Showing papers in "European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research in 2006"

Educational Intentions Among Prison Inmates

Abstract: The aim of the study was to examine the impact of geographical and cultural affiliation and learning problems on prison inmates' intentions to embark on education above their obtained level of education. Younger inmates, inmates who had reading or writing problems and inmates with less geographical and cultural affiliation to Norway were significantly more likely to report that they wished to start upper secondary school than older inmates, inmates who had no reading or writing problems and inmates with a strong affiliation to Norway. Likewise, younger inmates, inmates who had a non-Norwegian affiliation and inmates who had no problems with arithmetic or mathematics were significantly more likely than others to say that they wished to embark on university studies or other higher education.

Commodities and Terrorist Financing: Focus on Diamonds

Abstract: Commodities, trade, and natural resources have long been part of the political economy of conflict, as soldiers and militants usually employ accessible means and methods to raise funds unless there is a clash with honestly held religious or ideological positions. Reports about the role of commodities in the financing of terrorist groups cover many areas of legal and illicit trade, foremost among these diamonds. A brief background to the diamond industry, with particular attention to vulnerabilities and their exploitation in conflict areas, provides the necessary context for two case studies about al-Qaeda (AQ) and Hezbollah. These utilize primary and secondary data to explore the linkages between diamonds and these particular groups. We found conflicting and weak evidence as well as vague language to describe interfaces between terrorist groups and the diamonds trade. We conclude that while there is cause for concern that this industry can be used to support terrorist activity, deeper factual grounding, meaningful context, and a more nuanced understanding of the diamond industry are necessary to fully inform policy makers and law enforcement about the connections between terrorist finance and the commodities trade.

Crime Opportunities Provided by Legislation in Market Sectors: Mobile Phones, Waste Disposal, Banking, Pharmaceuticals

Abstract: Project Marc aims at developing a mechanism for assessing the risks of crime due to legislation and products in order to proof them against crime at EU level. Such a mechanism can only be developed on the basis of a true insight into the opportunities for crime provided by regulation. To gain such an insight, several market sectors were screened for their opportunities for crime and more specifically crime generated through the regulation of these market sectors. Case studies of four market sectors were carried out based on a literature scan and interviews with experts in the field. Risks created by the regulation of the market sectors are twofold: first, there are the risks for non-compliance with a specific regulation in the economic sector. This is the largest category and is created by problems inherent in the regulation itself. The second group of risks is the risk for side effects. Side effects occur when legislation is created with a certain purpose, but at the same time the legislation provides unwanted opportunities for crime. The risks created by the regulation may result in corruption, fraud, money laundering, infiltration of crime in the legal sector or other types of crime.

Different Concepts of Ethnicity in a Cross-Atlantic Study of Violence and Drug Use among Deviant Youth

Abstract: Despite their common multi-ethnic populations, the meaning and application of the term ethnicity varies between the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. This paper attempts the construction of a racial/ethnic measure that enables meaningful cross-national comparisons. As part of the Drugs, Alcohol and Violence International (DAVI) project, the link between different measures of ethnicity and alcohol use, drug use, violence, and delinquency was studied within samples of 14- to 17-year-old juvenile detainees and dropouts in Philadelphia, Toronto and Amsterdam. Results showed a relationship between origin (the most discriminating of ethnicity measures) and alcohol and drug use, but not violence-related behaviour. Differences in substance use and violence were more attributable to differences between countries and samples than between ‘western’ and ‘non-western’ youth.

Existing Experiences of Risk Assessment

Abstract: This article examines the state of the art of qualitative and quantitative risk-assessment methodologies in a variety of fields in order to systemize common techniques. The risk-assessment case studies and their key principles detailed within can be used to assist in the development of an initial risk-assessment mechanism for proofing EU legislation against fraud, corruption, money laundering, and organized crime under project MARC. This article is organized as follows: first, four common areas of risk assessment are identified and examined for common tools, uncertainties, and assumptions. Second, prevalent models of assessment methodologies are examined and weighted according to their relative simplicity, flexibility, and thoroughness. Finally, recommendations are made based on the analysis of the areas and models of risk-assessment methodology in fields other than legislation safety that can point the way to the effective and efficient development and dissemination of crime-risk mitigation protocols.

Humanising Imprisonment: A European project?

Abstract: This paper focuses on the continued significance of human rights in the movement to develop a more comprehensive European framework to improve prison conditions. It identifies the immediate factors that underlie the movement as the successful implementation of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment; the growing number of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights applying the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to prison matters; the expansion of the number of member states of the Council of Europe; and the increased political interest at European level in penological matters. Attention is also paid to the wider ideological role that a concern for human rights plays in European criminal justice politics. The paper illustrates the reform movement by focussing on recent recommendations of the Council of Europe on various aspects of imprisonment, including the new European Prison Rules. The possible emergence of an international instrument of treaty status that would deal directly with substantive conditions of imprisonment is noted and its potential impact considered. An argument is made for the systemisation of European prison law and for further reform initiatives.

Testing the Mechanism on EU Public Procurement Legislation

Abstract: This paper presents the results of Work Package (WP) no. 10 of project Mechanisms for Assessing the Risk of Crime (MARC) consisting of a pilot study to test the Crime Risk Assessment Mechanism (CRAM) on European Union (EU) public procurement legislation. The research scope was restricted to Directive 2004/18/EC adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 31 March 2004, which consolidates the previous directives in the same field. To this end, the research partners involved realised a survey of the literature, case study analysis and interviews, which highlighted the opportunities for economic/financial/organised crime inherent in specific items of EU public procurement legislation. Based on these inputs and sources, the researchers applied the CRAM to Directive 18/2004/EC and then developed a set of recommendations for better implementation of the methodology created in Project MARC. The exercise revealed some methodological difficulties with reference to the application of the CRAM in the pilot study. In particular, the following problematic aspects were revealed: the delta assessment (i.e. measurement of the differential in crime risk between the new and the old EU directives on procurement); the computational issues of the MARC formula (namely: elaboration of a synthetic Legislative Quality Index (LQI) and Market Vulnerability Index (MVI); reading LQI and MVI indicators not as separate entities but as linked together; risk that the same negative aspect of a legislative act may be double-counted under different indicators); the overlap between the MVI grids; and the content and wording of individual LQI/MVI indicators. The article concludes with a list of suggestions on how to repair these methodological shortcomings of the CRAM.

Regulation Of Offshore Banking Services And Financial Entities

Abstract: The aim of Project MARC is to meet increasing demand by EU institutions for a crime risk assessment mechanism that proofs legislation against crime at a European Union level, thereby reducing the probability that regulation may provide opportunities for illicit conduct On the basis of a literature review, case study analysis and interviews, this article intends to provide a list of variables influencing the likelihood that organised crime will ensue from regulation of offshore banking services, company law and financial entity regulation The variables have been systematised according to the main components of project MARC’s central equation: the Legislative Quality Index (LQI), which measures the quality of the law per se on the assumption that an inconsistent, ambiguous, difficult-to-apply item of legislation may by itself produce opportunities for crime, and the Market Vulnerability Index (MVI), which measures the effect of a legislative change on the vulnerability of the market to crimes The sources reviewed suggest that the LQI can be operationalised in the following indicators: (a) external simplicity, (b) internal simplicity/clarity of structure, (c) external consistency, (d) internal consistency; (e) accuracy/clarity of content and (f) enforceability; while the MVI can be operationalised in: (a) attractiveness (in the sense of profitability), (b) attractiveness (in the sense of the risk of being detected and punished) and (c) accessibility Each of these indicators can be measured by means of a series of variables, which are discussed in the article with reference to examples coming from the case study analysis

Robberies in Prague

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the issue of robberies in the Czech Republic, primarily in the capital city, Prague. Statistics show that there has been a sharp rise in the number of robberies recorded in the Czech Republic following the political upheavals of 1989. In spite of this, current Czech criminology does not give proper attention to this kind of criminal activity. For this reason, the authors will attempt not only to summarise research efforts hitherto undertaken in this field and place them in a wider international context, but also to offer basic and criminologically relevant data on offenders, victims and some other significant factors, making use of official crime statistics as well as special police statistical records, including data obtained through the authors' own analysis of a sample of court files.