A measurement of crime control-based social exclusion

Comparative criminal justice policy has a strong inclination to confront national crime control systems in accordance to corresponding levels of punitiveness. Some author (Díez-Ripollés, 2011, 2013) has advocated for a more enriched and comprehensive comparative framework, which is founded in either the social inclusion or the social exclusion effects that different crime control systems entail on three specific groups: suspects, offenders and ex-offenders. To this end, it identifies nine topic pools (control of public spaces, legal safeguards, sentencing and sanctions systems, harshest penalties, prison rules, preventive intervention, legal and social status of offenders and ex-offenders, police and criminal records, youth criminal justice), each of them comprising a number of punitive rules or practices. Assuming this model, we are designing and validating a comparative instrument able to measure current criminal policy of Western industrialized countries in accordance to the social inclusion / social exclusion dimension. In order to achieve this goal we have chosen a methodology, which intends to establish an inter-judge agreement on the social exclusive character of a certain amount of punitive rules and practices previously included within those pools. In this presentation, we will explain how we designed the questionnaire sent to the experts, as well as the results of the first validation process. This took place with the cooperation of over 70 international experts from 18 different Western industrialized countries. The inter-judge agreement on the punitive rules and practices capable of producing significant social exclusive effects on the three studied groups was verified through inter-rater reliability (IRR) statistical tests, like the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Aiken's V Coefficient. We will also describe the pending validation process. Once available, we intend to draw attention of the criminological community to this tool for comparing national crime control systems, and to promote its application.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Morphological aspects in the diagnosis of skin lesions

En col·laboració amb la Universitat de Barcelona (UB), la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) i l’Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO)The ABCDE (Asymmetry, Border, Color, Rambla de Sant Nebridi, 10, Diameter and Elevation) rule represents a commonly used clinical guide for the early identification of melanoma. Here we develop a methodology based on an Artificial Neural Network which is trained to stablish a clear differentiation between benign and m lesions. This machine learning approach improves prognosis and diagnosis accuracy rates. align In order to obtain the 6 morphological feature data set for each of the 69 lesions considered, a 3D handheld system is used for acquiring the skin images and an image processing algorithm is applied

A note on the stratification by automorphisms of smooth plane curves of genus 6

In this note, we give a so-called representative classification for the strata by automorphism group of smooth $\bar{k}$-plane curves of genus $6$, where $\bar{k}$ is a fixed separable closure of a field $k$ of characteristic $p = 0$ or $p > 13$. We start with a classification already obtained by the first author and we use standard techniques. Interestingly, in the way to get these families for the different strata, we find two remarkable phenomenons that did not appear before. One is the existence of a non $0$-dimensional final stratum of plane curves. At a first sight it may sound odd, but we will see that this is a normal situation for higher degrees and we will give a explanation for it. We explicitly describe representative families for all strata, except for the stratum with automorphism group $\mathbb{Z}/5\mathbb{Z}$. Here we find the second difference with the lower genus cases where the previous techniques do not fully work. Fortunately, we are still able to prove the existence of such family by applying a version of Luroth's theorem in dimension $2$

Challenges for the protection of unaccompanied foreign minors in the streets of Ceuta

Ceuta, as a Spanish enclave in Africa face specific challenges in terms of immigration. Due the proximity of Ceuta and Morocco, the residents of Moroccan provinces adjoining are exempted from visa requirements and can be authorized to enter and exit the Spanish city, on a daily basis, but not the rest of the national territory. A number of the people that cross this border are minors, many of them come from adjoining provinces and enter legally, with their passports, accompanied by their parents or a relative who abandon them in Spanish territory, with the aim that they could get a better life and help their family economically. Others come from other provinces and undertake this trip alone, often with the same responsibility, of helping their family, and stay on the land border between Morocco and Spain for days or even months trying to sneak across the border illegally. These minors scape from the system, they are unprotected, exposed to criminal and victimological risk. Besides, their presence on the streets generate a sense of public insecurity and social alarm, although the crime rate of this group is low, negative labels are applied to them. In this context, Ceuta, specifically the Department of Health, Social Affairs, Minors and Equality, has signed an agreement with the University of Málaga, implemented by the Observatory of the Crime control system towards Immigration (OCSPI), to develop a pilot project of research and social intervention to prevent juvenile delinquency and protect these minors.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Criminological analysis of the principle of judicial opportunity of the art. 57.7 of Spanish Immigration Law: Waiving of criminal proceedings and primacy of administrative expulsion

Spanish Immigration Law provides (art. 57.7) that where a foreigner, on which is pending an administrative expulsion order, is accused in a penal procedure with a misdemeanour or felony which entails a punishment less than six years of imprisonment or any alternative penal sanction, administrative authority will request to the criminal judge to renounce continuing with the penal procedure and allowed the expulsion, and judge will renounce unless some circumstances will be appreciated to justify the continuation of the process. This regulation, manifestation of the principle of judicial opportunity, has been widely analyzed from a legal perspective, but little research has been done about its effective implementation in practice and about the costs and benefits derived from this ius puniendi's renunciation from the point of view of the purposes of punishment. With the overall aim of deepening the knowledge of this topic, the research we are doing aims to: 1) determine the prevalence of its application; 2) identify the profile of foreigners and offenses for which it is applied; and 3) identify which criteria are guiding the assessment of the court decision. Our hypothesis are that: i) there are some dysfunctions that hampered the application and also the knowledge of the exact number of authorizations granted and that ii) in practice, the assessment of costs and benefits that implies authorization in each case, is omitted. To achieve the first objective we are reviewing official statistics and judiciary/prosecutors instructions and conducting interviews with key stakeholders. To achieve the second and the third objectives, we are reviewing a sample of selected case files of trial courts of Madrid and Malaga, which also allows us to make comparisons between practices of both jurisdictions. The results obtained would allow us to develop good practices that could be useful for legal actors in the assessment of approval or denial the expulsion.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Criminal Justice Systems in Europe. A cross-national quantitative analysis

In the last years, the Crime Observatory of the University of Malaga has analysed police records on criminal activity, has also carried out several crime victims surveys in Spain and has worked on a detailed analysis of the prison system and its connection to the prison policy. This year´s report focuses on the Criminal Justice System, one of the big official data providers, to gather, organize and interpret a great deal of quantitative data from 2000 to 2011. Such longitudinal scrutiny offers data related to public opinion about criminal courts, the quality of criminal justice, its resources, the amount of criminal cases managed on each court, a user´s profile, etc. On this presentation, we´ll concentrate on a comparison of the European countries that constitutes the first chapter of the Report and aims to offer a proper context to the rest of it. Such comparison will explain the national differences in terms of the public budget allocated to courts, legal aid, court fees, incoming criminal cases, length of procedures, clearance rate, as well as homicide, rape, serious assault and robbery convictions, etc. Our aim will be to offer an interesting cross-national analysis of such topics that will provide a reference point from which to debate the national policies related to the Criminal Justice System in the European Countries.Instituto Andaluz Interuniversitario de Criminología. Sección de Málag

Evaluación de la eficacia y eficiencia del Programa O2 para el restablecimiento de mujeres víctimas de tratas y sus hijos

El programa piloto ÖDOS (O2) para el restablecimiento de mujeres víctimas de trata, enteramente financiado con capital privado, pretende atender a mujeres con hijos o en avanzado estado de gestación que acceden de forma irregular a España y no se reconocen como víctimas de trata, no entrando por tanto en los recursos existentes y desapareciendo de los centros de primera asistencia. Tanto la Memoria de la Fiscalía General del Estado de 2015, como los Informes del Defensor del Pueblo alertan de la situación de riesgo de estas mujeres y niños que desaparecen posiblemente a manos de la red que trafica con ellos. El objetivo del programa es facilitar un entorno estable y un acompañamiento personal y profesional que permita el restablecimiento de la mujer. Se pretende con ello aumentar el número de mujeres que se acogen al periodo de reflexión y reducir el número de menores a los que se les decreta desamparo. Con la pretensión última de que este proyecto sea asumido por la Administración y de que pueda ser replicado en otros países europeos, se ha encargado una evaluación externa al Observatorio criminológico del sistema penal ante la inmigración (OCSPI) del Instituto de Criminología de Málaga para comprobar la eficiencia y eficacia del programa O2. Con el estudio de la eficiencia se comprobará si se ha ejecutado conforme al plan previamente diseñado, y luego comprobar su eficacia, esto es, el impacto de dicho programa sobre las mujeres y sus hijos. El presente trabajo se centra en la metodología de evaluación de O2. El diseño metodológico que se propone combina un estudio cuantitativo sobre el número de mujeres que acceden al recurso, sus características y diversas formas de abandono del programa, junto al análisis de los protocolos de intervención, entrevistas a informantes clave y observación directa al comienzo, a los seis meses y al año de iniciado el programa.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech