Accident or homicide - virtual crime scene reconstruction using 3D methods

The analysis and reconstruction of forensically relevant events, such as traffic accidents, criminal assaults and homicides are based on external and internal morphological findings of the injured or deceased person. For this approach high-tech methods are gaining increasing importance in forensic investigations. The non-contact optical 3D digitising system GOM ATOS is applied as a suitable tool for whole body surface and wound documentation and analysis in order to identify injury-causing instruments and to reconstruct the course of event. In addition to the surface documentation, cross-sectional imaging methods deliver medical internal findings of the body. These 3D data are fused into a whole body model of the deceased. Additional to the findings of the bodies, the injury inflicting instruments and incident scene is documented in 3D. The 3D data of the incident scene, generated by 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry, is also included into the reconstruction. Two cases illustrate the methods. In the fist case a man was shot in his bedroom and the main question was, if the offender shot the man intentionally or accidentally, as he declared. In the second case a woman was hit by a car, driving backwards into a garage. It was unclear if the driver drove backwards once or twice, which would indicate that he willingly injured and killed the woman. With this work, we demonstrate how 3D documentation, data merging and animation enable to answer reconstructive questions regarding the dynamic development of patterned injuries, and how this leads to a real data based reconstruction of the course of event.

Mikro- versus Makroperspektive der retributiven Gerechtigkeit, Strafziele und die Forderung nach Strafe

Wie Personen auf Straftaten reagieren und welche Strafziele sie dabei verfolgen, war bisher kaum Gegenstand psychologischer Forschung. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die dimensionale Struktur der Präferenz von Strafzielen untersucht. In zwei Befragungen wurden juristischen Laien Fallgeschichten zur Beurteilung vorgelegt (Raubüberfall, Körperverletzung, Betrug, Vergewaltigung). Die multivariaten Auswertungen weisen eine hohe Übereinstimmung auf: Strafziele lassen sich durch die zwei voneinander unabhängigen Dimensionen Strafhärte und Mikro- versus Makroperspektive klassifizieren. Wird eine Makroperspektive eingenommen, so ist dies mit einer stärkeren Gewichtung von Gesellschaftsinteressen verbunden sowie mit der Präferenz für das Strafziel der positiven Generalprävention. Die Mikroperspektive ist hingegen mit der Überzeugung verbunden, dass Gerechtigkeit insbesondere aus der Perspektive der konkret Beteiligten herzustellen ist. Je nach geforderter Strafhärte geht die Mikroperspektive mit einem Bias entweder für das Opfer und das Strafziel der Vergeltung oder aber für den Täter und das Strafziel der Resozialisierung einher.

Racial Bias in Motor Vehicle Searches: Additional Theory and Evidence

Knowles, Persico, and Todd (2001) develop a model of police search and offender behavior. Their model implies that if police are unprejudiced the rate of guilt should not vary across groups. Using data from Interstate 95 in Maryland, they find equal guilt rates for African-Americans and whites and conclude that the data is not consistent with racial prejudice against African-Americans. This paper generalizes the model of Knowles, Persico, and Todd by accounting for the fact that potential offenders are frequently not observed by the police and by including two different levels of offense severity. The paper shows that for African-American males the data is consistent with prejudice against African-American males, no prejudice, and reverse discrimination depending on the form of equilibria that exists in the economy. Additional analyses based on stratification by type of vehicle and time of day were conducted, but did not shed any light on the form of equilibria that best represents the situation in Maryland during the sample period.

Penalty Enhancement for Hate Crimes: An Economic Analysis

The issue of bias-motivated crimes has attracted consderable attention in recent years. In this paper, we develop an economic framework to analyze penalty enhancements for bias-motivated crimes. We extend the standard model by introducing two different groups of potential victims of crime, and assume that a potential offender's benefits from a crime depend on the group to which the victim belongs. We begin with the assumption that the harm to an individual victim from a bias-motivated crime is identical to that from an equivalent non-hate crime. Nonetheless, we derive the result that a pattern of crimes disproportionately targeting an identifiable group leads to greater social harm. This conclusion follows both from a model where disparities in groups' victimization probabilities lead to social losses due to fairness concerns, as well as a model where potential victims have the opportunity to undertake socially costly victimization avoidance activities. In particular, penalty enhancements can reduce the incentives for avoidance activity, and thereby protect the networks of profitable interactions that link members of different groups. We also argue that those groups that are covered by hate crime statutes tend to be those whose characteristics make it especially likely that penalty enhancement is socially optimal. Finally, we consider a number of other issues related to hate crimes, including teh choice of sanctions from behind a Rawlsian 'veil of ignorance' concerning group identity.

Punishing the Innocent along with the Guilty: The Economics of Individual versus Group Punishment

Standard models of law enforcement involve the apprehension and punishment of a single suspect, but in many contexts, punishment is actually imposed on an entire group known to contain the offender. The advantages of .group punishment. are that the offender is punished with certainty and detection costs are saved. The disadvantage is that innocent individuals are punished. We compare individual and group punishment when social welfare depends on fairness, and when it depends on deterrence. We show that group punishment may dominate in the former case if the detection technology is ineffective but never in the latter case. We discuss our results in the context of several examples.

Deterrence and Incapacitation: Towards a Unified Theory of Criminal Punishment

Economic models of crime have focused primarily on the goal of deterrence; the goal of incapacitation has received much less attention. This paper adapts the standard deterrence model to incorporate incapacitation. When prison only is used, incapacitation can result in a longer or a shorter optimal prison term compared to the deterrence-only model. It is longer if there is underdeterrence, and shorter if there is overdeterrence. In contrast, when a fine is available and it is not constrained by the offender's wealth, the optimal prison term is zero. Since the fine achieves first-best deterrence, only efficient crimes are committed and hence, there is no gain from incapacitation.

La compleja construcción de la problemática de la seguridad : violencia y políticas públicas de seguridad a comienzos del siglo XXI

Los primeros diez años del nuevo siglo nos encuentran con un bagaje de producción científica y trabajos de campo a partir de los cuales podemos reflexionar sobre la importancia de abordar la violencia cuando hablamos de políticas públicas de seguridad en sociedades democráticas. Ello implica reconocer un recorte del tema y una toma de posición alrededor de la cual iremos reconstruyendo la problemática de la seguridad que va más allá del delincuente, la asociación del problema de la seguridad al problema del delito, la tipificación de delitos y las técnicas disciplinarias. Nuestra atención esta dirigida a la violencia, la política expresada en políticas públicas y la expresión de las subjetividades en el miedo a ser víctima.

A violência doméstica contra mulher e o atendimento jurídico na cidade de Maputo - Mocambique

Introdução: A violência doméstica contra as mulheres apresenta-se, na atualidade, como relevante questão social e problema de saúde pública que afeta a maioria dos países. Portanto, não está mais restrita a países considerados do terceiro mundo e tende a ampliarse e a se generalizar. Em Moçambique pouco se investigou sobre a importância e papel das Delegacias de Mulheres no processo de implementação da Lei 29/2009 sobre Violência Doméstica contra a Mulher. Objetivo: Conhecer como profissionais de Delegacias de Mulheres acolhem e encaminham aos Tribunais os casos de violência doméstica; como interpretam o texto da lei, seu alcance, limitação e desafios na defesa dos direitos das mulheres vivendo em situação de violência na cidade de Maputo. Metodologia: Trata-se de pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, na qual foram realizadas entrevistas com 21 profissionais, operadores de Delegacias da cidade de Maputo Moçambique, que autorizaram a entrevista, segundo Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido. Resultados e Discussão: Os entrevistados apresentaram, em seus relatos, grande identificação com o tipo de trabalho exercido, considerando as Delegacias como espaços significativos para o reconhecimento da cidadania das mulheres, assim como um campo de atuação políticojurídica em defesa dos direitos das mesmas via atuação na implementação da Lei 29/2009. Reconhecem a relevância da Lei, tendo em vista a significativa expressão da violência como prática naturalizada, na sociedade moçambicana, pela cristalização de valores tradicionais do poder masculino sobre as mulheres, secundados por diferentes práticas culturais. Tais entrevistados Identificam alcances, mas igualmente limites no processo de implementação da mesma, destacando a importância de sua maior divulgação em todas as regiões do país, quer urbanas, sobretudo nas periferias, assim como zonas rurais. Destacam, igualmente, a necessidade de maior capacitação dos próprios agentes do setor jurídico, considerando a multiplicidade de aspectos envolvidos na prática cotidiana dos serviços, notadamente nas delegacias, em relação à aplicação e ampliação do alcance da Lei. Considerações Finais: As tradicionais práticas culturais vigentes na sociedade moçambicana apresentaram-se como aspecto limitante para a implementação da Lei, assim como a remissão das penas, prevista na Lei, que, impossibilita a punição do agressor, em termos de detenção, uma vez que substitui a mesma por prestação de serviços à comunidade, pagamento de cestabásica e/ou multas, tendo em vista, sobretudo, sua estreita relação com o artigo 37 sobre a salvaguarda da família. Diante disso, foram sugeridas, para maior alcance e efetividade na aplicação da Lei, modalidades como o trabalho reflexivo com grupos de homens, com o objetivo de desconstrução dos tradicionais valores sobre masculinidade vigentes nas relações entre homens e mulheres nessa sociedade, que mantém tanto a desigualdade quanto a iniquidade de gênero, pela permanência de tradicionais valores culturais, a exemplo do lobolo e da poligamia

“Vivre en probation” : l’expérience de la probation et sa place dans la trajectoire de vie des contrevenants

La probation est aujourd’hui profondément ancrée dans notre système de justice pénale. Parmi les programmes de surveillance communautaire (probation, condamnation avec sursis ou libération conditionnelle), elle constitue de loin le programme le plus commun, avec près de 98 000 contrevenants adultes soit 61 % de la population adulte placée sous surveillance correctionnelle au Canada. Pour autant, les chercheurs ne manifestent depuis plusieurs décennies que peu d’intérêt pour la question. La mesure se banalisant, la recherche s’étiole. L’orientation de la recherche a amené le sujet à la marge des études sur la punition. En réponse à une demande existante (Phelps, 2015), ce mémoire est guidé par une approche sociologique centrée sur l’échelle individuelle, au niveau macroscopique. Il vise à la compréhension de l’expérience des contrevenants placés en probation.

“Vivre en probation” : l’expérience de la probation et sa place dans la trajectoire de vie des contrevenants

La probation est aujourd’hui profondément ancrée dans notre système de justice pénale. Parmi les programmes de surveillance communautaire (probation, condamnation avec sursis ou libération conditionnelle), elle constitue de loin le programme le plus commun, avec près de 98 000 contrevenants adultes soit 61 % de la population adulte placée sous surveillance correctionnelle au Canada. Pour autant, les chercheurs ne manifestent depuis plusieurs décennies que peu d’intérêt pour la question. La mesure se banalisant, la recherche s’étiole. L’orientation de la recherche a amené le sujet à la marge des études sur la punition. En réponse à une demande existante (Phelps, 2015), ce mémoire est guidé par une approche sociologique centrée sur l’échelle individuelle, au niveau macroscopique. Il vise à la compréhension de l’expérience des contrevenants placés en probation.

Patterns of robbery and burglary in 9 states, 1984-88 /

"November 1992."

The forgotten army : six years' work of the Committee on Criminal Courts of the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, 1911-1917, a story of its work for the clean, intelligent and kindly administration of our inferior criminal courts.

Bound with the author's The adolescent offender. New York, [1923]

CHRI user's manual : criminal history record information /

This guide provides examples of juvenile and adult arrest fingerprint cards with instructions and additional record forms.

Employment and training programs for offenders : a guide for prime sponsors under the Comprehensive employment and training act of 1973 /

Title on inside leaf: Technical assistance guide for offender programs.

An evaluation of the training provided in correctional institutions under the Manpower development and training act, section 251; final report.

Report MEL 71-09a-c.