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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Yakuza: Organized Crime In Japan, Darlene N. Moorman Dec 2020

The Yakuza: Organized Crime In Japan, Darlene N. Moorman

The Downtown Review

Examining organized crime groups should not be purely economic; in other words, the culture, social structure, political contexts, and so on, are also critical in an insightful analysis of any organized crime group. For this paper, the Japanese yakuza are considered both in an economic viewpoint, such as how they make money, but also in other areas, such as its syndicates' notable cultural contributions and specific social characteristics. Moreover, this paper explores the dynamic changing of the organization overtime, especially in regards to its shifting relationship with the Japanese government.


Does Bitcoin Use Affect Crime Rates?, Kevin Keane Nov 2020

Does Bitcoin Use Affect Crime Rates?, Kevin Keane

The Corinthian

Bitcoin is the most widely used cryptocurrency in the world because of its decentralized network that completes user-to-user transactions, eliminating the need for intermediaries. During 2017, the volume of Bitcoin transactions totaled $94.3 trillion. Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a public database called the blockchain. Although the blockchain can keep track of how many transactions there are, it can’t identify the people involved in transactions. The lack of identity increases the anonymity of Bitcoin transactions, making it less detectable when used for crime. Using the Uniform Crime Reporting’s state-level crime rate data and blockchain’s Bitcoin transaction information, I estimate the …


Immigrants And Crime, Daniel L. Stageman Jul 2020

Immigrants And Crime, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

The gap between public perception of immigrant criminality and the research consensus on immigrants’ actual rates of criminal participation is persistent and cross-cultural. While the available evidence shows that immigrants worldwide tend to participate in criminal activity at rates slightly lower than the native-born, media and political discourse portraying immigrants as uniquely crime-prone remains a pervasive global phenomenon. This apparent disconnect is rooted in the dynamics of othering, or the tendency to dehumanize and criminalize identifiable out-groups. Given that most migration decisions are motivated by economic factors, othering is commonly used to justify subjecting immigrants to exploitative labor practices, with …


Reflective Writing In Prisons: Rehabilitation And The Power Of Stories And Connections, Sandeep Kumar Jun 2020

Reflective Writing In Prisons: Rehabilitation And The Power Of Stories And Connections, Sandeep Kumar

VA Engage Journal

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Even though the rate of crime is dropping, incarceration rates remain fairly steady. What’s more, recidivism (i.e., re-offending after conviction for other crimes) is also very high in the US. If offenders continue to offend, even after completing their sentences in a correctional system designed to address their underlying criminal activity, what is the point of having such a system? Can the system be made more accountable and better? Have we considered all the options for criminal reform? This article explores these questions using effective rehabilitation principles to …


The Effects Of Unauthorized Immigrants On Crime, Shane C. Shannon Apr 2020

The Effects Of Unauthorized Immigrants On Crime, Shane C. Shannon

Student Publications

The effects of immigrants on crime has been the subject of hostile conversations and bold claims. As anti-immigrant sentiments see an increase in mainstream society, the empirical research suggesting an explanation to such claims are direly needed. Using PEW Research databases, and the States 2016 database in Stata, I evaluate the effects of unauthorized immigrant density of a given region on various crime rates of the aforementioned region. In particular, I assess the violent crime rate, murder crime rate, and property crime rates of states in America. Utilizing confidence intervals, ordinary least squares regression models (OLS), and a number of …


Does Imprisonment Have An Effect On Crime Rates?, Diana E. Mendez Apr 2020

Does Imprisonment Have An Effect On Crime Rates?, Diana E. Mendez

Student Publications

Since the 1790s, prisons in the United States were built with the means of reducing crime rates through the usage of incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. However, while it may seem intuitive to assume that higher incarceration rates yield lower crime rates, it is not regularly the case. Using the 2016 States dataset, I examine the effects of incarceration rates and its influence on crime rates in the United States; I suggest that states with higher incarceration rates will have higher crime rates than states with lower incarceration rates. Therefore, the evidence concludes states with high incarceration rates generate higher rates …


Immigration And Crime Across Southern Us Border: The Effect Of Latino Immigration On Violent Crime, Matthew Hohman Jan 2020

Immigration And Crime Across Southern Us Border: The Effect Of Latino Immigration On Violent Crime, Matthew Hohman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In the United States, most lay citizens could voice an opinion on the effect of immigration in the United States. However, these opinions are generally only focused on Latino immigration entering the country across its Southern border from Mexico and Caribbean countries, such as Cuba and Haiti. Increased media coverage on this topic in recent decades has fueled this debate and made it a center stage topic in political agendas. This study aims to shed light on this issue by researching the true effect of Latino immigration, as well as total immigration, across the United States’s Southern Border. To account …