European Journal of Criminology recent issues

Is Imprisonment Criminogenic?: A Comparative Study of Recidivism Rates between Prison and Suspended Prison Sanctions

Cid, J. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:50:44 PDT

This article examines the effects of custodial versus non-custodial sentences on recidivism. An eight-year follow-up study was conducted to track and compare rates of recidivism between former prisoners and offenders who had served a suspended prison sentence. Drawing upon a representative sample of 483 offenders sentenced in 1998 by the Criminal Courts of Barcelona, two subpopulations of offenders were selected. The first group consisted of offenders who were sentenced to prison (n = 179) and the comparison group was composed of those who were given a suspended prison sentence (n = 304). After controlling for other risk factors predictive of recidivism, logistic regression techniques were used to examine whether the variable ‘type of sanction’ (prison or suspended prison sentence) predicts reconviction rates. The analysis revealed that the offenders given suspended sentences had a lower risk of reconviction than those given custodial sentences. The findings provide evidence that alternatives to custody are more effective than imprisonment in reducing recidivism. Finally, the article discusses how these findings relate to labelling and specific deterrence theories that make contradictory claims regarding the effects of imprisonment on recidivism.

Shame and Punishment: An International Comparative Study on the Effects of Religious Affiliation and Religiosity on Attitudes to Offending

Koster, F., Goudriaan, H., van der Schans, C. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:50:44 PDT

This study investigates the effects of having a religious affiliation and of an individual’s level of religiosity on social norms in relation to victimless crimes. Two mechanisms are hypothesized to influence these norms: having a religious affiliation, via external sanctioning by others, and religiosity via internal sanctioning. In addition, it was predicted that the effects of internal sanctioning would be stronger than the effects of external sanctioning. To test these hypotheses, we used the data from the World Values Survey (WVS) 1981—2004. The final data set contains information on 128,243 respondents residing in 70 countries. The results of the multivariate analyses show that having a religious affiliation and a higher level of religiosity both result in a stronger condemnation of victimless crimes and that the effects of religiosity are stronger than the effects of belonging to a religious group.

Effects of Getting Married on Offending: Results from a Prospective Longitudinal Survey of Males

Theobald, D., Farrington, D. P. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:50:44 PDT

In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, 411 males were followed up from age 8 to age 48. This analysis of the effects of marriage on offending is based on 162 convicted males. The age of marriage was stratified into early (18—21 years), mid-range (22—24 years), and late (25 years or later). Risk factors at age 8—10 were used to calculate propensity scores that predicted the likelihood of getting married. Convictions before and after the age of first marriage were investigated for married males and for unmarried males who were matched on the number of convictions before marriage and on the propensity score. The results showed that getting married was followed by a reduction in offending but only for early (age 18—21) and mid-range (age 22—24) marriages. The analysis was replicated using risk factors at age 18, with the same results.

Feeding Wolves: Punitiveness and Culture

Green, D. A. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:50:44 PDT

This article considers the implications of cultural values, political-cultural arrangements and the changing mediascape for the distinct cultural resources on crime and punishment that we consume as citizens. It first explores what we mean when we talk about punitiveness, making the important, yet often overlooked, distinctions between public attitudes, political rhetoric, public policy and penal practice. Next, the ways in which the media constrain how we perceive problems and the means of solving them are considered, especially the ways these constraints are influenced by different political-cultural styles. ‘Stealth’ penal reforms, in which punitive rhetoric is employed by politicians to divert attention away from more progressive policies pursued quietly on the sly, are criticized because they tend to legitimize and regenerate only punitive ideational resources for public consumption. Finally, implications for future research are offered along with some practical suggestions for enriching public discourse in order to nourish and sustain a broader range of understandings and responses to crime.

The Effects of Increasing the Certainty of Punishment: A Field Experiment on Public Transportation

Killias, M., Scheidegger, D., Nordenson, P. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:39:48 PDT

Since 1993, Zurich's suburban transport systems have operated without attendants on the trains, and passengers' tickets were checked only sporadically. After increasing worries about crime and passenger safety on suburban trains, it was decided, in order to reduce fear of crime, to reintroduce attendants on all trains after 9 p.m. As well as dealing with order on the trains, these attendants had to check the tickets of all passengers. The programme was launched in June 2003, and once it was fully implemented the resources devoted to ticket checks and, thus, the number of passengers controlled after 9 p.m. rose by roughly 1500 percent. However, ticket checks remained stable and sporadic during day-time hours. The programme led to a dramatic reduction in fare-dodging on trains operating during the evening and, as an unexpected outcome, during day-time hours. The decline in fare evasion eventually levelled off. The results suggest that certainty of punishment works as a deterrent in a non-linear way, and that benefits from increased certainty can be maximized if checks are concentrated on critical hours and areas.

Measuring Community (Dis)Organizational Processes through Key Informant Analysis

Pauwels, L., Hardyns, W. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:39:48 PDT

The role of community (dis)organizational processes is a major issue in contemporary criminology. As a consequence, researchers have been increasingly eager to measure community-level social mechanisms such as social trust and disorder. However, community inhabitants are predominantly used to measure community (dis)organizational processes. This approach requires large numbers of respondents to generate reliable and valid measures of social trust and disorder. In this article, the use of expert key informants is discussed as an alternative method of measuring community processes. Our findings suggest that key informants can provide reliable and valid measures of social cohesion and disorder on two rather small units of analysis.

Exploring Long-Term and Short-Term Risk Factors for Serious Delinquency

van der Laan, A. M., Blom, M., Kleemans, E. R. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:39:48 PDT

Scholars in the field of developmental criminology traditionally assign a major role to long-term risk factors such as inadequate parental supervision or poor school performance. Only recently has attention been paid to the effects of situational risk factors such as the presence of co-offenders and being drunk. Hardly any empirical research, however, integrates both long-term and short-term risk factors. We formulated hypotheses derived from the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential theory (Farrington 2005) with regard to long-term and short-term risk factors for serious delinquency, and tested these hypotheses using data from the WODC Youth Delinquency Survey (data sweep 2005) of 292 juvenile delinquents. The findings indicate that serious delinquency is related not only to (an accumulation of) long-term risk factors, but also to situational factors, such as lack of tangible guardians and having used substances (alcohol or drugs) prior to the offence.

City and/or Neighbourhood Determinants?: Studying Contextual Effects on Youth Delinquency

Weijters, G., Scheepers, P., Gerris, J. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:39:48 PDT

Previous research has not yet integrated determinants of youth delinquency at the city, neighbourhood and individual levels simultaneously. In this study we derived hypotheses from social disorganization theory at the city level as well as at the neighbourhood level. We use individual-level data from 11 cities in the Netherlands, supplemented with information about the structural characteristics of these cities and their neighbourhoods. Our results show that concentrated contextual disadvantage at both city and neighbourhood levels affects juvenile delinquency. More detailed analyses demonstrate that it is particularly the percentage of one-parent families that has a significant effect on youth delinquency. The implications for the study of the influence of ecological contexts on youth delinquency are discussed.

Comparative Criminal Justice: Beyond Ethnocentrism and Relativism

Nelken, D. — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:13:57 PDT

How can the study of comparative criminal justice avoid the opposite dangers of ethnocentrism and relativism? The problem is examined taking as an example Cavadino and Dignan's recent analysis of differences in prison rates. The case is made that more attention needs to be given to understanding how different criminal justice systems actually produce prison rates as well as to interpreting the ideas and values that animate those inside and outside the system.

Individual Prediction and Crime Trends

Tham, H., von Hofer, H. — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:13:57 PDT

A typical solution proposed by both politicians and academics to the problem of crime in society today is individual prediction and early intervention. The question then is how this approach contributes to the central question of how to explain trends in crime. Data used to illustrate this question are drawn mainly from prediction studies, official statistics and level-of-living surveys in Sweden. It is argued that the possibility of predicting or explaining trends in crime by individual data is quite limited. First, the predictive power of individual childhood or teenage properties is too weak to explain total crime or specific types of crime. Second, changes in aggregate measures of conditions during upbringing are not easily compatible with changes in trends in crime. Third, other variables relating to changes in the opportunity structure than changes in the family of upbringing can account for the development of crime trends.

Crime in Lithuania: The Impact of Accession to the European Union

Andresen, M. A. — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:13:57 PDT

The European Union (EU) has expanded its membership significantly in recent years to include Central and Eastern European countries. These countries are at significantly different levels of economic development than the other member states of the EU and are expected to undergo an economic adjustment to their new social, political, and economic reality. This paper investigates the effects on property crime of this economic adjustment to accession to the EU, using Lithuania as a case study. Using Lithuanian municipalities and fixed-effects estimation for 2001—6, the statistical results indicate that accession to the EU has led to a significant increase in theft, burglary, and juvenile delinquency.

The Effects of 'Alley-Gating' in an English Town

Haywood, J., Kautt, P., Whitaker, A. — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:13:57 PDT

Terraced housing is particularly vulnerable to burglary where the offender gains access from the rear of the premises. 'Alley-gating' attempts to prevent this by fitting robust gates across alleyway access points and is currently used in Oldham, North West England. This study evaluates its effectiveness at preventing burglary via statistical and geographic information system (GIS) analysis of crime data from alley-gate treatment sites in Oldham. Focus group data also identify secondary effects beyond crime reduction not apparent from the quantitative analyses. We argue that clearer understanding of the contextual dynamics specific to the gated area, together with careful analytical work and use of computerized crime mapping programmes, can inform strategic decision-making and further reduce victimization.

Family Dissolution and Children's Criminal Careers

Skarthhamar, T. — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:39:54 PDT

This study examines the relationship between family dissolution and children's crimes. The study uses a total population sample of a Norwegian birth cohort born in 1982 ( N = 49,975) and follows them through the crime statistics from ages 10 to 22 years, applying growth curve modelling. Both married and cohabiting parents are considered. There is a large and significant effect from family dissolution that persists after controlling for important economic confounders, even though these also show a high and significant effect. This suggests that, although some of the effect of parental break-up is explained by socioeconomic conditions, there also seems to be an independent and strong effect of family dissolution.

Ages of Chivalry, Places of Paternalism: Gender and Criminal Sentencing in Finland

Kruttschnitt, C., Savolainen, J. — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:39:54 PDT

In this study, we argue that the traditional paradigm used to explain the leniency accorded to women offenders in US criminal courts ignores advances in feminist research which suggest how normative patterns that reinforce gender identities can and do change. Using data from Finland, a society generally characterized by more gender equality than is found in the USA, we examine whether an offender's sex has a significant impact on the decision to imprison. Controlling for relevant legal and social characteristics, and considering the conditional effects of labour force participation and parental responsibilities, the findings show that the often-noted preferential treatment given to female offenders, relative to their male counterparts in the USA, is not present in Finland.

Why Don't More People Complain against the Police?

Smith, G. — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:39:54 PDT

This is a revised version of a paper presented to a workshop organized by the European Commissioner for Human Rights on police complaints. Examining the subject from the complainant's standpoint, discussion focuses on four key factors that influence his or her decision to make a complaint: the seriousness of the grievance, self-confidence, confidence in the system and the availability of support and assistance. It is argued that the existence of a non-police organization is insufficient for securing public trust and confidence, and that complainant representation will address the concerns of potential and actual complainants and enhance independence and impartiality in the complaints process.

Using Targeted Publicity to Reduce Opportunities for Bicycle Theft: A Demonstration and Replication

Sidebottom, A., Thorpe, A., Johnson, S. D. — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:39:54 PDT

Throughout Europe various policy targets have recently been proposed to encourage cycling as a sustainable transport alternative. From a criminological perspective, if successful, increases in the population of cyclists may generate increases in the number of opportunities for cycle theft. Although there is little research into bicycle theft compared with other volume crimes, analyses of data from the International Crime Victim Survey indicate that cyclists are around three times more likely to have their bike stolen than car owners their car or motorcyclists their motorbike. In relation to the described policy aims, theft and the fear of bicycle theft are found to discourage cycle use. Consequently, neglecting the crime risks associated with increased cycle usage might impede the achievement of otherwise commendable policy targets. Here we report the findings of two observational studies conducted in different areas to better understand how cyclists park their bicycles in public spaces and whether a simple communication strategy might encourage them to lock in a more secure manner. The results of the first study, conducted across five sites in central London (England) indicated a statistically significant reduction in `bad' locking practices and increases in both `good' and `ok' locking practices at those sites receiving intervention. No changes were observed at the control site. Study 2 was conducted in Brighton, England, and constituted a replication of Study 1. A similar pattern of results was observed. The implications of the findings for preventing bicycle theft, the importance of implementability and maintainability in crime prevention initiatives, and the use of publicity in the prevention of crime are discussed.