Criminology Commons^™

Exploring Demographic, Structural, And Behavioral Overlap Among Homicide Offenders And Victims, Lisa Broidy, Jerry Daday, Cameron Crandall, David Sklar, Peter Jost

Jerry K. Daday

Criminologists tend to focus their attention on the dynamics of offending, paying limited theoretical and empirical attention to the well-established relation between offending and victimization. However, a number of criminological theories predict similarities in the correlates and etiology of victimization and offending, suggesting substantial overlap across offender and victim populations. Empirical research confirms this overlap across offender and victim populations, at least among those involved in nonlethal incidents. This research explores whether similarities between offender and victim populations extends to homicide, using criminal justice, health care, and U.S. Census data linked to homicide offenders and victims in Bernalillo County, New …

False Reports Of Stalking: Motivations And Investigative Considerations, Wayne Petherick, Alicia Jenkins

Wayne Petherick

Stalking is a crime involving repeated and often prolonged harassment of one individual, usually by one other. Despite the prevalence of this interpersonal crime, not all stalking allegations are legitimate, with some being false claims based on a variety of different factors such as false belief, attention or sympathy, and revenge. This study of a sample of false claimants sought to determine whether there are features, such as duration, relationship status and employment among which others could be used to determine the veracity of a stalking complaint. This sample was compared to other like samples and to the common characteristics …

Getting Away With Murder: An Examination Of Detected Homicides Staged As Suicides, Claire Ferguson, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Staged crime scenes involve an offender deliberately altering evidence to simulate events to mislead investigators. Despite likely occurring more often than reported in the literature due to success in offender deception, the exact frequency of staged crime scenes is unknown. In an attempt to bridge this gap, a legal database was searched for detected staged scenes. A total of 115 cases were examined, and this study reports on 16 staged suicides that were examined through descriptive analysis. Findings indicate the frequent involvement of firearms, hanging, or asphyxia, and that offenders are usually known to victims, although not necessarily intimately.

Stopping The Stalker: Victim Responses To Stalking, Terry Goldsworthy, Matthew Raj

Matthew Raj

Can a person truly overcome being a victim of crime, and, if so, how? Can anyone surpass their victimization, or is it only the most resilient? Should a victim respond in a certain way to specific types of offences? The following chapter explores these questions, focusing on the offence of stalking, and examines the effectiveness of victim responses to unwanted pursuit. This chapter also refers to factors that may escalate stalking behaviour, based on an empirical examination of previous studies. The authors attempt to unravel the uncertainties associated with whether or not to respond to a stalker, and highlight the …

Theories Of Crime : A Reader, Claire Renzetti, Daniel Curran, Patrick Carr

Daniel J. Curran

This reader contains excerpts from criminologists' writings on many of the most recent sociological, biological, and psychological theories of crime.

Editors Renzetti, Curran, and Carr have compiled one of the most thorough books on the market in terms of presenting diverse theoretical perspectives. They offer introductions to each theory, briefly outlining the theory's strengths and weaknesses, and provide a set of discussion questions at the end of each theory. Excerpted readings were chosen for their accessibility to all students.

(Description from Google Books)

Clergy Sexual Abuse: Social Science Perspectives, Claire Renzetti, Sandra Yocum

Sandra A. Yocum

This book brings together experts primarily from the fields of criminology, criminal justice, law, and social work, but also cultural anthropology and psychology, to analyze clergy sexual abuse from the perspective of their individual disciplines. Contributors examine the latest data and analyses on the scope and impact of clergy sexual abuse, frame the problem in terms of sociological and criminological theories of crime and deviance, explore the social and legal issues the problem raises for the personal and communal life of faith communities, and discuss possibilities for reform, reconciliation, and healing. Covering sexual abuse of both minors and adults, chapters …

Decriminalized Prostitution In Rhode Island: Impunity For Violence And Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes

For 29 years (1980 to 2009) prostitution was decriminalized in Rhode Island. Lack of laws or regulations created a permissive legal, economic and cultural environment for the growth of sex businesses. During this time, sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls were integrated into the economic development of urban areas. The number of sex businesses grew rapidly during this period. Organized crime groups operated brothels and extorted money from adult entertainment businesses. Rhode Island became a destination for pimps, traffickers, and other violent criminals. The lack of laws impeded police from investigating serious crimes.

Your Friends And Neighbors: Localized Economic Development And Criminal Activity, Matthew Freedman, Emily Owens

Matthew Freedman

We exploit a sudden shock to demand for a subset of low-wage workers generated by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program in San Antonio, Texas to identify the effects of localized economic development on crime. We use a difference-in-difference methodology that takes advantage of variation in BRAC’s impact over time and across neighborhoods. We find that appropriative criminal behavior increases in neighborhoods where a fraction of residents experienced increases in earnings. This effect is driven by residents who were unlikely to be BRAC beneficiaries, implying that criminal opportunities are important in explaining patterns of crime.

Forthcoming in the …

The Attachment And Clinical Issues Questionnaire (Aciq): A New Methodology For Science And Practice In Criminology And Forensics, Marc Lindberg

Marc A. Lindberg Ph.D.

Most modern theories suggest that interpersonal relationships are of central importance in the development of criminal behavior. We tested the parent attachment scales of a new research and clinical measure, the Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire (ACIQ;Lindberg & Thomas, 2011). It is a 29 scale battery assessing attachments to mother, father, partner, and peers, which also includes several related clinical scales. Sixty-one males (18-20 years of age) from a maximum security detention center and 131 contrasts completed the ACIQ. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that mother and father attachments displayed different patterns. The attachment scales also predicted the numbers of …

Wie Featured Person Of The Month Highlights (Katina Michael), Keyana Tenant, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

The WIE Featured Person of the Month is Katina Michael, editor-in-chief of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. After working at OTIS Elevator Company and Andersen Consulting, Katina was offered and exciting graduate engineering position at Nortel in 1996; and her career has been fast track from there. Read Katina’s story on Page 7.

Gestalt Of A Group, Rodger E. Broome Phd

Rodger E. Broome

In the recent past, we have seen news reports in the media regarding police response to group activities like the Occupy Movement. Protests are often couched by their participants as Gandhi-Style ordeals and, by purpose and intention, perhaps that is their original design. The peaceful protesters that desire to sit-in merely to be present or be a bother also become the prey of some of the bad elements in society. So they legitimately need police protection. On the other hand, there are also those who may arrive or are in the design, to incite the crowd to commit acts of …

Privacy- The Times They Are A-Changin', M.G. Michael, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

This special section is dedicated to privacy in the information age. Since the rise of mobile social media in particular and the advent of cloud computing few can dispute that the times have changed. Privacy is now understood in context, and within a framework that is completely different to what it once was. The right to be let alone physically seemingly has been replaced by the right to give away as much information as you want virtually. What safeguards can be introduced into such a society? We cannot claim to wish for privacy as a right if we ourselves do …

Interative Discussion Leader (Idt) @ Futuregov Forum Queensland On The Theme Of "Mobile Government", Katina Michael, Erica Fensom

Professor Katina Michael

Mobile Government Briefing: Provide services anywhere any time: - Transact to enable in-field data collection, request processing, order management, approvals, edits, updates and execute actions. - What are the implications for the incorporation of rich multimedia content on devices to better serve staff and citizens? - Addressing the security challenges of various risks around data access, data transmission, and data storage for BI architecture and mobile devices

Ieee T&S Magazine: Undergoing Transformation, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Our Magazine is in a transformative period, not only because we are ‘Going Green’ in 2013 but because we are experiencing tremendous growth in quality international submissions. This means that we are increasingly appealing to an international audience with transdisciplinary interests. This has not gone unnoticed by the media, nor by our SSIT readership or wider engineering community.

Premises Liability, Wayne Petherick, Brent Turvey

Wayne Petherick

Forensic Criminology: the scientific study of crime and criminals for the purposes of addressing investigative and legal issues. It is a science, a behavioral science, and a forensic science. This text is intended to educate students in an applied fashion regarding the nature and extent of forensic casework that is supported by, dependent upon, and interactive with research, theory, and knowledge derived from criminology. It is also intended to act as a preliminary guide for practitioners working with and within related criminal justice professions. Particularly those involved with assisting investigations, administrative inquiries, legal proceedings or providing expert findings or testimony …

Book Review Of Hacking: The Next Generation (Written By Nitesh Dhanjani, Billy Rios & Brett Hardin), Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Hacking: The Next Generation demonstrates just how hackers continue to exploit “back doors”. New ways of working and new ways of communicating have meant that the number of attack vectors continue to rise rapidly. This provides hackers with a greater number of opportunities to penetrate systems using blended approaches while organizations struggle to come up to speed with the latest technology developments and commensurate security capabilities. Dealing with anticipated threats is a lot harder than dealing with known threats.

Converging And Coexisting Systems Towards Smart Surveillance, Katina Michael, Mg Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Tracking and monitoring people as they operate within their personal networks benefits service providers and their constituents but involves hidden risks and costs.

Automatic identification technologies, CCTV cameras, pervasive and mobile networks, wearable computing, location-based services and social networks have traditionally served distinct purposes. However, we have observed patterns of integration, convergence and coexistence among all these innovations within the information and communication technology industry.1For example, ‘location-based social networking’ can draw on a smart phone's capacity to identify a user uniquely, locate him within 1–2m and share this information across his social network in real time. The resulting ability to …

Editorial: The Idio-Technopolis, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

The rapid rise of social media has brought with it an emphasis on the distinct dimensions of the whole person. Social media recognises that the individual has a personal network of extensions- a home life, a work life, a social life, a study life, a hobbyist life, and much more- some of these identities even hidden from full view. Each of these online value networks are now accessible by big business, where opinion leaders and early adopters are easily distinguishable, and where brand commentary between consumers matters manifold more than any form of targeted advertising.

Assessment Of Firesetters, Rebekah Doley, Bruce Watt

Bruce Watt

Extract This chapter will equip readers with the information required to screen and assess arsonists effectively using a number of modalities. The appropriate tools are presented and discussed, along with the evidence base underlying them. The focus of the discussion is on risk assessment, recidivism and dangerousness. In particular, these issues are discussed with reference to mental health and psychiatric patients as arsonists. The terms ’arson’ and ’firesetting’ will be used interchangeably throughout this chapter; the term ‘arson’ is commonly acknowledged to have a legal definition, while firesetting describes the behaviour itself.

Assessment Of Firesetters, Rebekah Doley, Bruce Watt

Rebekah Doley

Extract This chapter will equip readers with the information required to screen and assess arsonists effectively using a number of modalities. The appropriate tools are presented and discussed, along with the evidence base underlying them. The focus of the discussion is on risk assessment, recidivism and dangerousness. In particular, these issues are discussed with reference to mental health and psychiatric patients as arsonists. The terms ’arson’ and ’firesetting’ will be used interchangeably throughout this chapter; the term ‘arson’ is commonly acknowledged to have a legal definition, while firesetting describes the behaviour itself.

Power And Excitement In Arson: The Case Of Firefighter Arson, Rebekah Doley, Kenneth Fineman

Rebekah Doley

Extract Perhaps more than most crimes, the crime of arson is often shrouded in anecdotal descriptions concerning what actually motivates the offender. Arson in any form is repugnant, but even more so when the individual involved is a serving member of the fire service. Fire department personnel and the community alike abhor incidents of this nature. Although the incidence of fire-fighter arson is low in comparison with the total number of currently serving fire-fighters, the impact on community faith and fire service morale is disproportionately great. The integrity of the service is demonstrated in the performance of its personnel. While …

Bushfire And Wildfire Arson: Arson Risk Assessment In The Australian Context, Troy Mcewan, Rebekah Doley, Mairead Dolan

Rebekah Doley

Extract Deliberately lit vegetation fires have the greatest destructive potential of any intentionally lit blaze. The ’Black Saturday’ bushfires of 7 February 2009 in Victoria, Australia, killed 173 people, injured 414 and destroyed 3500 buildings, including two entire towns (Teagne et al, 2010). Even before the fires had abated police and fire-fighters revealed that several had been deliberately lit (Silvester, 2009). The subsequent Royal Commission attributed four of the large fires to arson. These four fires caused 52 deaths and burnt approximately 2000 km2 of land, an area slightly larger than that of Greater London (Teague et aI, 2010). The …

Editorial: "You Talkin' To Me?", Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Advancing knowledge through robust research is an honourable aim- being scientific, finding the right methodology, executing project phases meticulously, and reporting on the outcomes as objectively and accurately as possible. But may I begin my inaugural editorial by saying that an even higher ideal to advancing knowledge is critiquing it as it happens. Reflective practice is not just something to be done by academics in their teaching- reflective practice is what we should all be doing as we go about undertaking our various day-to-day work tasks. For the engineer engaged in research and development, whether in industry or government, reflective …

Nonsocial Versus Social Reinforcers Contrasting Theoretical Perspectives On Repetitive Serious Delinquency And Drug Use, David May, Jennifer Stevens, Nancy Rice, G. Jarjoura

David May

A wide variety of theoretical perspectives demonstrate an association with delinquency. Recently, a number of researchers have sought to integrate these theories into developmental models by which they explain different types of delinquency at different phases in the life-course. Using data from approximately 800 delinquents incarcerated in a Midwestern state, the authors continue those efforts by examining the association between delinquency and both nonsocial and social reinforcers over time. Their findings suggest that youth may begin their involvement in delinquency in pursuit of intrinsic gratification but continue that involvement because of the external gratification they receive from their peers. Implications …

The Fall-Out From Emerging Technologies: On Matters Of Surveillance, Social Networks And Suicide, M.G. Michael, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

No abstract provided.

Forensic Criminological Assessments, Wayne Petherick, Brent Turvey

Wayne Petherick

Forensic Criminology: the scientific study of crime and criminals for the purposes of addressing investigative and legal issues. It is a science, a behavioral science, and a forensic science. This text is intended to educate students in an applied fashion regarding the nature and extent of forensic casework that is supported by, dependent upon, and interactive with research, theory, and knowledge derived from criminology. It is also intended to act as a preliminary guide for practitioners working with and within related criminal justice professions. Particularly those involved with assisting investigations, administrative inquiries, legal proceedings or providing expert findings or …

Criminal Profiling, Wayne Petherick, Claire Ferguson

Wayne Petherick

Forensic Criminology: the scientific study of crime and criminals for the purposes of addressing investigative and legal issues. It is a science, a behavioral science, and a forensic science. This text is intended to educate students in an applied fashion regarding the nature and extent of forensic casework that is supported by, dependent upon, and interactive with research, theory, and knowledge derived from criminology. It is also intended to act as a preliminary guide for practitioners working with and within related criminal justice professions. Particularly those involved with assisting investigations, administrative inquiries, legal proceedings or providing expert findings or testimony …

Cognitive Ethos Of The Forensic Examiner, Brent Turvey, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Forensic Criminology: the scientific study of crime and criminals for the purposes of addressing investigative and legal issues. It is a science, a behavioral science, and a forensic science. This text is intended to educate students in an applied fashion regarding the nature and extent of forensic casework that is supported by, dependent upon, and interactive with research, theory, and knowledge derived from criminology. It is also intended to act as a preliminary guide for practitioners working with and within related criminal justice professions. Particularly those involved with assisting investigations, administrative inquiries, legal proceedings or providing expert findings or testimony …

An Introduction To Forensic Criminology, Brent Turvey, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

No abstract provided.

The Origins Of Forensic Criminology, Brent Turvey, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

No abstract provided.