Thesis (Ph. D. (Administration)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to assess the poverty and crime levels among the offenders’ families and to compare the perceptions of the offenders and correctional officials regarding incarceration and rehabilitation in the correctional centres with the view of developing an adjusted framework for the Department of Justice and Correctional Services. The study utilised a mixed method approach and was descriptive. The study used survey method to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires and qualitative data used self-administered semi-structured questionnaires and open-ended questions. Three groups of respondents participated in this study. The population for the quantitative design were offenders (n=59) and correctional officials (n=17), respectively from Polokwane Medium B Prison. Participants for the qualitative design were the same correctional officials (n=17) and offenders’ families (n=10). Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 22 package while qualitative data was coded and analysed manually. The majority of offenders (66%) indicated that their families were struggling while they were incarcerated and corroborated by 59% of the correctional officials, whereas 80% of the offenders’ families were evidenced during the interview that they were struggling. The findings revealed that incarceration and rehabilitation lead to recidivism and the ensnarement of offenders’ families to poverty and crime. The study revealed that overcrowding, limited staff and lack of staff with expertise were the contributing factors to the ineffectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in the correctional centre. The study recommends the coordinated efforts of the stakeholders (government departments and NGOs) for improving the implementation of the remunerated work for the offenders. The researcher is optimistic that if the proposed adjusted incarceration and rehabilitation framework is implemented, the poverty among the offenders’ families might be alleviated. KEY CONCEPTS: incarceration; rehabilitation; recidivism; offenders’ families; prisoners; correctional officials; mixed research methodology.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Criminology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The research concerned with the aim of this study, was to assess the appli-cation of intelligence-driven investigation in combating organised motor vehicle theft. The strategic intelligence plan, information sharing and understanding of or-ganised vehicle theft, are some of approaches which will assist in dealing with the challenge of the illegal sale of vehicles and vehicle parts. There is indeed a need to address police corruption, if the battle against vehicle theft is to be realised. The objectives of this study were the following: to explain the strategic intelli-gence plan for investigating motor vehicle theft; to evaluate whether investiga-tions of organised motor vehicle theft in Thohoyandou cluster are intelligence-driven; to assess if the cluster uses intelligence offender profiling in investi-gations; to explore how intelligence-driven investigation assists in information sharing; and, to make recommendations for the improvement of intelligence-driven vehicle theft investigation. The researcher wanted to apply new research knowledge, in order to develop good practice in the field. This has been done by recommending new proced-ures to enhance performance and to improve the ways and means of combating organised vehicle theft. KEY TERMS Intelligence-driven investigation; strategic intelligence; intelligence cycle; crime investigations; modus operandi; offender profiling; organised crime; systems theory; motor vehicle theft; information sharing.

The primary focus of this study is to investigate the effects of social control mechanisms on public order crimes in Turkey. Supporting efforts of parochial control is a rising trend in crime control activities. Statements regarding the relationship between social disorganization variables, parochial control variables, and spatial distribution of crime have long been studied by researchers. Using the same assumptions in this study, I test their applicability to public order crimes in Turkey. The poverty and residential mobility variables had significant positive effect on public order crimes holding other structural and parochial variables constant. The number of public order crimes seems to be higher in provinces where there are more disrupted families. The number of public order crimes seems to be lower in provinces where there are more religious institutions. Overall, the results reveal that social structural variables and parochial control factors affect the institutional bases of provinces and partly affect the occurrence of public order crimes. Based on the study findings, several policy implications and recommendations for future research are suggested.

Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

See the attached abstract below

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa‟s definition of a firearm is quite broad, yet it excludes various devices that have the same lethal effects as a firearm. This is informed by the various principles that have been developed by the courts in interpreting the said definition. It is argued that a good definition informs the extent to which other aspects like licensing and usage may be instructive. The central research question as regards the context of the definition of a firearm, leads to an examination of three interrelated questions. These include the definition of a firearm in South Africa, the relevance of experiences from other jurisdictions and the need for a new definition of a firearm.

Current aspects of the fraud crime under section 209 criminal code of the Czech republic Abstract The author deals with theoretical and practical issues related to the fraud crime, which is one of the enriching property crimes. After the theft and damage to a thing of another, fraud has been the third most frequently committed property crime in the Czech Republic. Except of its topicality, the reason for choosing the topic of the Master's thesis is mainly the considerable variability of this crime. Law enforcement authorities encounter different modes of committing (modus operandi) this crime in practice. The presented work describes the historic developmental tendencies of codification of fraud and then looks into the individual changes (amendments) of criminal code in the Czech Republic related to fraud crime. Furthermore, there is a detailed analysis of fraud crime under section 209 of the Criminal Code and the interpretation of selected legal features. For this purpose it was mainly drawn from current precedens (case law) that significant influences the practice of law enforcement authorities. The author of the thesis subsequently presents a concept of obvious carelessness that could easily avoid by the injured person. The concept is applicable in legal qualification of the act. In adition the mentioned...

The role of modus operandi in criminalistics Abstract The reflection of a person's personality can be observed in every single one of his actions and criminal activity is no exception. The modus operandi of a crime is currently a very neglected topic within the professional public. The aim of this diploma thesis is to describe in detail the concept of modus operandi of a crime and to outline its criminal significance. The secondary goal of the thesis is then to show in practical cases whether the assumption of perseverance of the offender is true. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with the history of the perception of this issue by criminologists across the centuries, the very definition of the term modus operandi of a crime, its systematic classification, its definition and its possible understanding in other fields and countries. It also describes the components of the modus operandi of a crime and their possible division, discusses the determinants of modus operandi of a crime, both subjective and objective, and the mechanisms that contribute to the formation of modus operandi a crime. The last chapter, the fourth chapter, of the theoretical part deals with the possible importance of modus operandi of a crime for criminalistics, namely the...

Fear of crime is an important topic in research as well as in public opinion. However, data on fear of crime is limited and difficult to collect, being heavily reliant on surveys with different methods of operationalization yielding different results. This paper aims to investigate if an alternative method can be used to estimate fear of crime. Using a large representative unique data on fear of crime from Google Trends, I analyze if fear of crime can be estimated in Sweden during years 2011-2019, using The Swedish Crime Survey as benchmark. The results show that the method is accurate for country-level and the most populated regions of Sweden, but less so for the lesser populated regions. This method can be used to estimate fear of crime in a time- and money-efficient way, producing daily estimates at little to no cost.