Do companies pay the price for environmental crimes? Consequences of criminal penalties on corporate offenders Abstract This paper is concerned with the negative collateral consequences monetary sanctions may have on companies that are prosecuted for violating federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Companies often claim fines for law violations will force them to lay off employees and possibly go bankrupt. Using the treadmill of crime theoretical lens, we employ a multivariate analysis on a unique data set of 169 companies to determine if their federal prosecutions are associated with negative collateral consequences. We find that some companies, upon being fined, are more likely to experience negative collateral consequences than others.

Mexican cartel expansion: a quantitative examination of factors associated with territorial claims Abstract Since the war on Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) began, shortly after Felipe Calderón took office as president in 2006, violence has become the norm in many parts of Mexico. Numerous cartel leaders have been killed or captured during this time, and new leaders have filled the power vacuum. Throughout this process, warring cartel factions have staged intense battles over territory. In this context, DTOs have expanded their territories and their reach. Yet there remains a gap in the collective knowledge on why certain territories are selected over others. While there is a burgeoning literature on the mobility of organized crime groups, it remains new and open to various paths of exploration and analysis. This research builds on the mobility literature, examining the territorial selection of Mexican DTOs. Using a cross-sectional design, the authors examine territorial selection via the issuance of narco-messages. Various factors in the selection of territory are explored.

Mulheres e Crime: Perspetivas Sobre Intervenção, Violência e Reclusão, V.N. Famalicão, Húmus

Variability of death penalty attitude in China: an empirical test of the Marshall hypotheses Abstract Though empirical studies of the Marshall hypotheses are rich, few examined the hypotheses in non-US nations. Based on a sample of 1077 students and a quasi-experimental design, this study tests the Marshall hypotheses in China. Except the control group, three intervention essays (on ‘international trend’, ‘wrongful conviction’, and ‘deterrence’) were provided to three experimental groups and students’ opinions were surveyed afterwards on capital punishment overall and six specific capital offenses. The results showed that the majority of Chinese students favored capital punishment and the wrongful conviction essay helped significantly reduce students’ support in the overall death penalty opinion, consistent with the Marshall hypotheses. Nevertheless, the international trend and deterrence essays boosted students’ support when opinions on specific capital offenses were surveyed, producing a counter-effect. Consistent with the hypotheses, students with a retribution belief were more likely to favor capital punishment and less likely to be swayed by essay interventions.

Settings matter: Examining Protection’s influence on the illicit drug trade in convergence settings in the Paso del Norte metropolitan area Abstract Marcus Felson suggests that analysis of “organized crime” should be undertaken via the study settings, events, and their sequences. This study examines four intertwining settings in the Paso del Norte area: Ciudad Juárez as a plaza, El Paso as a plaza, Prisons, and the streets. It shows just how important settings are for understanding the events that lead to the establishment and maintenance of the protection that allows organized criminal events related to the drug trade to unfold in the region. By examining one region, bifurcated by an international border, this article shows that settings, even those that are in close proximity with one another, can significantly shift the way that protection arrangements are developed, which in turn affect how events unfold. However, criminal actors who move between these settings adapt their strategies to the available protection to maximize opportunity for the illicit enterprises they are involved in.

Legal mobilization in Russia: how organizations of lawyers can support social changes Abstract To illustrate the role of organizations of lawyers in social changes we analyze the process of transforming legal and socio-political institutions in Russia over the past 30 years. We combine the theory of legal mobilization with the concept of violence and social orders proposed by North, Wallis and Weingast to describe the general logic of this process. Russian case shows that exogenous shocks stimulate collective action of criminal defence lawyers which, in turn, compel the government to respond. The state can promote the passivity of the legal community and stop legal mobilization by providing certain preferences for the profession. Even though in the 2000s, Russia took the path of destroying legal institutions, legal profession in certain circumstances could again act as an agent of social change. We conclude that the efficiency of collective action depends on the institutional capacity of legal association and on the position of the professional elite standing at its head.

Globalization and software piracy within and across 103 countries Abstract Globalization has been linked with many social problems, though little research has examined its relationship with software piracy. The ramifications of software piracy may vary across countries leading to varied criminal justice responses. More developed countries, which produce the most software and stand to gain the most from its protection, use diplomatic leverage to strengthen piracy laws in less developed countries. Consequently, lesser-developed countries are forced to adopt rigorous policies for IP protection. As such, we hypothesize that globalization will decrease software piracy rates over time. Using a modified random effect model, the current study examines the within and between countries effects of globalization on software piracy rates over time in 103 countries across a period of 14 years. Results indicate that globalization is significantly associated with a decrease in software piracy within and between countries over time while controlling for important time-varying and time invariant predictors. Interaction effects suggest that the relationship between globalization and software piracy is less pronounced in Asian countries and more pronounced in Latin American countries. In sum, some crimes, like software piracy, may be deterred if there are strong enough incentives and international pressures to regulate such crime through legislative and policy reforms.

Unemployment and crime in developing countries: a meta-analysis in Iran Abstract This study investigates the relationship between crime and unemployment based on previous researches in Iran. It summarizes, using meta-analysis techniques, results from 20 studies concerning the unemployment/crime relationship. Coded studies and contextual features in the form of moderators have been used to explain the variation in research findings. The moderator of the different time periods compared the effects of unemployment on crime in periods before and after 2006. Significant links were found between unemployment and crime. Results of categorical moderators indicated that the effect of unemployment on crime after 2006 in Iran was more than that of unemployment on crime before 2006. Examination of the economic policies of the Khatami (1997–2005) and Ahmadinejad governments (2005–2013) explains the results of this study. The economic disorganization in the Ahmadinejad government brought about bankruptcy for production units as well as an increase in unemployment rates.

Exploring the motherhood experiences of active methamphetamine users Abstract Drug panics involve the emergence of “demon drugs” argued to be symptomatic of larger social and moral breakdown among society. Nowhere is this more evident than the discourse surrounding women methamphetamine users, who are framed by the media as rejecting the central values of American social life, including motherhood and family. While there is substantive research on drug use generally, and some examinations of motherhood, identity, and careers such as initiation, desistance and persistence of drug use, there is far less research addressing how users’ life experiences with drugs shape their identity as addicts. The present study employed ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews in order to explore the roles and identities associated with motherhood in a sample of twenty-eight active female methamphetamine users in a rural southern area. The central research questions are: 1) How do women who are actively using methamphetamine understand and experience motherhood? 2) What role does their drug use play in shaping their identity as mothers? Findings suggest that women draw from larger cultural narratives about motherhood to engage in identity work to minimize the double stigma of being a drug user and a drug user who is a mother. Implications for treatment and policy are discussed.

Policy distraction: sentencing reform adoption as a diversion from rising social inequality Abstract Since the mid-1970s, more than two-thirds of U.S. states adopted some combination of sentencing reforms. This paper assessed the possibility that reforms were, at least, partly a reflection of a concerted effort of policymakers to divert attention away from social and economic inequalities. Event History Analysis was used to measure the relative change in the odds of adoption for four main reforms based on changes in several state-level economic, social, political, and demographic indicators. With some mixed findings, the analysis suggests that a number of state characteristics, including higher economic inequality (Gini coefficient), prior reform history, increased percent black, increased percent Hispanic (most models), increased unemployment, and, to a lesser extent, poverty rates significantly increased the rate of adoption for some reforms. The results suggest, among other things, that reforms were more likely to be passed when economic inequality increased.