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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:47 am
Time: 3:47 am
Results for criminal behavior
11 results foundAuthor: Bodenhorn, Howard Title: Crime and Body Weight in the Nineteenth Century: Was There a Relationship Between Brawn, Employment Opportunities and Crime? Summary: This paper addresses the extent to which crime in the 19th century was conditioned on body weight, using data on inmates incarcerated in Tennessee and Illinois between 1831 and 1892. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2009. 27p. Source: Internet Resource. NBER Working Paper Series: Working Paper 15099 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 115795 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorCriminology |
Author: Leeson, Peter T. Title: Pirational Choice: The Economics of Infamous Pirate Practices Summary: This paper investigates the profit-maximizing strategies of violent criminal organizations by examining the economics of infamous pirate practices. The paper explores three practices pirates used to reduce tne costs and enhance the revenues of their criminal enterprise. First, the paper examines the priate flag, the Jolly Roger, which pirates used to signal their identity as unconstrained outlaws, enabling them to take prizes without costly conflict. Second, the article considers how pirates combine heinous torture, public displays of madness, and published advertisement of their fiendishness to establish a fearsome reputation and piratical brand name that prevented costly captive behaviors. Third, the article analyzes how pirates used artificial impressment to mitigate the increased risk of pirating in the 18th century as a result of English legal innovations. The unique context in which pirates sought profits, not a difference in pirate rationality, explains pirates' eccentric and often bizarre behavior. Pirates' infamous practices improved their efficiencey "on the account" enhancing their criminal enterprise's profitability. Details: Fairfax, VA: Department of Economics, George Mason University, 2009(?). 40p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 113551 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorCriminal EnterpriseEconomicsOrganized CrimePirates |
Author: Bowen, Kendra N. Title: An Analysis of Criminal Situations: Decision Making and Other Contextual Factors of Robbery and Assault Summary: Research concerning the situational context in which crime occurs has taken a back seat to the study of criminality in criminological research. The purpose of this study was to examine the situational context of robbery, attempted robbery, assault, and avoided violence situations. Offenders from four western Pennsylvania county jail facilities were surveyed June through October 2010 concerning the contextual information in these types of situations in which they had been participants. This study examined situations nested within each respondent and compared these situations across respondents. This type of analysis was used to fully examine the personal (criminality) and situational factors that influence the studied situations. The personal level factors examined in this study were offender demographics, criminal history, hostile attribution bias and anger. The situational factors included decision making, anger and hostile attribution bias (in each situation), motive, victim selection, substance use, intent to harm, weaponry, and injury. The results from this study indicate that the study of the situational context of crime can provide more opportunities for researchers to unveil the complexities of criminal behavior. Utilizing social information processing theory, this study found that there were statistically significant differences in decision making in the studied situations. Additionally, hostile attribution bias and anger did play an important role in these situations, and more attention should be devoted to them. Lastly, past research has focused too narrowly on certain aspects of the situation (e.g., motive or victim selection), giving an incomplete depiction of the criminal situation. This research found that, by focusing on the situation in its entirety, more accurate information can be obtained as to which situational variables have a statistically significant relationship with robbery, attempted robbery, assault, and avoided violence situations. Details: Indiana, PA: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, The School of Graduate Studies and Research, Department of Criminology, 2011. 283p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 17, 2011 at: http://dspace.lib.iup.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/2069/344/1/Kendra+Bowen.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://dspace.lib.iup.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/2069/344/1/Kendra+Bowen.pdf Shelf Number: 122422 Keywords: AssaultCriminal BehaviorDecision-MakingRobbery |
Author: Enticott, Gareth Title: Techniques of neutralising wildlife crime in rural England and Wales Summary: Within rural studies, there have been few attempts to critically analyse crimes against nature. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by providing an analysis of farmers’ reasons for illegally culling badgers in the United Kingdom. Drawing on Sykes and Matza’s (1957) concept of neutralisation techniques, the paper shows how farmers rationalise this activity in a number of ways. Using in-depth interviews with 60 farmers in the England and Wales, the paper shows how they justify badger culling through discursive strategies that claim the activity is necessary, denying victims or the necessity of the law, condemning the condemners, and appealing to higher communitarian loyalties. However, the paper also argues that neutralisation techniques should be seen as components of a broader argument in support of rural space and identity. In the case of badger culling; neutralisation techniques combine together to defend a particular rural identity and way of living. As much as they are attempts to rationalise criminal behaviour, neutralisation techniques should therefore be seen as spatial discourses, demarcating the boundaries of cultural identity and space. In conclusion, the paper discusses potential solutions to the problems of wildlife crime. Details: Cardiff, United Kingdom: The Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability & Society (BRASS), Cardiff University, 2010. 33p. Source: BRASS Working Paper Series No. 61: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 23, 2012 at http://www.brass.cf.ac.uk/uploads/WP61.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.brass.cf.ac.uk/uploads/WP61.pdf Shelf Number: 123742 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorRural CrimeWildlife Crime (United Kingdom) |
Author: The Royal Society Title: Brain Waves Module 4: Neuroscience and the law Summary: The human brain is not viewed in the same way as other organs. The brain holds the key to mind and behaviour, and so to most it has a ‘special’ status. The relatively young fi eld of neuroscience is the study of the brain and nervous system. Neuroscientists seek to determine how brain function affects behaviour. The law is concerned with regulating behaviour, and so it is reasonable to ask whether and if so how, neuroscience could, or should, inform the law. The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has sought here to set out where neuroscience might offer insights to the law, and current limits to its application. Many questions have been asked about what neuroscience might offer for the law. For instance, might neuroscience fundamentally change concepts of legal responsibility? Or could aspects of a convicted person’s brain help to determine whether they are at an increased risk of reoffending? Will it ever be possible to use brain scans to ‘read minds’, for instance with the aim of determining whether they are telling the truth, or whether their memories are false? It has been suggested that ‘for the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything.’ This report takes a different position: that discoveries in neuroscience (or in genetics or psychology) will not completely revolutionise the theory and practice of the law in the near future; but there are already some important practical implications of recent neuroscientifi c discoveries, which should impact on the law, and there will certainly be many more over the next few years. For example, fi ndings from neuroscience may raise questions over the age of criminal responsibility. Although the potential is at present unclear, it is possible that neuroscientifi c information could be used as part of risk assessments. It is also possible that imaging studies may in the not too distant future provide evidence of the nature of pain. This would be relevant to many civil cases, concerned with whether a claimant’s suffering and pain are real or exaggerated. In addition, neuroscience may also be used further to strengthen the diagnosis of ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ or ‘Non Accidental Head Injury’ (NAHI). While there are examples, such as those above, of where neuroscience may provide useful insights, it is worth sounding a note of caution: claims that murderers can be identifi ed by imaging studies of their brains, or that there is a gene for psychopathy or for violent or antisocial behaviour are completely wide of the mark. If neuroscience is to feed usefully into the law, there are a number of challenges to its use that must fi rst be overcome. Some of these might apply to the intersection of science and law more broadly; however this report has focused on neuroscience. The report makes a number of recommendations for bridging the gap between legal professionals and neuroscientists to better communicate relevant fi ndings; for training and education; and for building applied research capacity. Details: London: The Royal Society, 2011. 46p. Source: RS Policy document 05/11: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2012 at http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/policy/projects/brain-waves/Brain-Waves-4.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/policy/projects/brain-waves/Brain-Waves-4.pdf Shelf Number: 125043 Keywords: Age of Criminal ResponsibilityCriminal BehaviorLegislationNeurosciencePedophilia |
Author: Mell, Andrew Title: Are "Gangstas" Peacocks? The Handicap Principle and Illicit Markets Summary: Criminals who wear gang colors are acting in a surprisingly brazen way which must increase the probability of being caught and punished by the police. In our model this brazen behavior is a solution to an enforcement problem. The central idea is that less able criminals see lower gains from continued participation in crime because they will be caught and punished more often. Lower future gains imply that reputational concerns will be less effective at enforcing honesty. Only dealing with brazen criminals will become a good way to avoid dealing with incompetent criminals, because they cannot afford to mimic the brazen behavior. The principle is similar to the selection for a handicap in evolutionary biology. Details: Oxford, UK: University of Oxford, Department of Economics, 2011. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper Series No. 558: Accessed July 24, 2012 at: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/papers/details/department_wp_558/ Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/papers/details/department_wp_558/ Shelf Number: 125755 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorGang ColorsIllegal MarketsIllicit Trade |
Author: Ranson, Matthew Title: Crime, Weather, and Climate Change Summary: This paper estimates the impact of climate change on the prevalence of criminal activity in the United States. The analysis is based on a 50-year panel of monthly crime and weather data for 2,972 U.S. counties. I identify the effect of weather on monthly crime by using a semi-parametric bin estimator and controlling for county-by-month and county-by-year fixed effects. The results show that temperature has a strong positive effect on criminal behavior, with little evidence of lagged impacts. Between 2010 and 2099, climate change will cause an additional 30,000 murders, 200,000 cases of rape, 1.4 million aggravated assaults, 2.2 million simple assaults, 400,000 robberies, 3.2 million burglaries, 3.0 million cases of larceny, and 1.3 million cases of vehicle theft in the United States. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, 2012. 49p. Source: Harvard Kennedy School M-RCBG Associate Working Paper Series No. 8: Internet Resource: Accessed August 28, 2012 at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2111377 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2111377 Shelf Number: 126127 Keywords: Climate ChangeCrime StatisticsCriminal Behavior |
Author: Rud, Iryna Title: The Externalities of Crime: The Effect of Criminal Involvement of Parents on the Educational Attainment of Their Children Summary: The empirical literature on education and crime suggests that both criminal behavior and educational attainment are transferred from parents to children. However, the impact of criminal involvement of parents on educational outcomes of children tends to be ignored, even though the entailed social costs may be substantial. This study examines the effects of parents‟ criminal involvement on the educational attainment of their children. A multinomial probit model is applied in combination with a Mahalanobis matching approach to identify this effect. The findings suggest that having criminally involved parents: (1) increases the probability of only finishing primary education by 8 percentage points, and (2) decreases the probability of having a higher education degree by 13 percentage points. Details: Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, 2012. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: TIER Working Paper Series; Tier SP 12/10: Accessed January 30, 2013 at: http://ideas.repec.org/p/tir/wpaper/44.html Year: 2012 Country: Netherlands URL: http://ideas.repec.org/p/tir/wpaper/44.html Shelf Number: 127450 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorIntergenerational CrimeParental Influence |
Author: Aaltonen, Mikko Title: Risk Factors of Violence in Finland: A Register Based Study Summary: Many policy decisions affect people's life circumstances in a manner that may also influence their likelihood or propensity to commit crimes. If alcohol availability is greatly increased, the incidence of alcohol related brawls, fights and family violence may show a rise. If poverty increases due to societal processes or policy decisions, this may result in more people experiencing criminogenic strain. If economy changes, or is deliberately changed, so that people have to move from one place to another, this may break social ties causing control deficits and increase in crime. Clearly, it would be useful to know how social policy decisions are translated into increases or decreases in crime. In an ideal situation, policy programmes would be evaluated by experimental research with adequate control groups of individuals or aggregated groups (such as areas). However, practical, ethical and legal obstacles often stand in the way of experimental design. On rare occasions, natural experiments are available when, for example, policy decisions alter the availability of alcohol (Kivivuori 2003; Siren & Lehti 2006). More commonly, policy makers must do without causal (or any kind of) evaluations. The Risk Factors of Crime in Finland (RFCF) research project was launched to provide additional insight into the likely policy consequences of social policy decisions. It utilizes the abundance of register data available on the potential risk factors of crime, and studies their association with crime involvement. In the future, the possibility of simulating the crime effects of various kinds of social and criminal policy changes will be probed. In principle, such simulation results could be used in the quantitative estimation of crime effects of legislative and other political or societal changes. Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy< 2008. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 6/2008: Accessed February 27, 2015 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/C8egqtJ2d/riskitekijat2008.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Finland URL: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/C8egqtJ2d/riskitekijat2008.pdf Shelf Number: 134728 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, DisorderCrime Control PolicyCriminal BehaviorCriminal Justice Policy (Finland)Violent Crime |
Author: Mungan, Murat C. Title: Identifying Criminals' Risk Preferences Summary: There is a 250 year old presumption in the criminology and law enforcement literature that people are deterred more by increases in the certainty rather than increases in the severity of legal sanctions. We call this presumption the Certainty Aversion Presumption (CAP). Simple criminal decision making models suggest that criminals must be risk-seeking if they behave consistently with CAP. This implication leads to disturbing interpretations, such as criminals being categorically different than law abiding people, who often display risk-averse behavior while making financial decisions. Moreover, policy discussions that incorrectly rely on criminals' risk attitudes implied by CAP are ill-informed, and may therefore have unintended negative consequences. In this article, we first demonstrate, contrary to most of the existing literature, that CAP consistent behavior does not imply risk-seeking behavior. A host of considerations that are unrelated to risk-attitudes can generate behavior that is consistent with CAP, including stigmatization; discounting; judgment proofness; the forfeitability of illegal gains; and the possibility of being punished for unsuccessful criminal attempts. Next, we discuss empirical methods that can be employed to gain a better understanding of criminals' risk-attitudes and responsiveness to various punishment schemes. These methods focus on the various non-risk-related-considerations that may be responsible for CAP consistent behavior. Finally, we discuss the importance of gaining a better understanding of criminals' attitudes for purposes of designing optimal law enforcement methods, punishment schemes for repeat offenders, plea bargaining procedures and standards of proof. Details: Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Law School, Institute for Law and Economics, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Paper No. 15-5: Accessed March 9, 2015 at: http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2535&context=faculty_scholarship Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2535&context=faculty_scholarship Shelf Number: 134758 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorCriminalsDecision MakingRisk-Taking Behavior |
Author: Dengler-Roscher, Kathrin Title: Do Criminals Behave Rationally? Evidence from the Franco-German Border Summary: In this paper we use a new identification strategy to provide further empirical evidence that criminals behave as predicted by rational choice theory. We collected data from German police administration to build an unique data set that contains monthly fuel thefts at gas station level. In a first step, we use exogenous variation of fuel prices to provide empirical evidence that fuel theft reacts to different fuel prices. In a second step, we find empirical evidence that this price effect is stronger when cost-reducing activities of criminals are additionally taken into account. Thereby, we observe the German border area near France where potential French fuel thieves have better opportunities to get away with fuel theft than their German counterparts. Details: Ulm, Germany: Institute of Economics, Ulm University, 2016. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 26, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2712872 Year: 2016 Country: Germany URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2712872 Shelf Number: 137655 Keywords: Criminal BehaviorEconomics of CrimeFuel TheftGasoline StationsGasoline TheftPetrol TheftRational BehaviorRational Choice TheoryStealing |