European Journal of Criminology recent issues

Erratum

2008-07-17

The Greek Connection(s): The Social Organization of the Cigarette-Smuggling Business in Greece

Antonopoulos, G. A. — 2008-07-17

Despite the fact that cigarette smuggling has a long history in specific contexts, it has only relatively recently received some media attention in Greece. It is now suggested that contraband cigarettes represent 8 percent of total cigarette consumption in the country and that the cigarette-smuggling business deprives the Greek state of millions in taxes. The purpose of this article, which draws on a variety of data sources and builds on a previous study of a cigarette-smuggling network in Greece, is to provide an account of the social organization of the cigarette black market in Greece.

How Serious Is the Problem of Item Nonresponse in Delinquency Scales and Aetiological Variables?: A Cross-National Inquiry into Two Classroom PAPI Self-Report Studies in Antwerp and Halmstad

Pauwels, L., Svensson, R. — 2008-07-17

The phenomenon of item nonresponse, i.e. missing data, in surveys is well known among methodologists. Item nonresponse is a problem when it is biased to the dependent variables in aetiological research. The occurrence of item nonresponse in self-reported delinquency studies has been associated with the threatening nature of questions about previous delinquent behaviour, but item nonresponse also occurs in scales measuring aetiological variables (theoretical concepts) in aetiological research, and in sociology has also been associated with negative attitudes towards the survey, although evidence from self-reported delinquency studies in support of this concern has not yet been given. The aim of this study is to evaluate the seriousness of the problem of item nonresponse in two independently drawn self-reported delinquency data sets of two classroom delinquency studies conducted among adolescents in Antwerp (Belgium) and Halmstad (Sweden) using paper and pencil interviews (PAPI). We do this by evaluating the non-random character of item nonresponse in scales of delinquency and aetiological variables, by looking at the correlates of item nonresponse and by evaluating the effects of assigning values on the missing data with regard to reliability and correlational validity. The results are rather optimistic about the hypothesized negative effects of item nonresponse.

Why are English Youths More Violent Than Swedish Youths?: A Comparative Study of the Role of Crime Propensity, Lifestyles and Their Interactions in Two Cities

Wikstrom, P.-O. H., Svensson, R. — 2008-07-17

Most cross-national studies of crime and violence explore variation in levels of crime without empirically addressing the causes of these variations. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of the situational action theory of crime causation (e.g. Wikström 2006), in this study we aim to explore and test whether the difference in levels of violence among young people in England and Sweden can be explained (fully or partly) by country differences in young people's crime propensities and lifestyles and their interaction. To achieve this we use data from the English Peterborough Youth Study and the Swedish Eskilstuna Youth Study. The findings show that in both cities (1) young people's self-reported violent behaviour is predicted by crime propensity and lifestyle, and their interaction, and (2) a substantial proportion (40 percent) of the difference in the level of violence vanishes when taking into account national differences in young people's crime propensity and lifestyles. We conclude that the findings support the notion that one major cause of the difference in the level of violence among young people in England and Sweden is that more young people in England have a higher crime propensity and are living criminogenic lifestyles than in Sweden.

Self-Control in Global Perspective: An Empirical Assessment of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory Within and Across 32 National Settings

Rebellon, C. J., Straus, M. A., Medeiros, R. — 2008-07-17

Research concerning Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) General Theory of Crime has paid inadequate attention to the reliability and validity of self-control measures in non-Western settings, to the relationship between parenting and self-control in non-Western settings, and to Gottfredson and Hirschi's assertion that macro-level cultural forces have little or no influence on criminal behavior. The present study addresses each of these issues using a six-item self-control scale and two separate crime measures among young adult respondents from 32 Western and non-Western settings on all six humanly habitable continents. Across Western and non-Western settings, results suggest that (1) the six-item self-control scale demonstrates reliability comparable to that of prior self-control scales in the existing criminological literature; (2) the scale is associated significantly with both violence and property crime, and (3) an eight-item parental neglect scale is associated with self-control in both Western and non-Western settings. At the same time, HLM (Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling) analysis suggests that there exists a macro-level contextual effect, unanticipated by Gottfredson and Hirschi, of aggregate parental neglect on individual-level self-control. Results further suggest a robust individual-level association, also unanticipated by Gottfredson and Hirschi, between personal and peer crime that tends to remain independent of adjustments for self-control.

Reassessing the Fear of Crime

Gray, E., Jackson, J., Farrall, S. — 2008-07-17

A large body of empirical research exploring emotional responses to crime in Europe, North America and elsewhere suggests that substantial proportions of the public worry about victimization. The British Crime Survey (BCS) has asked questions exploring English and Welsh respondents' worry about crime since 1982, and in the 2003—4 sweep of the BCS new questions were inserted into a subsection to explore the frequency and intensity of such fearful events. As well as illustrating the rationale of the new measurement strategy, this research note reports the results of the new questions in direct relation to the `old' methods. The findings show that few people experience specific events of worry on a frequent basis and that `old'-style questions magnify the everyday experience of fear. We propose that `worry about crime' is often best seen as a diffuse anxiety about risk rather than any pattern of everyday concerns over personal safety.

The `Chicken and Egg' of Subjective and Social Factors in Desistance from Crime

LeBel, T. P., Burnett, R., Maruna, S., Bushway, S. — 2008-04-17

It is now widely acknowledged that progression from persistent offending to desistance from crime is the outcome of a complex interaction between subjective/ agency factors and social/environmental factors. A methodological challenge for desistance researchers is to unravel the differential impacts of these internal and external factors and the sequence in which they come into play. Towards this, the present investigation draws on a prospective study of 130 male property offenders, interviewed in the 1990s (the Oxford Recidivism Study), and followed up 10 years later. The analysis supports a `subjective—social model' in which subjective states measured before release have a direct effect on recidivism as well as indirect effects through their impact on social circumstances experienced after release from prison.

Racism and Police Stops: Adapting US and British Debates to Continental Europe

2008-04-17

Findings from an international research programme on police stops in Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain are reviewed in the context of British and US debates on racism in police stops, and in particular the concepts of ethnic/racial profiling, disproportionality and institutional racism. The research uses surveys and qualitative interviews to examine the experiences of Roma in all three countries and of immigrants in Spain. The article finds evidence of ethnic/racial profiling in police decisions to stop. However, this does not translate into aggregate ethnic disparities in stops (disproportionality) in Bulgaria and Hungary where it can be measured. This is because ethnic disparities are driven also by structural factors that are independent of ethnic profiling. Different kinds of institutional racism are also suggested by the poorer treatment of ethnic minority populations during stops and by evidence of under-policing of Roma-only communities in Bulgaria.

Segregation and Victimization: Neighbourhood Resources, Individual Risk Factors and Exposure to Property Crime

Estrada, F., Nilsson, A. — 2008-04-17

As a means of improving our understanding of the significance of the residential neighbourhood, we have examined exposure to property crime, studying the extent to which differences in the risk of exposure to crime are related on the one hand to individual and household characteristics and on the other to neighbourhood conditions and differences in where people live. The data are drawn from interview surveys of living conditions, which also include a number of questions relating to criminal victimization. These survey data have been combined with register data relating to residential neighbourhoods. The focus is directed at different districts in urban areas, grouped on the basis of accumulated resource deficiencies.

Economic Assistance and Crime: A Cross-National Investigation

Savage, J., Bennett, R. R., Danner, M. — 2008-04-17

Many countries struggle with the question of appropriate social welfare spending. Here we test several hypotheses about the dynamics between social welfare spending and crime. We do so using pooled, cross-national time-series data. Our findings suggest that per capita social welfare spending is associated with lower rates of both theft and homicide. Time lagged analysis suggests that the current level of social welfare spending, not that of recent years, accounts for any possible suppression of crime. The data also suggest that, whereas high homicide rates do not appear to inspire increased social welfare generosity, lagged measures of theft rates are associated with subsequent increases in social welfare spending among high theft countries.

Criminology, Crime and Criminal Justice in Hungary

Kerezsi, K., Levay, M. — 2008-04-17

Criminology as a discipline began in Hungary at the end of the 19th century. Its development has been enormously influenced by the evolution of the country's political and social systems — sometimes its very existence was denied, sometimes it was hijacked for ideological aims. This article describes the main features of criminology in Hungary and charts developments in crime and criminal justice over the past two decades. From the beginning of the transition period our country has been in a state of perpetual change. These processes have affected the crime problem and crime control policy. The rate of recorded crime reached a peak in the early 1990s. However, the effects of the systemic change already seemed to be fading away at the beginning of the new century. The increase in the recorded number of crimes has slowed down, and crime rates now appear to have stabilized. The article describes Hungary's recorded and `dark' figures of crime, as well as the academic and research institutions in the field of criminology. Since regime change, three major criminal law reforms have taken place in Hungary. The paper discusses the driving forces behind these reforms and their outcomes.

Introduction to Special Issue: Organized Crime, Terrorism and European Criminology

Kleemans, E. R. — 2007-12-07

Drug Trafficking and Ethnic Minorities in Western Europe

Paoli, L., Reuter, P. — 2007-12-07

Popular media as well as law enforcement agencies throughout Europe routinely identify members of ethnic minorities, and recent migrants in particular, as responsible for selling a large proportion of the illegal drugs that are consumed in Europe. Examination of the existing and modest research literature, as well as a careful reading of the official data, does indeed indicate that certain sectors of the drug market are dominated by a small number of specific immigrant groups. Turkish and Albanian ethnic groups largely control the importation, high-level trafficking and open-air retailing of heroin; Colombian groups dominate the importation of cocaine. However, there are other major sectors of the drug market, notably those for cannabis and synthetic drugs, in which native populations seem to be more important. We offer an explanation for this configuration in terms of the advantages conferred on specific immigrant groups by tighter connections to source and transhipment countries as well as by the lesser ability of police to gain cooperation within those immigrants' communities in the consuming countries.

Traffickers and Trafficking in Southern and Eastern Europe: Considering the Other Side of Human Trafficking

Surtees, R. — 2007-12-07

This paper describes patterns of trafficking from and within South-Eastern Europe, with particular attention to traffickers and their activities. This helps to determine the most effective methods of tackling these grave crimes through the strategic use of the criminal justice system. To date, attention has primarily been paid to victims of trafficking — who they are and what makes them vulnerable — in an effort to develop counter-trafficking interventions. To complement these studies of victims, studies of traffickers and their operations are also required. There is a need to address traffickers' behaviour through more effective law enforcement and through legal, social and economic reforms that will cause them to reassess the economic benefits of pursuing this strategy.

Criminal Careers in Organized Crime and Social Opportunity Structure

Kleemans, E. R., de Poot, C. J. — 2007-12-07

This paper presents the main findings of quantitative and qualitative research into the criminal careers of about 1000 offenders who were involved in 80 extensively analysed cases of organized crime. The paper analyses how and when offenders become known to the criminal justice authorities, studies in depth the criminal careers of `starters' and analyses in detail the criminal careers of (ring)leaders and `nodal' offenders. Because social ties play an important role in organized crime, the paper emphasizes that the social opportunity structure, defined as social ties providing access to profitable criminal opportunities, is extremely important for explaining involvement in organized crime. It explains why certain offenders `progress' to certain types of organized crime whereas others become involved only later on in life. Social opportunity structure may also explain interesting phenomena such as `late starters' — people without any appreciable criminal history — and people in conventional jobs who switch careers.

Holy Warriors: Exploring the Psychological Processes of Jihadi Radicalization

Silke, A. — 2007-12-07

This paper aims to provide an overview of the psychology of individuals who join and engage in terrorism, and in particular of individuals who engage in jihadi-motivated terrorism such as that carried out by al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Based on the most reliable available evidence, this paper gives an account of the psychology and motivations of such individuals and the processes that facilitate and develop violent radicalization.

Editorial

Roberts, J. V., Goold, B. J. — 2007-09-10

Birds of Different Feathers: School Networks of Serious Delinquent, Minor Delinquent and Non-delinquent Boys and Girls

Weerman, F. M., Bijleveld, C. C. J. H. — 2007-09-10

In this article, social network data are used to investigate relationships between 1730 non-, minor and serious delinquent students from lower-level secondary education in the Netherlands. We analyse to what extent students with different delinquency levels are clustered in student networks; how popular and central delinquent students are in their network; and whether gender moderates popularity and centrality. The results show that similarity in delinquency among school friends is moderate and that non-delinquents, minor delinquents and serious delinquents are mixed in school networks. Delinquent students are slightly more popular and central in their networks than are non-delinquents. However, analyses in which same and cross-gender relationships are separated suggest that these differences are mainly the result of cross-gender friendships.

The Victimization of Dependent Drug Users: Findings from a European Study, UK

2007-09-10

This article contributes to the literature on drug users, victimization and offending using data on 545 dependent drug users entering treatment in four European countries. Members of the sample were exposed to high levels of criminal victimization. Sub-groups who were particularly vulnerable to crime were women (and especially sex workers), the homeless, recent offenders and those with a history of poor mental health. Multivariate analysis indicated that frequent drug use, recent offending and histories of depression and anxiety were significantly predictive of violent victimization, and only gender and a history of anxiety were significantly predictive of property victimization. The article discusses how these findings relate to theoretical approaches to victimization, in both positivist and critical frameworks.

Trust in the Police in 16 European Countries: A Multilevel Analysis

Kaariainen, J. T. — 2007-09-10

There is considerable variation in public trust towards the police in different European countries. Through multilevel analysis, the article explores what lies behind this variation. It first approaches the issue at the country level through factors related to the quality and structure of government. The quality of government is looked at and measured by examining corruption in government, and the structure of government by exploring the extent to which society invests its resources in public order and safety services. Here the assumptions are, first of all, that general corruption among public officials decreases public trust in the police and, second, that big investments in public order and safety institutions also decrease trust in the police. In addition, certain individual-level factors are identified that explain public trust in the police. Finally, empirical results are presented that corroborate the above assumptions: in particular, corruption in government strongly explains the country-level variation in public trust towards the police.

The Europeanization of Human Rights: An Obstacle to Authoritarian Policing in Ireland?

Vaughan, B., Kilcommins, S. — 2007-09-10

There is a widespread conviction that contemporary criminal justice developments can best be analysed in terms of their capacity to reassure an anxious public rather than to reduce crime in any straightforward way. Construing current changes as primarily driven by efforts to placate public insecurity downplays several crucial factors of contemporary political rule. States, especially those within Europe, are increasingly integrated around human rights values that circumscribe their actions. These norms provide a resource for national citizens to make claims against states for interests that have been downgraded. This article analyses how this process of the Europeanization of human rights, coupled with crucial domestic factors, has tempered the shift toward a repressive model of criminal justice by introducing greater regulation and oversight of policing by the Irish state. This may presage a splintering of state sovereignty as some of its organizations are inspired by adherence to transnational values, an allegiance that may impede any move towards authoritarian state rule.

Crime and Criminal Policy in Italy: Tradition and Modernity in a Troubled Country

Maffei, S., Merzagora Betsos, I. — 2007-09-10

This paper investigates the development of criminology research in Italy and places it in the context of broader considerations of the country's policies on crime and criminal justice. An overview of Italian research on crime and criminology reveals the versatility of Italian literature and jurisprudence; it also indicates that `new' forms of criminality (such as white-collar crimes, sexual offences and the crimes of immigrants) are being discussed alongside the more traditional topics of murder, crimes against property and organized crime. Furthermore, this survey attempts to clarify why, in Italy, the level of public confidence in the criminal justice system is so low, despite the numerous recent reforms and the official crime rates, according to which Italy is within the European norm for most categories of offences.