The limits of the decentred state: the case of policing insurance claims fraud

Existing research clearly shows that the public–private divide is continuously being challenged, recast and transformed. However, this article argues that a sharp distinction between public and private continues to operate as an important norm for professionals involved in the investigation of insurance claims fraud in Sweden. It shows how power within private insurance companies and the police authority is organized around the public–private divide, which is in turn mobilized to justify repression and to give investigations legitimacy. The article indicates that the formal public–private distinction is far more thoroughly maintained than is suggested by the existing literature. Rather than challenging the centrality of state power, private insurers and the police construct, maintain and have a stake in the reproduction of a state‐centric monopoly of crime control.     

Adolescents’ perceptions of the ‘substance use-violence nexus’: a South African perspective

The aim of the study was to explore adolescents’ perceptions of substance use as a contributing factor to community violence by employing a conceptual framework proposed by Goldstein. Data were collected from a sample of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 16 years by means of focus group interviews. Theoretical thematic analysis was used to analyse and interpret the findings. The participants’ perceptions indicated that substance use and withdrawal symptoms induce physiological and behavioural modifications resulting in aggression and violence. The findings also suggest that participants believed that substance users frequently commit property and violent interpersonal crimes such as theft, robbery, assault and murder to procure their substances. Further, the adolescents’ perceived violence to be rooted within gang culture as well as the involvement in shared markets for illicit substance trading.     

Bid-rigging networks and state-corporate crime in the construction industry

This study highlights the symbiotic relationship that may arise between political and business actors in conspiracies organized around public construction bids. Based on a core-periphery social network analysis, the study tracks the emergence of such a conspiracy in the city of Laval (Canada) by illustrating the evolution of bid-rigging networks revolving around suspected and persistent acts of corruption, bid-rigging, and bribery. To assess this process, the study monitors irregular bidding indicators across a data set compiled from more than 7000 public construction tenders that were processed by the city from 1966 to 2013. Findings reveal that firms suspected of bid-rigging activities were perennial core participants largely as a result of a state-corporate crime system that served as the guiding force for agreements between the main construction entrepreneurs.     

律师伪证罪的困境与出路

《刑法》第306条有关律师伪证罪的规定一直面临着悖逆民心的困境，但其原因并非实体内容不公正，而是欠缺程序上的合理限制，由此导致它沦为检察机关实施职业报复的工具。将律师纪律处分或行政处罚程序作为刑事诉讼程序的程序性前提，把取消会员资格的行业处分或吊销律师职业证书的行政处罚作为刑事诉讼的实体性前提，并限制刑事侦查的调查范围，可以合理地限制检察机关的偏见和恣意，带领该规定走出当前的困境。     

强奸犯罪之主观方面比较研究--兼论我国强奸罪主观方面的修正

从两大法系主要典型国家对强奸犯罪主观方面的立法规定或理论学说来看,两者在认定主观方面的标准侧重点不同,其认定标准都存在一定缺陷;相比于大陆法系国家,英美法系国家对强奸罪主观方面的研究更加深入,对行为人“轻率”的心理态度的理解较富特色。我国对强奸罪主观罪过通说的界定不够全面,不符合行为人的正常认知,需要进行修正;将行为人在过失或间接故意心态支配下实施的奸淫行为一律推定为直接故意,违反公平正义原则。我国强奸罪主观方面应当修正为：直接故意、间接故意,以及过于自信的过失可以构成强奸妇女型犯罪;故意和过失皆可构成奸淫幼女型犯罪。     

Labor force participation and juvenile delinquency in Taiwan: a time series analysis

This study examines the null hypothesis of Granger no-causality between labor force participation (LFP) and juvenile delinquency in Taiwan. In order to explore this issue more thoroughly, this study adopts the approach proposed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995, Journal of Econometrics, 66(1–2), 225–250). It uses official time-series data provided by the Government of Taiwan. After estimating both a four- and five-variable VAR system, one that substitutes both male and female LFP rates for the aggregate LFP rate, the primary findings of this study reveal the following: The higher the past juvenile crime rate, the lower the future aggregate and female LFP rate will be. In addition, the higher the past male LFP rate, the higher the future juvenile crime rate will be. These findings are quite robust in terms of different lag-length structures.

实行行为观念之提倡

实行行为是指刑法分则条文类型性规定的具有法益侵害现实危险性的行为,它除具有刑法中行为的一般特征外,还具有规范性和定型性的特征。实行行为是犯罪构成的核心要素,因而本文提倡刑法立法及司法实践应当树立实行行为的观念,即刑罚发动以实行行为为限,没有实行行为就不得动用刑罚。在此观念指导下,我国刑法应当修订犯罪预备行为的处罚原则和范围,设立独立教唆罪,限制刑法中“等”、“其他”等不明确的规定。     

教育领域职务犯罪及权力制约机制的构建

论题对教育领域职务犯罪问题进行了分析研究,认为我国教育领域在监督机制上存在着重大的缺陷——即权力制约的失控,导致了在学校图书教材、设备采购,基建工程和招生录取等方面屡屡出现了贪污贿赂、渎职失职、滥用职权等违法犯罪。论题提出了在教育系统应建立独立监察员制度和独立监察员责任追究制,实行监督机制的改革创新,使我国教育事业向着健康、有序、廉洁、高效的方向发展。     

Risking safety and rights: online sex work,crimes and ‘blended safety repertoires’

It has been well established that those working in the sex industry are at various risks of violence and crime depending on where they sell sex and the environments in which they work. What sociological research has failed to address is how crime and safety have been affected by the dynamic changing nature of sex work given the dominance of the internet and digital technologies, including the development of new markets such as webcamming. This paper reports the most comprehensive findings on the internet‐based sex market in the UK demonstrating types of crimes experienced by internet‐based sex workers and the strategies of risk management that sex workers adopt, building on our article in the British Journal of Sociology in 2007. We present the concept of ‘blended safety repertoires’ to explain how sex workers, particularly independent escorts, are using a range of traditional techniques alongside digitally enabled strategies to keep themselves safe. We contribute a deeper understanding of why sex workers who work indoors rarely report crimes to the police, reflecting the dilemmas experienced. Our findings highlight how legal and policy changes which seek to ban online adult services advertising and sex work related content within online spaces would have direct impact on the safety strategies online sex workers employ and would further undermine their safety. These findings occur in a context where aspects of sex work are quasi‐criminalized through the brothel keeping legislation. We conclude that the legal and policy failure to recognize sex work as a form of employment, contributes to the stigmatization of sex work and prevents individuals working together. Current UK policy disallows a framework for employment laws and health and safety standards to regulate sex work, leaving sex workers in the shadow economy, their safety at risk in a quasi‐legal system. In light of the strong evidence that the internet makes sex work safer, we argue that decriminalisation as a rights based model of regulation is most appropriate.