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Using qualitative and quantitative data, this paper examines recent developments of criminal hate speech laws in European nations and the role of the European Union from a historical institutionalist perspective. It will examine the role of various social actors in the promotion and resistance of hate speech laws as well as possible implications for ethnic conflict in Europe. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how Arab hip hop artists in Palestine, Israel, Europe, and the United States construct the regional conflict in Israel/Palestine through their music, posing the question: is it possible to understand their construction as a counter-hegemonic articulation of place and Palestinian identity? I attempt to answer this through a study of the lyrics and music video images of various Arab hip hop artists, and contextualize my analysis in diverse literatures, including cultural criminology, legal anthropology, and postcolonial theory. Most scholarship on the cultural importance and meaning of hip hop music has explored the American context. Most scholarship on Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation has utilized a nation-state or political economy analysis. This paper positions itself as an alternative to these literatures, exploring the relevance and meaning of hip hop in the cultural context of Palestine, and exploring the possible manifestations of Palestinian resistance in the context of popular culture. I pay particular attention to the usage of legal and criminal justice terminology employed by these artists in their constructions of the conflict. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses recent changes of organised crime in Europe by discussing the evolution of the two organisational models (hierarchical and network) and of their activities (criminal and/or infiltration of legitimate businesses). Particular attention is paid to changes in the Sicilian Mafia with regard to other Italian criminal organisations and other European criminal groups. The thesis of the paper is that the evolution of criminal groups in western and eastern Europe follows relationships with national/local governments and administration. In the context of strong governments, criminal groups act mainly transnationally in criminal markets, with relatively low levels of infiltration of the legitimate economy. In the context of weak governments, criminal groups act locally, infiltrating the legitimate economy through extortion and corruption. The evolution of the Sicilian Mafia seems to reflect the latter pattern and opens discussion on what patterns of modernisation are exhibited by organised crime. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private providers occupy a major position in the 'police extended family'. But what are the consequences for 'open' justice and public satisfaction? Working from data collected throughout 2007 in 8 Australian jurisdictions, the paper will outline a trend that mirrors trends in the USA, UK and Europe, but which has its own idiosyncrasies. The paper will review issues of accountability, safety, partnership models and the legal implications of a diversity of security providers. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strong belief among some politicians and other individuals in Europe that US law enforcement and punishment strategies have yielded great successes in curbing crime in the US and that our countries should follow suit. In terms of sentencing practices, three strikes and you're out laws, characterized by a 25-year-to-life prison term for a third offence, represent an American innovation that has been discussed as suitable for adoption in at least some European countries. The current paper begins with a review of US research on the impact of three-strikes laws on serious crime. The overwhelming majority of criminological and economical studies conducted in this area have failed to find a significant effect for three-strikes laws on serious offending. Some researchers have actually identified an association between three-strikes laws and a slower decrease in the homicide rate than that found in non-three-strikes states and cities. However, at least three recently published studies conclude that three-strikes policies are an effective strategy for crime reduction. The second part of the current paper briefly discusses a three-strikesinspired law enacted in England and Wales and, at more length, an opposition party motion made to the Swedish Parliament for a "three-strikes light" version. The overall conclusion is that much of contemporary crime policy is based on catchy anti-crime slogans as opposed to evidencebased knowledge. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the Police in Nazi Occupied Europe is a contentious topic among historians and the members of each society that survived occupation. In France the situation under the Vichy regime initiated a complex relation between the police, the occupiers and Vichy who communicated Nazi interests to its rank and file. In Denmark the particularly low victimization rate among its Jewish population intiates an enquiry into the role of the native police in undermining the Nazi's "final solution." Conversely, in the Netherlands the extent of the participation of pre-occupation police personal in Nazi crimes is still a question that remains unresolved. On the whole this is an examination of the structural as well as the personal factors that contributed to collaboration or resistance. While modest in conclusions this paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of police culture in the worst of times when its power, authority and organization are challenged to their very core. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the conclusions of an edited volume investigating similarities and differences in the response to family violence in European countries (Smeenk & Malsch, 2005). It examines how the criminal justice systems of the various countries treat family violence cases. Police responses to family violence received special attention, linking the criminal justice response with victim experiences of family violence. Nevertheless, the existence and importance of other intervention agencies was not neglected. Focusing on police interventions in each country provided valuable information about the law enforcement organisations involved, as well as institutions outside the legal system, thereby giving a more complete picture of how countries deal with the problem of family violence. Comparison at a European level also enabled the study of variations in legal definitions and penal codes, which influence the police response to reported incidents of family violence. More specifically, the volume addresses interactions between general attitudes towards family violence, task performance by the police, and new developments in the applicable law. This brought together insights from research, policy and practice, and as such, the answers will have implications for each of these fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While European unification has brought easier international travel, a standardized monetary system, and greater cultural exchange, fringe groups commonly associated with crime and disorder have also begun to take advantage of the more open borders. The Skinhead movement, defined initially by law enforcement officials as a fashion trend among working class youths, has now grown to international proportions. Skinheads are now able to move with ease throughout the nations of Europe, recruiting new members and strengthening their international solidarity. Skinhead groups in the United States provide support for their European counterparts as they venture forth into new territory bringing their xenophobic message of hate and intolerance to new audiences in a variety of European nations. This paper will strive to provide a peak into the world of the Skinhead Nation as they grow to become one of the foremost international supremacist movements, increasing their understanding of international law, technology, and networking capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within major European countries or regions there has been a remarkable decline of homicide rates from the 16th/17th century onward until the mid-20th century. Since then almost all of the Western democracies have experienced a rise of violent crime. In many (not all of them) homicide rates levelled off or even turned into a downward trend somewhere in the 1990s (in a few cases even earlier). In most countries, however, robbery as well as assault and battery continued to rise. Drawing upon Durkheim and Elias, this paper briefly outlines an explanatory model to account for both, the trans-secular decline and the upward movement since the 1950s. It makes use of Durkheim's twofold distinction between collectivism and individualism, and between cooperative and egoistic individualism. It introduces the distinction between developmental (process-induced) and structural (chronic) anomie, and merges structural anomie with egoistic individualism into "disintegrative individualism". Empirical data from the three countries under study demonstrate the usefulness of this explanatory scheme, but also point to some problems that still need to be resolved. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the project How much? A pilot study on four key EU member and candidate countries on the demand for trafficked prostitution, funded by the EU Commission and coordinated by ISMU Foundation in cooperation with researchers at Transcrime (Italy). The analysis of the existing literature confirms, in Europe and beyond, the scant knowledge on the demand for trafficked prostitution. Relying on interviews with clients, web "participant observation" and an anonymous internet questionnaire in Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Romania, the aim of the research was to help to fill this gap by answering various questions concerning the client (what are the features of a client of trafficked prostitutes? Is he different from a "common" client? Why does he choose this segment of the market? Is he aware of exploitation?). What dynamics induce him to use trafficked prostitutes (which are the most significant push factors? Are they different between a client who chooses common prostitution and one who chooses trafficked prostitution?). Also examined were some possible policy implications (what kind of approach is advisable to reduce the demand for trafficked victims?). The research will be published in a volume by Springer of which the speaker is co-editor. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grouping of countries for descriptive and analytic purposes is a pervasive practice in comparative work. This paper explores the implications of the classification of countries for comparative analysis based on the 6-9th UN Crime Surveys for Europe and North America. Categorical Principal Components Analysis (CATPCA) is used to determine empirically the degree to which two popular country classifications reflect a reasonable approach to country grouping. We use the empirical results to improve on these classifications while attempting not to violate the conceptual idea (geographical, geopolitical, cultural) behind these classifications. The results present four country clusters - partially overlapping with existing groupings, but with some interesting modifications - which, in turn appear to reflect reasonable patterns with regard to a small set of socio-economic indicators. Implications of the study are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion surveys are frequently used in the US and abroad to gauge the public's satisfaction and perception of various justice system operations. Particularly in emerging democracies such surveys are often used to measure how well the justice system reflects democratic changes. As part of a larger justice system reform project in Mongolia, the National Center for State Courts conducted regular nationwide public opinion surveys to monitor changes in public perception of the efficiency, transparency and integrity of justice sector institutions. In the Spring of 2007, the 4th survey will be conducted providing insight into public opinion development over the past seven years. This paper discusses the survey results and implications for justice sector reform in Mongolia. The methodologies were developed based on US and European surveys, adjusted for the particular Mongolian situation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990) proposes that individuals low in self-control are not only at greater risk to engage in deviant or criminal behaviors, but also in analogous acts. Common to all these behaviors is that they provide instant gratification, require little planning and foresight, and entail no consideration of their consequences. With few exceptions, a small number of investigations have met this empirical challenge, particularly for irresponsible or risky sexual behavior (Hope & Chappel, 2005). Employing a cross-national comparative approach to further examining the General Theory of Crime and its generalizability, the current investigation examined the predictive importance of key family processes and low self-control for irresponsible sexual behavior in four samples of approximately N = 8,000 adolescents known to differ on a number of social, economic, and political dimensions, namely two affluent Western European countries (the Netherlands and Switzerland) and two less affluent Eastern European countries (Hungary and Slovenia). Preliminary findings based on regression analyses indicate that family processes and low self-control had significant effects on irresponsible sexual behaviors; furthermore, family processes maintained a direct effect even after entry of low-self control into the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 6th Conference of the European Society of Criminology will take place in Tbingen, Germany from August 30 to September 2, 2006. The European Society of Criminology (ESC), founded in 2000, aims to bring together in Europe persons actively engaged in research, teaching and/or practice in the field of Criminology. The ESC wishes to foster criminological scholarship, research, education and training, and to encourage scholarly, scientific and practical exchange and cooperation among criminologists in Europe and elsewhere. Its objective is further to serve as a forum for the dissemination of criminological knowledge at the European level (http://www.esc-eurocrim.org). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the extent to which public perceptions of the impact immigrants have on crime and violence in European societies changed between 1988 and 2002 and whether such perceptions were affected by the rise in the size of the immigrant population and by changing economic conditions. Data for the analysis were taken from four waves of the Eurobarometer surveys for twelve countries that provided comparable information on attitudes toward foreigners between 1988 and 2000. Hierarchical linear model regression analysis reveals that at the individual- level, negative views were more pronounced among men, among unemployed, among the old, and among those holding right-wing political orientation and less pronounced among persons with high education and high income. Net of individual-level effects, the analysis reveals considerable rise of negative views of immigrants impact on crime and violence between 1988 and 2002 in all countries. Analysis of the country-level effects reveals that negative views on crime and violence were positively associated with the size of the foreign population but were not associated with economic conditions. The meaning and significance of the findings are discussed and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This poster session presentation will introduce some early findings of the on-going study of European crime prevention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'European Homicide-Suicide Study' (EHSS) is a new collaborative project including seven European countries which will put criminological research on homicide-suicide (HS) on a new and more solid basis. The empirical cornerstone of this project is the collection of complete national samples of HS cases covering a whole decade (ca. 1996 to 2005). The resulting uniform dataset contains detailed information on perpetrators, victims and events and allows for the analysis of many relevant research questions. With nearly 2000 cases of HS (including attempts), it is probably the largest sample of its kind world-wide. The study covers Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and England & Wales. The cross-national research design exploits the considerable variation across Europe in terms of cultural and religious traditions, socio-economic conditions and demographic patterns which may be important macro-level dimensions influencing the frequency of HS. The presentation will focus on first results of the comparative analysis concerning frequencies, offender-victims-constellations, circumstances, weapons, motives and theoretically derived sub-types of homicide-suicides. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study compares methodological techniques to examine the variation in homicide rates across a sample of European cities and to determine the extent to which the countries' level of development affects those city-level homicide rates. We compare substantive findings derived by applying two statistical techniquesâ??ordinary least squares regression and multi-level modelingâ??to homicide rates for 112 European cities circa 2001. Results using both techniques identified classic covariatesâ??economic deprivation and population structureâ??as important and robust predictors of homicide rates. In addition, the country's level of development is related to the city-level homicide rates. Mixed support was found for an association between homicide and unemployment rates, youth population, or population heterogeneity (non-European Union nationals). Finally, we assess the relative merits and shortcomings of the two techniques as well as the implications on the substantive findings derived from these techniques. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overall, social cohesion is seen as an important social mechanism to explain concentrations of criminal figures in a geographical area. However, in Western Europe social cohesion isn't still measured systematically and stored in a database. Because of the expensiveness of a representative survey on the one side and the relative uniqueness of measuring scales of social cohesion in our geographical area under investigation on the other side, it was important to test the quality of some scales in advance by a cheaper alternative: the method of 'key informant analysis'.We took a survey of 779 key informants in 26 municipalities in and around Ghent (Belgium). We preferred to use existing scales of dimensions of social cohesion from North American as well as from West European research. So we have tested respectively the 'collective efficacy' scale (Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls) and the 'community' scale (Flap and Völker) on their (individual and ecological) reliability and (intern and extern) correlational validity. Through some bivariate analyses with extern data we also could get a first impression of the relation between social cohesion and the social structure of the municipality on the one hand and the concentration of criminal figures on the other hand. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How and why do people disengage from terrorist movements? To offer answers to this question, John Horgan traveled to a dozen countries over two years to convince former members (leaders and followers alike) of terrorist movements in Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia, North and South America to explain to him, in their own words, their reasons for leaving behind their involvement in terrorism, radicalism and extremism. During this presentation, John Horgan will present some of the findings from his groundbreaking collection of rare case studies, guiding the audience through a series of insightful accounts of the reality of what being involved in terrorism entails before detailing how and why these people came to leave terrorism behind. Horgan illustrates how the little-known process of disengaging from terrorism is as complex as the process of initially becoming involved in such movements in the first place, and presents us with the basis for a model of disengagement and de- radicalization. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An application of rational choice theory to terrorism supports the examination of both offender motivation and situation factors surrounding the terrorist incident. Situational factors are important to understand a terrorist's selection of specific targets (Dugan, LaFree, and Piquero, 2005). Among the study of these situational factors, little attention has been paid to the geographic decisions within a terrorist's calculus. Most of the available data on terrorism is spatially aggregated to the country of incident, and subsequently, geographic analyses have focused on macro-level hotspots (LaFree, Morris, Dugan, and Fahey, 2006; Braithwaite and Li, 2007), and where available, country-specific case studies (Nunn, 2007; Singh et al., n.d.). Using an incident-level database of terrorism geocoded to the city level, this study examines the geographic nature of domestic and international terrorist incidents in Europe from 1970-1997. Two questions will be addressed: 1.) To what extent is terrorism geographically clustered at the sub-national level; and 2.) Does the spatial distribution of attacks within countries change in regards to varying tactics, targets, or groups? Limitations of spatial data on terrorist incidents and future directions for research will also be discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organized crime, surpassed only by drugs and arms trafficking, and the fastest growing criminal industry in the world (UNODC Annual Report, 2007). Migrants who are trafficked may be exploited by: being charged extortionate prices for their journey; having their money and belongings stolen; having their identities stolen (passports and other travel documents, identity cards etc.); and being trapped into dept bondage (Salt & Stain 1997, 472).Turkey's geographical position, standing like a natural bridge between Europe and Asia, made it a good transition country for trafficking flow. Nevertheless, especially over the last two decades, with its dynamic economy and seventy million populations, it turned into a destination country especially. Turkey has become the target country especially for those who misuse the inflexible visa policies from ex Soviet Union countries. Traffickers can easily make those people who want to subsidize their lives or have desire for better lives trafficking victims by using coercion, abduction or fraud. This study reflected and analyzed Turkey's legislative and policy responses to human trafficking focusing on especially for the last five years. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trafficking in humans emerged as an eminent social, political and legal problem with the opening of borders in Europe at the end of the 1980s. Since then, it has become an issue of concern in both national and international systems of crime control and law enforcement. Various United Nations and European instruments, including the 2000 UN Convention Against Transnational Crime, the 2005 Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Persons and the European Union Framework Decision on Trafficking 2002 aim at repression and prevention of trafficking in humans. Most significant is certainly the move toward seeing human trafficking not merely as a law enforcement problem and being linked to organized crime but to understand human trafficking as a serious violation of human rights. With that, human trafficking is recognized also as an eminent issue as regards protection of victims and access to justice. Criminal trafficking laws are essentially guided by interests in protecting human beings from being treated as objects of trade and commerce, thus emphasizing human dignity and the equality principle. Moreover, anti-trafficking policies aim at protecting personal freedom, in terms of freedom from being pressured into prostitution or labour, from being held in inhumane conditions of labour or prostitution and from being prevented to exit such conditions. The way trafficking statutes are constructed point to a crucial relationship between criminal law protecting individual interests and criminal law protecting moral values. Trafficking offence statutes evidently pose problems as far as determination of the degree of improper influence or exploitation is concerned. The risk of creating moral (and anti-prostitution) criminal law increases with the extent to which trafficking statutes focus on mere endangerement and depart from a narrow range of individually conceived interests.The experiences made with international and national control of trafficking in humans point to a multitude of problems that partially are well known from efforts to control organized crime and related issues at large. Some of these problems are linked to the phenomenon of black markets and victimless crime. When women are pressured into prostitution, the social and legal environment to which trafficked women are exposed prevent their active involvement in controlling trafficking and the sex market and this is what creates a parallel to other transaction crimes. It is here where policy changes should first of all create conditions for sex workers which make them less vulnerable to all sorts of negative consequences attached to criminal prosecution of their traffickers as well as those profiting from prostitution. In this regard legalization of prostitution also in the fields of civil in particular contract law and labour law is assessed to represent a salient step towards creating a safer working environment for prostitutes and improving conditions of law enforcement. As implementation of criminal is dependent on victims reporting crimes and testifying in criminal trials efforts should be made to establish a legal framework which facilitates cooperation for victimized foreign nationals. In particular immigration law and victim protection schemes seem to be relevant in this respect ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presentation investigates the current transmutation of public space. Through the focus on public space I will make clear that the notion of citizenship has changed. To develop this thesis I will take up the figure of the denizen by Shearing and Wood. (1) The denizen fits in a social schism that is articulated architectonically in a series of spaces that are protected and isolated. I call these spaces Urban Containers. (2) In the Urban Container, the major social institutions of modernity - offices, schools, prisons, hospitals, shopping centres - have been pressed into one architectonic space. 'Container' comes from the Latin word continere, which is a combination of the words com (together) and tenere (to hold). This is what these new large-scale complexes do: enclose and keep together. When dealing with the genealogy of the Urban Container attention must be devoted to various typologies of enclosure and exclusion. The strategies of exclusion lead to a radical new figure of 'citizenship': the margizen. His life is stripped of its specific form or quality. To understand the consequences I will look at the position of the margizens (sans papiers, etc.) in the cities of Europe and the United States. These groups are located outside the normal judicial order, without any rights, at the mercy of authorities they get in touch with: police, jailers, private security, etc.(1) C. Shearing & J. Wood, Nodal Governance, Democracy and the New 'Denizens', Journal of Law and Society, 2003, 3, pp. 400 - 419.(2) Alex de Jong & Marc Schuilenburg, Mediapolis. Popular culture and the city, 010-Publishers, 2006, pp. 44 - 56. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment adopted in Fall of 2000 deleted from the Polish drug law the non-prosecution clause regarding possession of small amounts of drugs for own consumption, and discontinued the depenalization policy of drug users. This was justified by two arguments: the need to increase effectiveness of police action against dealers, and the need to reduce drug use by the means of deterrent and educative influence of the law enforcement. As a result the number of arrests and convictions for possession of drugs started to grow dramatically. However, results of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs conducted in Poland in 1999 (before the changes), and in 2003 (after the chages) indicate that the new legislation had little influence on both, availability of drugs, and on the prevalence of drug use. It seems that availability actually increased during that time. At the same time prevalence rates of use for most drugs continued to grow. This seems to confirm that increasing severity of penal sanctions and intensity of law enforcement contributes little to the reduction of supply and demand for illicit drugs. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]