The subjective nature of decision-makers in the domain of objective sentence processing

Selective incapacitation has been defined as an objective process whereby violent and/or chronic offenders are isolated and given longer prison terms. The purpose of this process is to keep these offenders out of society for longer periods of time resulting in a safer society. Couched within this utilitarian perspective is the assumption that the social sciences have developed a reputable formula from which future criminal behavior can be accurately predicted. This research, a case study of a Nevada presentence investigation unit, found that all convicted offenders are dealt with using the same criteria applied to violent and/or chronic offenders. This study employed a triangulated research strategy (participant observation, interview, document analysis, and quasi-experiment methods) which reveals that the subjective nature of social actors appears to supersede the scientifically-objective sentence recommendation guidelines. Interviews were conducted with 17 presentence investigators, which included their participation in a quasi-experiment using a scenario set with two hypothetical criminal cases. Data indicate that, inadvertently, institutional racism, sexism, classism, etc., play an active role, as proxy indicators, in the sentence recommendation process

The Impact on Crime Rate During a Period of Covid-19 Induced Jail Booking Restrictions

COVID-19 has become a catalyst for profound changes not just in public health but in criminal justice as well. To reduce the close-quarters populations of correctional facilities in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus, law enforcement administrators in the Pacific Northwest have significantly limited the opportunity to make custodial arrests of criminal suspects. The effect on crime rate by not booking suspected criminals for misdemeanor and felony crimes alike remained largely unstudied. To assess this intervention, a paired samples t-test was used after acquiring call volume data for 13 crime types from the dispatch communications center of a large Pacific Northwest county. Results determined statistically significant changes in crime rate in 12 of 13 crime types, with increases exhibited in 11 of 13, as determined by 911 calls for service after introducing COVID- booking restrictions. These results may influence future decision-making when considering public health interventions related to criminal justice and law enforcement

A Multilevel Analysis of County and State Variation in the Severity of Sentences Imposed in Large Urban Courts

This study explored the structural sources behind variability in the sentences applied to felons convicted in state courts located across the U.S. Multilevel regression models were used to explore whether various state and county-level attributes help to account for why defendants experience a significantly higher probability of incarceration versus probation in certain jurisdictions. Drawing upon a broad theoretical landscape, the analyses test several hypotheses derived from macro level theories of social control which predict that that the legal and organizational culture of courts, and the socioeconomic and political attributes of the communities they serve, influence sentencing outcomes. This study sought to fill two important gaps in the existing research. First, it broadened the theoretical framework used to interpret community variation in punishment to include the impacts of state sentencing policies that have been linked to the increase in mass incarceration among U.S. states. The second major goal of this study was to bring new data to bear on the issue of whether social and cultural attributes of communities are associated with the severity of the sentences their courts impose. The analysis examines this issue by linking individual sentencing outcomes to aggregate-level General Social Survey (GSS) responses that capture community variation in public sentiment. The sentencing data used to test these hypotheses are derived from the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) for the years 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. Information on a sample of 26,000 felony cases in the SCPS were appended to a unique county and state level database containing measures that capture variation in sentencing policy, criminal statutes, correctional resources, crime rates, court case load pressures, GSS survey responses, and census-derived demographic attributes

Outlaw biker crime:The relationship between Outlaw Motorcycle Gang membership and criminal behavior

The central aims of this dissertation were to empirically expand the extant knowledge on the extent to which OMCG membership is associated with the criminal careers of individual members, the ways in which OMCG membership is related to members’ criminal behavior, and the judicial reactions to OMCGs and OMCG membership. A multi-method approach was employed to address these research aims. The findings of the present dissertation contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between OMCG membership and crime. This dissertation suggests that OMCG membership influences the criminal careers of individual members, especially when it comes to membership of one of the most criminal OMCGs. Nevertheless, the involvement of OMCGs as collectives in members’ criminal behavior is limited: OMCGs, in most criminal cases, do not appear to orchestrate the criminal behavior to their members. OMCG membership predominantly contributes to the criminal behavior of individual members through various crime-promoting mechanisms, such as the ‘power of the patch’ and access to criminal ties. At the same time, Dutch law enforcement struggles to legally address OMCGs as criminal collectives and the symbolic contribution of fellow club members to crime through criminal law. Criminal law, after all, is primarily focused on individual liability and, therefore, has difficulties to address collective criminal behavior and criminal groups

Further insights into aspects of the EU illicit drugs market: summaries and key findings

This publication presents key findings and summaries of selected reports from the study ‘Further insights into aspects of the EU illicit drugs market’ (Trautmann, Kilmer and Turnbull, forthcoming 2013), which provides an analysis of characteristics and operations of the EU’s illicit drugs market, as called for by the European Commission. This study is a follow-up of the earlier European Commission study, which presented an analysis of the developments of the global illicit drug markets, the drug problems and drug policy responses in the period 1998-2007 (Reuter and Trautmann 2009). The discussions of that study resulted in a number of further research questions. Some of the questions considered most important by the European Commission have been put together in a call for a further analysis of the EU illicit drugs market and responses to it, focusing on a number of aspects in the following four areas: A. An analysis of specific characteristics, mechanisms and factors that govern the EU illicit drugs market, including a conceptual framework for thinking about the structure of drug suppliers in the EU, an assessment whether there have been significant shifts in how drugs are supplied in the EU and an assessment of the extent to which drug suppliers are involved in different drugs and other criminal activities. B. A detailed analysis of the size and share of the EU illicit drug market, providing an estimate of the volume of the ‘EU market’ in illicit drugs (production and trafficking), providing an estimate of the profits generated by this market, analysing whether the EU drugs market is more supply or demand driven and exploring various aspects of drug use: user types, availability and consumption estimates. C. A detailed analysis of a number of potential policy impacts on the EU drug market(s) in recent years, assessing the impact of opioid substitution treatment (OST) on the European heroin market and the impact of policy changes on two EU drug markets. D. Scanning the future – trends in the market and policy responses, exploring expert views on future key trends of the illicit drug markets and policy responses in the EU

Refining Child Pornography Law

The legal definition of child pornography is, at best, unclear. In part because of this ambiguity and in part because of the nature of the crime itself, the prosecution and sentencing of perpetrators, the protection of and restitution for victims, and the means for preventing repeat offenses are deeply controversial. In Refining Child Pornography Law, experts in law, sociology, and social work examine child pornography law and its consequences in an effort to clarify the questions and begin to formulate answers. Focusing on the roles of language and crime definition, the contributors discuss the increasing visibility child pornography plays in the national conversation about child safety, and present a range of views regarding the punishment of those who produce, distribute, and possess materials that may be considered child pornography

Criminal Redistribution of Stolen Property: The Need for Law Reform

Section I of this article describes various theft and fencing operations. As will be evident from that discussion, the most sophisticated fences are far removed from those receivers who are owners of seedy pawnshops or who indiscriminately select potential customers on the street, and thus they pose peculiar problems for law enforcement. Section II then identifies inadequacies in existing investigative techniques and in the substantive laws of receiving in light of modern theft and fencing operations. It proposes changes in the law and suggests appropriate law enforcement strategies to facilitate the detection and conviction of alleged fences. Needed changes in the civil law are also discussed. Throughout these sections of the article, reference will be made to the provisions of a Model Theft and Fencing Act set forth in appendix B

Intersectionality at the Intersection of Profiteering and Immigration Detention

This Article presents an original exploration of the connections between the corporatization of mass immigration detention, the societal and political pressures for stricter immigration law and policy, and the subordination of immigrants. In short, the social and political subordination of immigrants, who embody the marginalized identities of criminal, non-citizen, and person of color, feed the profit-seeking carceral machine. To illuminate this practice, the Article uses as a case study the increased detention of mothers and children immigrants, who migrated to the United States in record numbers in 2014. This intersection between corporate profit models—immigration law and policy—and critical legal studies has not yet been fully explored in the scholarly literature. Upon setting a foundation regarding the history and constitutional underpinnings of immigrant detention and presenting a snapshot of the current state of detention, the Article then focuses on the corporatization of incarceration and immigration detention. Further, the profiteering—immigration detention intersection is placed within the context of subordination theory. Finally, the Article concludes by providing paths to legislative and regulatory reform and to modes of advocacy to disrupt the entrenched intersectional foundation

Criminal Redistribution of Stolen Property: The Need for Law Reform

The development of sophisticated fencing systems for the sale of stolen property to consumers has paralleled the industrialization of society. Although crimes against property and attempts to control them have ancient origins, most theft before the Industrial Revolution was committed for immediate consumption by the thieves and their accomplices rather than for redistribution in the market-place. Society\u27s small population, inadequate transportation and communication systems, and technological inability to mass produce identical goods constrained large-scale fencing because there were few buyers and because stolen property could be readily identified. The unprecedented economic and demographic growth in eighteenth-century Europe, however, removed these practical constraints and made possible the profitable fencing operations that are now firmly institutionalized in industrial societies. Although these social and technological developments are important, they do not provide a complete explanation for the rising theft rate or for the tremendous amount of property successfully redistributed annually. Instead, these problems must be attributed in large part to our society\u27s failure to identify properly the economic relationship underlying theft and redistribution and, consequently, to our inability to develop successful methods of legal control. This review of the history and development of theft and fencing has documented the need for reform in the substantive law and in law enforcement practices. The current state of the law is simply not equipped to cope with a problem that is already extremely serious, and that can only get worse