Organisational capacity for responsive regulation

In April 1998, the Australian Taxation Office (Tax Office) adopted a policy of responsive regulation of tax compliance by small firms in the building and construction industry. Known as the Australian Taxation Office Compliance Model (ATO Compliance Model), the new approach is grounded in past research into regulation of business entities. As seen by its promoters, it promises to improve significantly tax compliance in the cash economy. Drawing from survey and interview data, we explore the Tax Office’s capacity for successful implementation of the ATO Compliance Model. Specifically, we examine the extent to which it had the leadership and staff commitment to implement the policy successfully. We also explore whether or not project field-level staff saw merit in the program and eventually came to support it. We conclude by examining whether the owners of small building and construction firms changed their perspectives on the Tax Office and tax compliance following introduction of the ATO Compliance Model

The Returns to Criminal Capital

Human capital theory (Becker 1962; Mincer 1958; Schultz 1960; 1961) posits that individuals can increase their labor market returns through investments in education and training. This concept has been studied extensively across several disciplines. An analog concept of criminal capital, while the focus of speculation and limited empirical study, remains considerably less developed theoretically and methodologically. This paper offers a formal theoretical model of criminal capital indicators and tests for greater illegal wage returns using a sample of serious adolescent offenders, many of whom participate in illegal income-generating activities. Our results reveal that, consistent with human capital theory, there are important illegal wage premiums associated with investments in criminal capital, notably an increasing but declining marginal return to experience and a premium for specialization. Further, as in studies of legal labor markets, we find strong evidence that, if left unaccounted for, non-random sample selection causes severe bias in models of illegal wages. Theoretical and practical implications of these results, along with directions for future research, are discussed

Portraying the nature of corruption: Using an explorative case-study design

What is the nature of corruption in Western democracies? To answer this research question, the authors study 10 Dutch corruption cases in depth, looking at confidential criminal files. The cases allow them to sketch a general profile of a corruption case. The authors offer nine propositions to portray the nature of corruption. They conclude that corruption usually takes place within enduring relationships, that the process of becoming corrupt can be characterized as a slippery slope, and that important motives for corruption, aside from material gain, include friendship or love, status, and the desire to impress others. The explorative multiple case study methodology helps to expand our understanding of the way in which officials become corrupt. © 2008 The American Society for Public Administration

Épisodes d’inactivité et revenus criminels dans une trajectoire de délinquance

L’instabilité de l’activité criminelle dans le temps est déjà bien documentée. On connaît toutefois peu les circonstances qui expliquent ces variations à court terme. Une meilleure connaissance de ces facteurs est souhaitable puisqu’il est possible que les transitions et les changements à court terme précèdent les points tournants des carrières criminelles. Les conditions qui rendent compte d’une interruption temporaire des activités peuvent, par exemple, contribuer à expliquer un désistement définitif. L’étude se fonde sur les trajectoires de 172 délinquants impliqués dans des crimes à but lucratif et analyse les variations mensuelles de leurs revenus criminels ainsi que les épisodes d’inactivité criminelle à l’intérieur d’une période fenêtre de 36 mois. La méthode des calendriers d’histoire de vie combinée aux modèles hiérarchiques permet d’examiner conjointement le rôle de facteurs statiques (les caractéristiques individuelles des sujets) et dynamiques (les circonstances de vie). Les résultats mettent en évidence l’importance des événements qui marquent le style de vie des délinquants et des paramètres qui caractérisent l’engagement criminel dans la compréhension des variations dans les trajectoires à l’étude. Ils soulignent également l’importance de la finalité derrière les activités criminelles pour expliquer la décision des délinquants de cesser temporaire leurs activités illicites

Seeding Science, Courting Conclusions: Reexamining the Intersection of Science, Corporate Cash, and the Law

Social scientists have expressed strong views on corporate influences over science, but most attention has been devoted to broad, Black/White arguments, rather than to actual mechanisms of influence. This paper summarizes an experience where involvement in a lawsuit led to the discovery of an unexpected mechanism: A large corporation facing a multibillion-dollar court judgment quietly provided generous funding to well-known scientists (including at least one Nobel prize winner) who would submit articles to "open," peer-reviewed journals, so that their "unbiased science" could be cited in an appeal to the Supreme Court. On balance, the corporation's most effective techniques of influence may have been provided not by overt pressure, but by encouraging scientists to continue thinking of themselves as independent and impartial

The Social Organization of Burglary

The social organization of systematic burglary is discussed and briefly compared to earlier work on systematic offenders. Salient aspects of both the internal and external social organization of burglary are presented, especially as these are related to the problems of burglary. It is suggested that burglary continues to be more like the social organization of professional theft, as this was presented by Sutherland, than check forgery and armed robbery, as these have been depicted in recent literature. Some possible reasons for this are presented. Finally, it is suggested that the social organization of burglary can be expected to continue to change as a result of macrolevel changes in the economy and in the nature of security forces

The Later Stages of Ordinary Property Offender Careers

Few sociologists have studied the later stages of careers in deviance and criminality. This paper describes how 36 ordinary property offenders, released from confinement from four months to 28 years earlier, changed their perspectives toward life and criminal behavior as they got older. Changes in criminal behavior resulted from two types of occurrences in the men\u27s lives: temporal and interpersonal. Some of the age-related changes differ little from those experienced by non-offenders. Consequently, the findings challenge critical assumptions about offenders employed by proponents of the death penalty and other repressive crime control measures