participants were of the view that the newly queered bathrooms made them more vulnerable to violence and ostracism. Implications are that the protection and inclusion of people with same-sex sexual identities in university bathroom spaces remain compromised. Tokenistic attempts at gender transformation in institutions of higher learning are indicative of the need for more focused and thought-through approaches with various stakeholders to consider the voices and needs of those directly affected.

Relations of crimes of different gravity degree in the Criminal code of Ukraine

The article deals with the classification of criminal offenses in the current Criminal Code of Ukraine. All the crimes, the responsibility for which are established in the Special part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, are analyzed and on the basis of this detailed description of crimes of small gravity, crimes of moderate gravity, serious and especially serious crimes is carried out. According to Art. 12 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, depending on the severity of the crimes are divided into crimes of small severity, moderate, serious and especially serious. The legislative classification of crimes was made taking into account the type of punishment (fine and imprisonment), as well as the amount of punishment. This is the norm of the current Criminal Code acquired in accordance with the Law «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Humanization of Liability for Offenses in the Field of Economic Activity» of November 15, 2011 No. 4025-VI. The percentage of different categories of crimes has been analyzed and the impact of the severity of crimes on some criminal liability issues has been determined. A study of the ratio of minor crimes to other categories of crimes showed that minor crimes constitute a fairly significant category of crimes, compared to others, namely 24.9%. In the Special Part of the Criminal Code, there is a «sharp jump» from the category of minor crimes to the category of especially serious crimes, which is connected with the occurrence of especially grave consequences in the qualified criminal offenses.

The Forgotten (Practical) Side of School Safety: What Do Clery Reports Say about CPTED and Crime on College Campuses?

ABSTRACT Following incidents of school violence, common discourse often neglects the role of practical approaches, such as CPTED, to safeguard campuses. This study utilized a content analysis of U.S. Clery Act Safety Reports from a national, randomly drawn stratified sample of n=100 American universities to determine the extent CPTED techniques were implemented. Findings suggested that 1) CPTED use is limited; 2) two CPTED techniques, access control and activity support, were most common; 3) institutions with higher crime rates tended to have implemented more CPTED measures; and 4) CPTED use appears to be related to less severe campus crimes. Implications are discussed.