Since the early 18th century, rational choice models have been applied extensively to criminological research, theory, and policy in an effort to understand crime and criminality. Over the past few decades, the rational choice perspective has attempted to integrate theoretical concepts, operational measures, and research findings from contemporary studies within the psychology, sociology and criminology disciplines, which have attempted to re-operationalize what was already conceptualized in the expected utility model (i.e., individuals choose to engage in criminal activity if the expected utility of crime exceeds that of all other behavioral options) by incorporating additional factors (e.g., a broader range of potential rewards, moral inhibition, emotional elements) into the measurement process. However, despite an effort to expand the expected utility function in the rational choice perspective, rational choice studies have most often been applied to street offenders. Using a sample of six books containing the lives and experiences of professional criminals, this study utilizes a qualitative meta-synthesis (in which grounded theory methods and thick description are employed for the identification and integration of key concepts from within the sample) to examine the effectiveness of the rational choice perspective in the explanation of professional crime, and assess the efficacy of these operational enhancements while providing conceptual clarity within the rational choice perspective.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-05-17T18:11:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 joycekelinascimentosilva.pdf: 2103990 bytes, checksum: 6efba82e23debb8f624ac6a15b27e5ab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-05-18T11:37:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 joycekelinascimentosilva.pdf: 2103990 bytes, checksum: 6efba82e23debb8f624ac6a15b27e5ab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-18T11:37:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 joycekelinascimentosilva.pdf: 2103990 bytes, checksum: 6efba82e23debb8f624ac6a15b27e5ab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-23 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Os estudos sobre o universo legal e judiciário, focando a descrição e compreensão de sua estrutura e entraves cresceram nos últimos anos no Brasil. E embora a criminalidade, geralmente, seja interpretada como um fenômeno masculino, observamos um crescente interesse acadêmico pela agência feminina criminosa, impulsionado pelo incremento no número de mulheres no Sistema Prisional na última década, especialmente pelo envolvimento com o tráfico de drogas. O objetivo deste trabalho é promover a discussão teórica sobre a possível influência de representações sociais de gênero, incorporadas aos sistemas de orientações e valores dos magistrados, no processo de tomada da decisão condenatória, bem como na natureza e quantidade das penas aplicadas. A definição do objeto da pesquisa decorre da constatação da escassez de estudos sobre a atuação dos magistrados brasileiros no processo decisório, bem como do incremento da participação da mulher nas estatísticas criminais. A análise dos elementos que surgem como determinantes na tomada de decisão pelos juízes envolveu elementos definidos na legislação brasileira antidrogas e na legislação processual penal. A pesquisa empírica empreende uma análise da sentencing nos processos de mulheres envolvidas com o tráfico, focalizada nos processos sentenciados e a problematização das variáveis explicativas das decisões pela autoridade judiciária, na sentença. Os estudos de “sentencing” concentram-se na análise do processo decisional e das disparidades nas penas, promovendo a desmistificação da ideia de imparcialidade na tomada de decisões judiciais ao analisar a atuação dos magistrados, bem como as variáveis sócio-históricas, filosóficas e jurídicas incorporadas no processo de racionalização da decisão, influenciando sua práxis e dinamizando uma cultura jurídica capaz de aplicar penas distintas para acusados pela prática de crimes semelhantes. Essa perspectiva teórica se apresenta como significativo instrumento de análise em estudos de sentenças, capaz de fornecer elementos conceituais aplicáveis à compreensão das condicionantes diretivas que envolvem a atividade judicante. Foram selecionados 39 (trinta e nove) sentenças, proferidas no período entre 2007 e 2012, nas 04 (quatro) Varas Criminais da Comarca de Juiz de Fora. Nestas sentenças, figuraram como acusadas pelo crime de tráfico 49 (quarenta e nove) mulheres, dentre as quais 03 (três) mulheres apareceram em 02 (duas) sentenças diferentes no período de tempo pesquisado, motivo pelo qual foram considerados 52 (cinquenta e dois) casos em conformidade com o objeto deste trabalho. Na análise sobre os critérios legais e extralegais que informam os magistrados durante o processo de tomada da decisão, num modelo da tradição jurídica na civil law, percebemos a filiação a um sistema de orientação marcado pelo formalismo jurídico, pronto a justificar-se dentro de um legalismo, em detrimento de uma postura universalista de promoção da justiça material. Bem como a reprodução de uma cultura penal tácita de conformidade quanto ao rigor no julgamento e condenação pelos crimes previstos na Nova Lei de Drogas. / Studies about the legal and judicial universe, focusing on the description and understanding of its structure and barriers have grown in recent years in Brazil. And although crime usually be interpreted as a male phenomenon, we observe a growing academic interest in female criminal agency, driven by the increase in the number of women in the prison system in the last decade, especially for involvement with drug trafficking. The objective of this work is to promote theoretical discussion on the possible influence of social representations of gender incorporated into the systems of guidelines and values of the magistrates in making the sentencing decision, as well as the nature and amount of penalties. The definition of the object of the research stems from the scarcity of studies on the role of Brazilians judges in decision process as well as the increase of women's participation in the crime statistics. The analysis of the elements that emerge as determinants in the decision by the judges involved elements defined in Brazilian law on narcotics and criminal procedure law. Empirical research undertakes an analysis of “sentencing” in cases of women involved in drug trafficking, focused on sentenced processes and questioning the explanatory variables of the decisions of the judicial authority in sentencing. Studies of “sentencing” focus on the analysis of decision making and disparities in criminal penalties, promoting the demystification of the idea of impartiality in making judgments to analyze the performance of judges, as well the sociohistorical, philosophical and legal variables incorporated in the process of rationalization of the decision, influencing your praxis and fostering a juridical culture able to apply different legal penalties for defendants that practice similar crimes. This theoretical perspective is presented as meaningful analytical tool in studies of sentencing, capable of providing conceptual elements applicable to the understanding of constraints directresses that involve adjudicative activity. We selected 39 (thirty-nine) sentences, handed down between 2007 and 2012, in 04 (four) Criminal Courts the Judicial District of Juiz de Fora. In these sentences, figured as accused for the crime of trafficking 49 (forty-nine) women, among which 03 (three) women appeared in 02 (two) different sentences in the time period studied, why were considered 52 (fifty-two) cases in accordance with the object of this work. In the analysis of the legal and extralegal criteria that inform the magistrates during the decision making process, a model of tradition in the civil law, we realize the membership of a guidance system marked by legal formalism, ready to be justified within a legalism, rather than a universalist stance of promoting material justice. As well the reproduction of a tacit criminal culture of conformity as to the rigor in the trial and sentencing for crimes under Brazilian Drug Law.

This master's thesis examines a criminal response to the sharp increase in the real gold price between the years 1998 and 2012. By using a regression analysis, I show that an increase in the real gold price does not have a significant impact on the number of golden crimes but the gold price significantly influences the stolen amount of gold with the elasticity of 2.2. In addition, an increase of lagged real wage and non-lagged real wage, and the number of prisoners significantly decreases golden crime whereas increased unemployment has a negative impact. Moreover, I find that in all types of a regression analysis (daily, monthly and quarterly) higher temperature and also lower cloudiness (as proxies for the good weather) significantly increase the golden crime rate. The daily model also revealed that during weekends and holidays there is significantly and markedly lower crime.

In linea di principio, la sentenza può essere definita come il provvedimento giurisdizionale con cui il giudice definisce la controversia, confermando o negando – nel contesto specifico del processo penale – l’ipotesi di colpevolezza dell’imputato. Sennonché, l’impostazione tradizionale – fedele ai consueti metodi dell’indagine giuridica – considera la sentenza esclusivamente in qualità di atto processuale, esaminando la relativa disciplina per individuare i requisiti di validità ed efficacia dell’atto stesso. La presente ricerca, invece, si propone di approfondire lo studio della sentenza penale quale “giudizio”, vale a dire come epilogo del percorso conoscitivo compiuto dall'organo giurisdizionale per giungere alla ricostruzione dei fatti controversi, nonché, alla loro adeguata qualificazione giuridica. In questa prospettiva, le disposizioni che regolano la formazione e i contenuti della sentenza penale vengono prevalentemente in rilievo, in quanto stabiliscono i confini e i percorsi normativi delle operazioni gnoseologiche compiute dal giudice nella fase conclusiva del processo. Esaurite le premesse di carattere metodologico (capitolo I), l’indagine prende le mosse (capitolo II) dalla ricostruzione storica e dogmatica della “sentenza penale”, poiché l’estensione della categoria in esame dipende sia dalla complessiva struttura del processo, sia dalle scelte contingenti operate dal legislatore. In seguito, si approfondisce (capitolo III) la posizione specifica della sentenza nel contesto del procedimento penale, muovendo dalle dottrine generali del processo e giungendo al ruolo che la decisione giurisdizionale assume nell’ambito del cosiddetto “giusto processo”. Nel capitolo IV, si opera un confronto fra le operazioni conoscitive che costituiscono il proprium dell’attività giurisdizionale, rispetto alle metodologie adottate – rispettivamente – nell’indagine di carattere storico e nell’ambito delle scienze sperimentali. Successivamente (capitolo V), si trattano i principali profili di ricostruzione fattuale che caratterizzano la sentenza penale: in particolare, l’attenzione si sofferma sulla configurazione delle regole decisorie tipiche del processo penale e sul dovere di motivazione che incombe sull’organo giurisdizionale. Infine (capitolo VI), viene analizzata la configurazione strutturale del cosiddetto “post dibattimento”, per dimostrare che la decisione giurisdizionale può essere solo convenzionalmente considerata come una realtà processuale unitaria (la sentenza penale), laddove l’analisi normativa lascia intravvedere una serie di comportamenti, che integrano una complessa fattispecie a formazione progressiva. / Sentence can be defined, as a matter of principle, like the decision through which the Court puts an end to the dispute, validating or denying – particularly in criminal cases – the original accusation formulated by the public prosecutor. Given this assumption, legal scholars usually consider the judicial decision merely as a procedural document, interpreting the relevant provisions in order to establish conditions for its validity and enforceability. Instead, the aim of this research is to deepen the study of the criminal judgment, understood as the conclusion of the knowledge path accomplished by the tribunal for the porpuse of reconstructing controversial events and find an adequate legal classification therof. In this perspective, legal provisions concerning the criminal decision (art. 525 ss. of the Italian code of criminal procedure) are mainly examined in so far as they determine routes and limitations for the gnoseological process, which takes place during the closing moments of the trial.

La thèse a été évaluée par les personnes suivantes: Carlo Morselli, directeur de recherche et professeur à l'École de criminologie; Anthony Amicelle, président du jury et professeur à l'École de criminologie; Jean Bérard, membre du jury et professeur à l'École de criminologie; Carla Nagels, évaluatrice externe et professeur à l'Université libre de Bruxelles L'auteur aimerait remercier le Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC), le Centre international de criminologie comparée (CICC) et l'École de criminologie pour le support financier octroyé à différentes étapes de la rédaction de la thèse. / La recherche trouve ses origines d’un scandale touchant l’industrie de la construction et les milieux politiques au Québec de la fin des années 2000 (à travers les allégations de corruption et de collusion soulevées par les médias) à la fin novembre 2015 (avec le dépôt du rapport final de la Commission d’enquête sur l’octroi et la gestion des contrats publics dans l’industrie de la construction, ci-après CEIC). L’argument principal est que les années de scandale ont permis au Québec de transiter d’une province considérée comme la terre mythique de la corruption au Canada à une entité développant une des structures anticorruptions les plus novatrices et sophistiquées dans le monde. La thèse est construite comme une étude de cas qui s’intègre aux trois grandes sphères de l’étude du phénomène criminel telles que définies par Sutherland et Cressey, à savoir le passage à l’acte, la réaction sociale et le contrôle social (1947, p.1). Dans l’étude du passage à l’acte, le concept de crime étatico-corporatif est mis à profit afin d’exposer l’aspect symbiotique des systèmes criminels alimentés à travers une interaction fondamentale entre poursuite d’intérêts publics et poursuite d’intérêts privés. De tels systèmes furent en effet identifiés dans plusieurs municipalités du Québec. Pour cette partie de la thèse, les données relatives à l’ensemble des contrats de construction octroyés par appel d’offres public par la ville de Laval dans son histoire (1965-2013) sont analysées à travers diverses mesures de réseaux sociaux. Cette portion de la thèse utilise également les témoignages issus des travaux de la CEIC, et des entretiens semi-directifs réalisés avec des acteurs provenant de diverses autorités de lutte à la collusion (truquage des appels d’offres) et à la corruption au Québec. La combinaison de ces méthodes permet d’évaluer la nature intégrée, historique et spatiale des délinquances recensées au sein de diverses municipalités, avec des indicateurs de collusion qui remontent aussi loin qu’à la création de la municipalité lavalloise dans les années 1960. Dans l’étude de la réaction sociale, un modèle d’analyse intégratif emprunté au domaine de la sociologie de l’action publique (Lascoumes et LeGalès, 2012) est utilisé pour mettre en relief les forces structurelles, organisationnelles et individuelles derrière la constitution du scandale québécois. Cette deuxième grande section de la thèse illustre comment ce scandale s’insère dans des tendances nationales et internationales d’intolérance accrue du public et d’intensification des contrôles à l’égard des actes criminels (corruption, collusion, pots-de-vin, fraude) révélés au coeur du scandale. Enfin, dans l’étude du contrôle social, l’analyse des témoignages issus des audiences de la CEIC est jumelée aux données découlant d’entretiens semi-directifs réalisés avec 22 acteurs provenant d’agences de contrôle créées à la suite du scandale : l’Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC), le Bureau de l’inspecteur général (BIG) de la ville de Montréal, et le Bureau d’intégrité et d’éthique de Laval (BIEL). Cette dernière section illustre comment la transition d’une scène réglementaire permissive et hautement déficiente à un environnement réglementaire axée sur une mobilisation sans précédent de ressources policières, sur le partage d’information et sur la poursuite des conduites illégales au pénal s’avère très avantageuse, mais s’est accomplie – et s’accomplit toujours – à travers de nombreux défis pour les contrôleurs. / The research originated from a political scandal which spanned several years (2009-2015) in the province of Quebec. The thesis’ main argument is that the scandal years saw Quebec transformed from being considered the “historical golden land” of Canadian corruption into a province which developed one of the country’s most sophisticated systems of corruption and white-collar crime control. The thesis was constructed as a case-study, and addressed the three principal objects of criminological analysis: the breaking of laws, the making of laws, and the reaction to the breaking of laws (Sutherland and Cressey, 1947, p.1). The study applied multiple methods to achieve these goals. In the study of criminal decision-making (breaking of laws), Kramer and Michalowski’s (2006) state-corporate crime concept was applied to demonstrate the presence of multifactorial features of criminal systems fuelled by misbehaving at the intersection of private and public interests. Such conspiracies were found to be generalized across several municipalities throughout the province. For this portion of the thesis, data on all construction contracts awarded through public procurement in the entire history of what appeared to be one of Canada’s most corrupt municipalities, Laval (the 13th largest in the country), was systematically collected from 1965 to 2013. It was then analyzed using various social network measures. Testimonies from Quebec’s Commission of inquiry on the awarding and management of public contracts in the construction industry (hereafter, CEIC) were also coupled with a dozen of interviews conducted with regulators and corruption authorities in Quebec. The combination of methods helped assess the integrated, spatial and historical nature of illicit activities which undergirded many municipalities, Laval being one of the most notorious one. Traces of bid-rigging indicators in public procurement were indeed traced back to as early as the city’s founding in the 1960s. In the study of the making of laws, Lascoumes and Le Galès’ (2002) sociology of public action framework was expanded to investigate the structural, organizational, and individual forces behind the Quebec scandal. This section of the thesis unravels the sudden urge to legislate and investigate schemes that were deeply rooted in the province’s history. By making sense of the Quebec scandal, this sub-section demonstrates how larger structural and contextual factors gradually established increased incentives for elected officials to enhance legal and institutional controls on white-collar and corporate crimes which were found to be systemic across Quebec’s construction and political scenes. Finally, in the study of the reaction to the breaking of laws, testimonies from the CEIC were combined with interviews conducted with 22 actors in control agencies established as a direct result of the scandal: the Permanent Anticorruption Unit (UPAC in French), the Inspector General Bureau (BIG in French) of the city of Montreal, and the Bureau of integrity and ethics of Laval (BIEL in French). This last section shows how transitioning from a state of practical passivity to one of intense controls, monitoring, institutional rearrangements, and legislative efforts was accompanied, for regulatory and police authorities, by several benefits but substantial challenges as well.