Disparities in the administration of capital punishment are a prominent social and political issue. While the focus of death penalty disparity research initially lay with the defendant and how the defendant’s race or ethnicity affects sentencing outcomes, only marginal support for offender effects has been found. A consistent finding, however, is that victim race has a significant effect on capital sentencing outcomes. Recent examinations of the joint effects of victim characteristics indicate that victim gender also has some influence in capital sentencing decisions. While these prior studies have examined the interactive effects of victim gender and victim race the current study proposes that victim-related variables other than race may be important components in understanding the female victim effect. This analysis is focused on understanding the joint effects of victim gender in terms of identifying an “innocent female victim” effect. Based on prior studies and theoretical perspectives, three hypotheses are proposed and tested here using a sub-population of capital cases in North Carolina between the years 1990 and 2007: 1. Cases with a female victim and male defendant will be more likely to result in the death penalty than other defendant-victim gender dyads, 2. Cases with a female victim and stranger defendant will be more likely to result in the death penalty than other dyads, and 3. Cases with a female victim who was not involved in illegal activity at the time of her victimization will be more likely to result in the death penalty than other dyads. The results indicate that victim conduct (illegal activity) and victim gender both play a role in jury sentencing recommendations, but regardless of victim conduct, cases with a female victim are the most likely to result in the death penalty. Therefore, this study finds marginal support for an “innocent female victim” effect in jury decisions to recommend the death penalty, but consistent support for a “female victim” effect. Conclusions and implications of the findings are discussed.

Both elite deviance, committed by the upper echelons of society, and organized crime threaten development and the rights and security of people across and within nations; however empirical research on these topics is limited, especially in the field of criminology. This study addresses this gap in the literature by testing hypotheses derived from Simon’s symbiotic theory of elite deviance, which posits that direct and indirect relationships exist between elite deviance, organized crime, and conventional crimes exist (2008). The intervening effects of national culture and political economic ideology are also considered. To test the research hypotheses, this study uses homicide rates, corruption and organized crime measures, and indicators of national culture from 114 nations. Findings suggest that empirical linkages exist between elite deviance, organized crime and conventional deviance at the cross-national level. These data suggest the level of corruption and organized crime within a nation are better predictors of homicide than conventional explanations of violent crime (e.g., modernization/development, opportunity/routine activities). Furthermore, organized crime partially mediated the relationship between corruption and homicide rates in the same (positive) direction. This implies that the criminogenic effect of elite deviance on non-elite deviance operates indirectly through organized crime. The corruption-homicide relationship was also partially mediated by a national culture of moral cynicism and capitalist economic conditions. Although not definitive given methodological concerns and alternate theoretical explanations, this study provides avenues for future research into the underlying social processes that influence the crime rate within nations.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis examines the role of emotion in the criminal law. It identifies the current understanding of emotion in the law, and challenges this understanding as it is revealed in the rules of criminal liability. It offers a new approach to understanding emotion which has important implications for the grounds of legal knowledge, the structure of the rules of criminal liability, and the process of judgment. Chapter One reviews theoretical approaches to understanding emotion in philosophy, psychology and law. The chapter introduces a number of theoretical approaches to analyzing emotion, focusing particularly on the development in the understanding of the relationship between emotion and reason. Chapter Two examines models of moral and legal responsibility to identify their implicit understanding of emotion. Chapter Three focuses on the role of emotion in the rules of criminal liability, and, in particular, in the criminal defences of provocation, duress and self-defence. The law understands emotion to be an entity explainable in terms of the 'mechanisms' of'cognition' and 'affect' which underpin it. The chapter argues that the law adopts a different and conflicting understanding of these mechanisms in the rules of criminal liability, and that these differences have important normative implications. Chapter Four challenges the grounds of knowledge upon which assessments of criminal liability are based. Emotion becomes a metaphor for the need to reconceive the rules of criminal liability and the process of judgment. The chapter adopts a social constructionist approach to understanding emotion. Using this approach, it reassesses the role of emotion in the criminal defences of provocation, self-defence and duress, and explains the process of judgment as an emotional phenomenon. The thesis concludes that a constructionist approach to understanding emotion is well suited to the assessment of conduct in its spatial, historical and cultural context; and for this reason ought to be emphasized in the legal assessment of liability and punishment.

Interpersonal violence is a matter of growing concern. Where the safety of the common man is concerned, the dangerousness of mental patients, the ongoing de-institutionalization within psychiatry, and the role of alcohol is disputed. In order to analyze the significance of abuse and mental disorder in violent behaviour, this subject was approached from two different perspectives; from a specific violent offence - homicide - examining the mental status of the offenders, and from individuals with a specific mental disorder - schizophrenia -and assessing the rate of criminal offence amongst them. Homicides in northern Sweden and in Stockholm, legally characterized as murder, manslaughter or assault and causing another’s death, and homicides followed by the offenders’ suicide, were studied. Medicolegal autopsy records, police reports, pretrial psychiatric reports and court records were collected and scrutinized. The criminal records of 644 persons, discharged from hospitals in Stockholm with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, were studied. The relative risk of criminal offence was analyzed by indirect standardization using the general population as a standard. Violent offenders were further examined from psychiatric records. In the homicide material, 16 females and 160 males killed 94 men, 78 women, and 15 children. Forty percent of all surviving offenders were abusers without a major mental disorder, 39% were mentally disordered, 11% committed suicide, and 10% were considered "normal". The abusers and their victims were older, often socially and mentally deteriorated, and well known to each other. The victim was the prime aggressor in half of the cases. Killings by mentally disordered persons and by those who committed suicide were characterized by intimacy between offender and victim; one third were also abusers. Multiple homicides and child murder were mainly seen among homicide-suicice cases. The "normal" offenders were more often of foreign origin and two thirds of the victims initiated the violence by physical attacks. Relatively more of the homicides in northern Sweden concerned intimate parties, use of firearms, and cases of homicide-suicide, as compared to homicides in Stockholm where drug abuse was more prevalent. Sixteen offenders (9%) in the homicide sample had schizophrenia (all males), while 38 subjects (6%) in the cohort of schizophrenics had committed a violent offence. No homicide was recorded and most of the offences were of minor severity. The rate of violent offence was four times higher in the study group as compared to the general population. Most homicides involved closely related persons with separation and dependence as the dominating psychological theme, especially in homicide- suicide cases. Intoxication was regularly seen among the abusers but not among the non-abusers. The acute effect of alcohol intoxication may be of lesser importance in violence as compared to the long-term effects of abuse. Schizophrenics do not impress as a particularly dangerous group. Prevention by psychiatry is difficult; most offenders did not have any contact with psychiatry prior to the act. / <p>S. 1-70: sammanfattning, s. 71-176: 5 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu

Thesis (M A(Social Work and Criminology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1999. / "A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy" Bibliography : leaves 325-343. Electronic version is also available at.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Denise Donnelly, committee chair; Ralph LaRossa, Elizabeth Beck, committee members. Electronic text (110 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 12, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-108).

The purpose of the present essay is to illuminate to which extent figurations of victims in cases of intimate partner homicide is conditional upon the sexes of these individuals. Furthermore, the aim of this study is to determine whether or not these gendered discrepancies reproduce or transform the existing gender-related social systems? The theoretical as well as methodological basis consists of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA), which is combined with Judith Butler’s concept of performative acts. To answer the abovementioned questions I have requested/collected an empirical material consisting of 20 district court judgments (ten for male victims and ten for female victims).The results of this essay indicate, according to my interpretation, that the established figurations of the victims in these cases are determined by the victim’s sex in several but not all discourses. Furthermore, I establish that the demonstrated gender determined discourses contribute to re- produce prevailing standards regarding sex/gender in which male victims are associated with a guilt-burdened role while female victims are considered innocent.

Submitted by Clebson Anjos (clebson.leandro54@gmail.com) on 2016-10-03T20:47:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 3 - Câmara-Mônica - UMA_GRAMATICA_VISUAL_PARA_O_FOTOJORNALISMO.pdf: 6605057 bytes, checksum: bc73dc13f0fc54dfe8406027dbe413f5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-03T20:47:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3 - Câmara-Mônica - UMA_GRAMATICA_VISUAL_PARA_O_FOTOJORNALISMO.pdf: 6605057 bytes, checksum: bc73dc13f0fc54dfe8406027dbe413f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-12-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / There are many discussions about criminal practices and their punishments. In special crimes against life have aroused a series of debates on prison matters, human rights and social rehabilitation. Data from IBGE (2004) - a Brazilian statistics institute - show an Increase of 130% in the last 20 years in homicide crimes, it means in numbers around 600 thousand people that are victims of this type of violence. Theoretically the punishments that restrict liberty are intended to rehabilitate the criminals, which many times do not occur, once the prison chaos and stigma against the convicts affect their social rehabilitation (Lima, 1993). This study is based on the Theory of Social Representations, Where it is possible to realize the confrontation of what is real and legal. Thus, the objective of this study is to know the social representations of homicide convicts that are kept in prison, in the maximum security prison Silvio Porto (group 1), and homicide convicts that are placed on probation, linked to the court of penal executions In João Pessoa - Pb (group 2), in relation to social rehabilitation, as well as to compare the representations of the two groups. Male homicide convicts that work in prison participated in this study and they were selected through a documental research in the prison files. In relation to homicide convicts in probation, they were selected through the help of the employees of the court of penal executions and they participated of their own free will. Through semi-structured interviews, the convicts were asked to talk about their representations related to social rehabilitation. The results were determined through the analysis of the content. The sample is constituted of 39 homicide convicts, where 17 convicts belong to group one and 22 to group 2. The analysis was made according to the content analysis method proposed by Bardin (1977) and the acquired results through the interviews show the appearance of three empirical categories: social rehabilitation conception, existences of social rehabilitation and social exclusion/inclusion. The conceptions of social rehabilitation were represented involving the conception of social behavior and (re)construction of life project In relation to the experiences of social rehabilitation, there were the ones related to punishment/learning; similarities/differences in prison; positive and negative practices to group 1, negative practices to group 2 and work as a resocializing factor. The category exclusion/social insertion was seen through the family and its importance to the process of social rehabilitation; through social values related to social life; to religious beliefs and to discrimination/opportunity which was verified only In group 2. Before these results, it is believed that the objectives of this investigation were reached and that It is possible to develop an intervention plan directed to institutions that propose social rehabilitation. / Muitas são as discussões sobre as praticas crirninosas e suas punições. Em especial, os crimes contra a vida têm suscitado uma série de debates sobre questões penitenciárias, direitos humanos e reabilitação social. Dados do IBOE (2004) revelam um crescirnento nos crimes de homicídio na ordem de 130% nos últimos 20 anos, o que em números significa cerca de 600 mil pessoas vítimas deste tipo de violência. Teoricarnente, as penas privativas de liberdade visam à reabilitação social dos condenados, o que muitas vezes não ocorre, já que o caos prisional e o estigma contra o preso afetam a reabilitação social (Lima, 1993). Este estudo encontra-se ancorado na Teoria das Representações Sociais, onde é possível perceber o confronto do legal e do real como ele é visto. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo é conhecer as representações sociais de apenados homicidas inseridos no regime fechado, sob custódia do presídio de segurança máxima Silvio Porto (grupo 1), e de apenados homicidas inseridos no regime de liberdade condicional, vinculados a vara de execuções penais de João Pessoa-PB (grupo 2) em relação a reabilitação social, bem como comparar as representações dos dois grupos. Para tanto, estão participando homicidas apenados do sexo masculino que trabalham no presídio. Estes foram selecionados através de uma pesquisa documental no arquivo do presídio, cuja realização pesquisa deu origem a um mapeamento sócio-demográfico da amostra. Em relação aos apenados homicidas inseridos no regime de liberdade condicional, estes foram selecionados através do auxílio dos funcionários da vara das execuções penais e do critério de aceitar participar da pesquisa. Através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, os apenados foram instigados a relatar suas representações relacionadas a reabilitação social. Os resultados foram determinados pela análise de conteúdo. A amostra é constituída por 39 apenados homicidas, sendo 17 apenados do grupo um e 22 apenados do grupo dois. A análise foi realizada segundo o método de análise de conteúdo proposto por Bardin (1977) e os resultados apreendidos pelas entrevistas revelaram o surgimento de três categorias empíricas: concepções da reabilitação social, vivências da reabilitação social e exclusão / inserção social. As concepções da reabilitação social foram representadas englobando a concepção de comportamento social e de (re) construção do projeto de vida. No que tange as vivências da reabilitação social, emergiram as vivências relacionadas à punição / aprendizado, as identidades / diferenças existentes no presídio, as práticas positivas e negativas para o grupo I, práticas negativas para o grupo 2 e o trabalho enquanto fator ressocializante. A categoria exclusão / inserção social foi significada através da família e a sua importância no processo de reabilitação social, dos valores sociais relativos ao convívio social, as crenças religiosas como mediadoras no processo e a discriminação / oportunidade que emergiu apenas no grupo dois. Diante destes resultados, acredita-se que os objetivos desta investigação foram atingidos e que esta pode contribuir para elaboração de um plano de intervenção direcionado para as instituições que propõem a reabilitação social.