Crime

1
Crime Deviance

• offenders and victims
• over-lapping categories
• http//www.ncjrs.org/victhome.html
• http//www.gopher.usdoj.gov/ojp/ovc.html

2
Risks of Victimization

• The gift of fear - the presence of behavioral
  and instinctual cues before crime e.g.forced
  teaming
• Fear of crime is inverse to the actual risks of
  victimization - the elderly, woman and the
  married tend to perceive risks of victimization
  greater than it is - but at what costs to the way
  they and we live?

3
Victim Resistance - PBL

• You are walking home late at night and you are
  confronted by an armed man who demands your
  possessions - what should you do?
• You are alone in your home fast asleep when you
  are confronted by a male intruder who threatens
  to kill you if you do not perform fellatio - what
  should you do?
• Would you behave differently if the victim was
  armed with a knife?

4
Victim Resistance

• Block and Skogans (1986) study of resistance to
  robbery and rape found
• non-forceful resistance lowered risks of injury
  and the completion of the robbery
• forceful resistance reduced the chances of the
  robbery being completed but increased victim
  injuries
• forceful resistance by rape victims had no effect
  and increased injury
• non-forceful resistance did reduce completion of
  rape but did not effect injury risk

5
Victim Resistance

• verbal rather than physical resistance is
  generally more effective
• all the research suggest that resistance does
  not result in an increase in severe injury
• Grace (1993)

6
Risks of Victimization

• Males
• Poor
• young 15-24 years of age
• migrants and minorities
• unemployed
• single or separated
• know the offender
• general lifestyle

7
Risks of Victimization

• Based on the HKCVS 1994 victims know the
  offender
• Assault 33.0
• Blackmail 11.5
• Robbery 4.9
• Sexual assault ? (69 in Australia)
• Intimidation 32.4

8
Stages of Victimization (Viano 1989)

• the actual experience of harm
• perception of harm as undeserved, unfair or
  unjust and self-identification as victim.
• attempts at getting others to recognize the harm
  and validate the victim status
• external validation of victim status
• key element - the affront to the victims sense of
  order and control

9
Needs of Victims (Shapland 1984)

• immediate attention (safety protection)
• ongoing support information
• formal representation in court
• restitution and compensation
• important initial role of the police

10
Needs of Victims (Shapland 1984)

• The 6 basic needs
• Recognition
• Re-assurance
• Protection
• Information
• Support and
• Advice

11
Crime Victims and Gender special needs of women
children

• differential reporting and risks of victimization
• intimacy and relationships
• psychology of victimization
• needs of victims
• reforms to the Criminal Justice System
• post-trauma stress disorders

12
Services to Victims

• special services for specific crimes sexual
  assault, child abuse, domestic violence and
  homicide/robbery.
• The assessment of PTSD
• NGOs as advocates and support
• police special units and programmes
• victim impact statements for courts and offender
  sentencing
• reparation, mediation and restorative justice
  approaches
• victim-offender mediation and FGCs

13
PTSD Crime Victimization DSM IV -R 309.91

• experience, witness or confronted with events
  that involve actual or threatened death or
  serious injury or a threat to the physical
  integrity of self or others
• the persons response involved intense fear,
  helplessness, or horror In children this may be
  expressed by disorganized or agitated behavior.

14
PTSD Crime Victimization DSM IV -R 309.91

• Acute, Chronic, Complex or Delayed Onset forms
• symptoms that.
• cause clinically significant distress or
  impairment in social occupational or other
  important areas of functioning

15
PTSD Crime Victimization DSM IV -R 309.91

• trauma is persistently re-experienced as one or
  more of the following
• distressing dreams or intrusive recollections,
  spontaneous flashbacks,
• distress at exposure to internal or external cues
• physiological re-activity on exposure to cues
• persistence avoidance of stimuli associated with
  event
• persistent symptoms of increased arousal of two
  of the following

16
PTSD Crime Victimization DSM IV -R 309.91

• persistent symptoms of increased arousal of two
  of the following
• Sleep
• irritability/anger
• lack of concentration
• hyper-vigilance or
• an exaggerated startle response

17
Womens Safety Sexual Assault in Hong Kong
18
Womens Safety Sexual Assault in Hong Kong
19
of Crimes Reported to HKP CVS 1998
20
Obstacles to Business in HK UN ICBS (pilot
survey n 612)
21
(No Transcript)
22
Crime Deviance Offenders and Criminality

• Associations between crime and offenders

23
Stalking a new crime ?

• Paul Mullen, Michele Pathé Rosemary Purcell,
  2000 Stalkers and their Victims, Cambridge
  University Press.

24
Psychological Impact on Stalking Victims

• Unlike other crimes stalking victims are exposed
  to repeated persistent harassment or threats.
• Victims fearful hyper-vigilant may have
  flashbacks repeated nightmares.
• Social, occupational recreational functions are
  disrupted.
• Many suffer mental physical deterioration
  report symptoms of PTSD.
• Victims describe feelings of violation, loss of
  control in their lives a pervasive sense of
  mistrust in others.

25
Stalking - classifications typologies

• Mullen et al (2000) identify six types
• Rejection stalkers
• Resentful stalkers
• Intimacy seekers
• Erotomanic stalker
• Incompetent suitor
• Predatory stalker

26
Stalking - classifications typologies

• Rejection stalkers pursue their victims in order
  to reverse, correct or avenge a rejection (e.g.
  divorce, separation, termination).
• Resentful stalkers pursue a vendetta because of
  a sense of grievance against the victims -
  motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and
  distress the victim.
• Intimacy seekers failing at a relationship with
  the victim, they feel mistreated and hope to
  either resurrect the relationships or compensate
  by seeking revenge. Any attention is better than
  none.

27
Stalking - classifications typologies

• Eroto-manic stalker fantasize and feel loved
  by a celebrity or of a higher social status -
  stalking establishes an intimate relationship
  with the victim.
• Incompetent suitor despite poor social/courting
  skills, they possess a sense of entitlement to an
  intimate relationship with those who have
  attracted their amorous interest.
• Predatory stalker behaviour is instrumental -
  usually a sexual attack on the victim by
  following and spying on the victims they
  prepare and plan the attack .

28
Prevalence Incidence of Stalking

• US statistics reported by Tjaden Thoennes
  (1998) 8.1 of women
• 2.2 of men were stalked.
• In the UK in 1997 12,000 complaints 300
  convictions.
• The prevalence of stalking is unknown in HK and
  cant be estimated from official records as it is
  not a crime.
• Stalking events in HK are (awkwardly) dealt with
  under the Privacy Ordinance, Domestic Violence
  Ordinance, i.e, threats criminal
  intimidation.
• Law Reform Commissions sub-committee on privacy
  identified 38 cases of stalking in 2001

29
The Law RCs Privacy Sub-committee on Stalking

• Emotion-based - Intimacy stalkers (6 cases)
  relationship break downs, one party may stalk the
  other on the pretext of having been mistreated.
  The stalker hopes to either resurrect the
  relationship or to seek revenge or compensation.
• Erotomania (12 cases) a result of fantasizing
  that he or she is being loved by the victim.
  The victim is sometimes a celebrity or someone
  who is of a higher social status. The intention
  of this type of stalker is to establish a
  relationship with the victim.

30
Stalking

• Dispute-based or Resentful Stalking
• often dissatisfied clients (10 cases) like an
  upset customer who may stalk staff of public
  organizations (e.g., welfare services, housing
  authority, health center, GP, etc.)
• employees of private firms for restitution or
  revenge
• disgruntled neighbours (4 cases)
• Intimidation Stalking
• a triad society uses stalking as a means of
  recruiting new members or to control
  insubordinate members
• debt collectors use stalking as a means of
  collecting bad debts.

31
Stalking - Offenders

• Three distinctive groups or forms
• (a) Serial stalkers seeks out a series of
  idealized victims and transfer their anger from
  one to another victim.
• (b) Cyber-stalkers use the internet to harass or
  to send obscene emails to their victims.
• (c) Distressed Disturbed - specific to a
  certain victim or situation non-repetitive

32
Stalking - offenders

• Stalking is self-gratifying behaviour the
  stalkers distortions support persistence in
  following victims ultimately aid his goal of
  non-abandonment.
• The lonesome behaviour becomes a substitute -
  obsessive daily occupation.
• Management, sometimes is achieved with
  restraining orders.
• Treatment - CBTs - Cognitive Behavioural
  Techniques are useful.

33
Stalking - treating offenders

• CBTs are useful if they
• shift the distorted belief to an alternative
• educate about the costs (i.e. time, energy,
  shame, prison)
• victim awareness training
• improve social skills establish new
  friendships, activities networking
• self-mental health needs anger management
  training may be appropriate.

34
Support for victims

• Identify the motive of the stalker assess the
  victims accessibility and vulnerability
• The context of the incident determines
  preventive measures e.g. confidentiality (i.e.,
  helping the victim to relocate and keeping the
  new address from the stalker)
• Develop a personal safety plan that reduces the
  likelihood of becoming a victim

35
Support for victims

• The effect of psychological terrorism often may
  require radical life changes (like moving
  home/changing name, job).
• PTSD reported up to 2 years after being stalked
  psychological help aims to
• a) understand the stress trauma
• b) therapy to help regain control of their lives
• c) overcome past memories of the trauma
• d) overcome the anxieties and depression.

36
Offenders
37
Offenders Crime Braithwaites Generalisations

• More crime committed by 15-45 year olds mostly
  by males
• More crime committed by unmarried people
• More crime committed by people living in large
  cities
• people who believe strongly in the in importance
  of obeying the law are less likely to violate the
  law
• Low socio-economic status increases rates of all
  types of crime apart from white collar crime
• more crime by people who have high residential
  mobility and who live in high mobility districts

38
(No Transcript)
39
Offenders and Crime continued...

• young people who are attached to their school are
  less likely to engage in crime
• young people who have high educational or
  occupational aspirations are less likely to
  engage in crime
• young people who do poorly at school are more
  likely to engage in crime
• young people who are strongly attached to their
  parents are less likely to engage in crime
• young people who have friendships with criminals
  are more likely to engage in crime

40
What do we know about crime criminals?

• the idea or definition of crime is relative and
  not always a function of natural consensus
• crimes of the powerful, the state or corporations
  are under -represented neglected
• a surprisingly few criminals are responsible
  for most crime
• most known criminals are male. young,
  minority, single, lower class and unskilled or
  unemployed

41
What do we know about crime criminals?

• most crime involves offences against property
  while violence is rare although in Less Developed
  Countries this relationship may be reversed
• in developed societies personal or violent crime
  has decreased with modernity but other crime
  especially property have increased
• the role of family, school, peers and community
  are crucial factors in crime causation

42
Crime as entertainment Durkheims social
functions of crime punishment
43
What do we know about crime criminals?

• crime - especially serious violent crime is
  extremely rare - even in violent societies
• the role of the state and of the CJS is less
  effective and more limited than supposed
• punishment - especially imprisonment appears to
  have little effect on the risks of crime ie
  general deterrence is more complex than expected
• the role of the media and culture is more
  powerful than supposed