International Journal of Law Crime and Justice最新文献

{"title":"When numbers meet justice: Examining the consistency between quantitative risk assessment tools (PCL-R, KSORAS) scores and court dispositions","authors":"Jaekyung Ahn ,&nbsp;Seungbeom Sim","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100831","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100831","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research investigated how quantitative risk assessment tools (PCL-R, KSORAS) influence judicial decision-making by examining the correlation between psychological evaluations of sexual offenders and their actual legal sentences. Using a dataset of 464 trial court decisions involving sexual offenders from 2020 to 2025, researchers employed clustering techniques with offender profiles and psychological metrics to create risk categories. The study then assessed alignment between these risk classifications and court disposition (electronic monitoring, probation, or no disposition) through statistical cross-analysis and residual examination, while utilizing ordinal logistic regression to determine which factors influence judicial decisions.</div><div>Sexual offenders were classified into three types: low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk groups, with quantitative recidivism risk assessment tools (PCL-R, KSORAS) scores and previous criminal records emerging as significant factors for the severity of disposition. However, discrepancies between quantitative assessments and court dispositions were observed in 30.9% of all cases (16.2% receiving enhanced dispositions despite being low-risk, and 14.7% receiving lenient dispositions despite being medium/high-risk). Notably, there were cases where electronic monitoring was imposed on low-risk groups or probation/no disposition was given to medium and high-risk groups. These findings suggest that while courts utilize quantitative recidivism risk tools as important reference materials, they comprehensively consider qualitative factors such as the defendant's attitude and case context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100831"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147396029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From ‘talismanic label’ to accountability: tracing the public–private divide in political elites' drug trafficking crimes","authors":"Yuliya Zabyelina","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100827","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100827","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article examines the exploitation of public office by political elites to facilitate and profit from illicit narcotics economies, operating at the intersection of sovereign authority and criminality. It analyses the doctrinal and normative challenges of distinguishing official conduct from private enrichment where state functions and instrumentalities are appropriated to orchestrate or shield drug trafficking under the guise of legitimate governmental action. Drawing on jurisprudence from the United States — particularly <em>United States v Alcalá Cordones</em> — and on the doctrines of functional and personal immunity, the article interrogates how courts have construed the boundary between acts attributable to the state and acts imputable to the individual. By conceptualizing such misconduct as a form of structural occupational deviance embedded within governance and obscured by institutional legitimacy, the article exposes the limitations of existing immunity doctrines and accountability mechanisms in addressing elite criminality cloaked in sovereign authority. Bridging insights from international law, criminology, and political sociology, it contributes to the legal literature on state responsibility, official immunity, and elite accountability by articulating a framework for scrutinizing and adjudicating misconduct that masquerades as lawful state action.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100827"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147396033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding the role of case management systems in criminal investigations","authors":"Mads Skipanes ,&nbsp;Johannes Pippidis Lorentzen ,&nbsp;Sule Yildirim Yayilgan","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100805","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100805","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Case management systems (CMSs) are essential to modern criminal investigations but remain underexplored compared to systems for predictive policing and digital forensics. This study examines how investigators use CMSs, which capabilities remain insufficient, and how these systems can better support their work. Through interviews with practitioners across European jurisdictions, we identify an investigative workflow of six concurrent dimensions and propose a two-tier model distinguishing preparation and exploration for knowledge discoveries. While CMSs effectively manage actions and decision-making, critical gaps persist for knowledge discovery, such as text analysis, hypothesis testing, and information retrieval. We derive functional requirements by workflow dimensions, offering guidance on which capabilities should be embedded in core systems and which are better delivered as modular services. These findings inform the design of CMSs that combine stable infrastructure with flexible tools.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100805"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145693478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Narrative accounts, feelings, and perceptions of yahoo-plus offenders in Enugu and Abakaliki correctional centers, Nigeria","authors":"Benjamin Okorie Ajah ,&nbsp;Dominic Chukwuemeka Onyejegbu ,&nbsp;Chima Theresa Isife ,&nbsp;Olisa Anthony Enweonwu ,&nbsp;Uzochukwu Chukwuka Chinweze ,&nbsp;Nkechinyere O. Anyadike ,&nbsp;Kingsley Obumunaeme Ilo ,&nbsp;Joy Chikaodili Omaliko ,&nbsp;Ngozi Asadu ,&nbsp;Chibuike Chris Ogbonna Ugwu ,&nbsp;Ogbonna Onyebuchi Okemini ,&nbsp;Leweanya Kingsley Chukwuemeka ,&nbsp;Jonas Ohabuenyi ,&nbsp;Christopher Okoro Uzoigwe ,&nbsp;David O. Iloma ,&nbsp;John Chijioke Madubuko ,&nbsp;Godwin Emeka Ngwu","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100823","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100823","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There have been speculative debates and assumptions on the causes, implications, and proper sanctions for Yahoo-Plus, primarily from academic, non-academic, and media writers. These discussions are valuable as they highlight the dangers of Yahoo-Plus and propose solutions. However, none have conducted a detailed study from the offenders' perspectives. Deviating from conventional approaches, this study examines the narrative accounts, feelings, and perceptions of Yahoo-Plus offenders in Enugu and Abakaliki Correctional Centers, Nigeria. Yahoo-Plus, defined as a hybrid cybercrime involving ritual violence (e.g., human sacrifice) to enhance online fraud success, represents a disturbing evolution in criminal behavior. Using in-depth interviews, the study explores the sociocultural and psychological drivers of Yahoo-Plus based on offenders’ interpretative meanings. A cross-sectional research design and snowball sampling technique were employed to select a sample of 42 from a population of 67 convicted and awaiting-trial inmates. Findings confirm that Yahoo-Plus is deeply entrenched in Nigeria and is increasing, driven by the utilitarian culture of modern society that prioritizes material acquisition and wealth. Based on these findings, the study calls for urgent policy measures to address social exclusion and poverty, create meaningful employment opportunities for youth, and reorient societal values through structured educational reforms. This approach aims to address the sociocultural disorientation fueling Yahoo-Plus while advocating for balanced, evidence-based policy interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100823"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Honour-based violence and intimate partner homicide in Portugal","authors":"Marlene Matos ,&nbsp;Jacinta Sousa ,&nbsp;Isabel Dias ,&nbsp;Margarida Santos","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100818","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100818","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Honour-based violence (HBV) refers to acts, usually targeting women, intended to safeguard or restore family or community “honour.” Although the Council of Europe established a comprehensive framework through the Istanbul Convention (2011) and subsequent GREVIO recommendations, member states diverge widely in how they acknowledge and address HBV. In Portugal, a multicultural Convention signatory, HBV is largely absent from political debate and scientific agendas. Intimate-partner homicide (IPH) already receives some scientific attention, yet it remains unclear whether, and to what extent, “honour” appears (explicitly or implicitly) in judicial reasoning on IPH. This qualitative study, therefore, examines how Portuguese courts frame IPH, assessing whether honour-related motives are acknowledged, overlooked, or subsumed under conventional domestic violence narratives. We conducted an in-depth content analysis of 68 appellate decisions on IPH (1993–2025), drawn from the national jurisprudence database, mapping: direct references to honour, justifications rooted in “dishonour”, and the legal classifications applied. Results reveal (i) rare explicit mention of honour as a motive; (ii) a judicial tendency to frame such cases as conventional domestic violence; and (iii) the absence of HBV-specific aggravating circumstances. By contrasting these results with practices in other Council of Europe states, the article identifies cultural factors and institutional gaps that limit HBV recognition in Portugal by comparing these findings with practices in different countries. We propose some changes (e.g., specialised training for magistrates, evidence-collection protocols) to render honour motives visible in legal proceedings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100818"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147396023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “You wouldn’t want to get rid of criminal justice processes’: tensions involved with criminalising family abuse based on identities of gender and sexuality in England and Wales” [IJLCJ Vol 83 (2025) 100798]","authors":"Catherine Donovan ,&nbsp;Geetanjali Gangoli ,&nbsp;Aisha K. Gill","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100815","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100815","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100815"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147396024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Finding employment in the stigma machine: Reflections from Canada’s penal voluntary sector","authors":"Samantha McAleese","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100828","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100828","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article highlights the day-to-day work of practitioners in Canada's penal voluntary sector, who are sometimes tasked with helping people with criminal records find employment. Interviews reveal the various obstacles they witness and navigate alongside those they are trying to support in the community. These narratives expose the functioning of various forms of stigma that keep people with criminal records in a state of struggle and unable to find (or keep) meaningful employment. Findings are situated alongside discussions of the need to change laws and policies to underscore the urgent need for greater collective action to dismantle the stigma machine and push back against the collateral consequences of punishment. From the standpoint of penal voluntary sector actors, layered with experiences of people with criminal records and other research on criminal convictions and employability, we can better understand how stigma power manifests and broker this knowledge to inform more collective and targeted advocacy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100828"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147396022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bureaucratized snitch markets: The commodification of criminal intelligence under China's ligong regime","authors":"Xiyu Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100829","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100829","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article examines how criminal intelligence becomes a tradable asset within a bureaucratized snitch market under China's ligong (立功, meritorious cooperation) regime. Drawing on 66 court rulings from corruption and malfeasance prosecutions against police and detention officers, we reconstruct how defendants seek sentence mitigation by acquiring and deploying intelligence through informal networks, intermediaries, and direct purchase. Unlike most Anglo-American studies of cooperation, which focus on formal policies, aggregate sentencing data, or largely invisible snitch markets, our cases offer an unusually detailed view of the entire transaction chain—from demand for intelligence, through brokering and internal recycling by state actors, to institutional endorsement and judicial reward. Because these rulings must determine whether officials mishandled ligong-related claims, they describe with exceptional specificity how intelligence was sourced, transferred, priced, and bureaucratically validated. Our analysis shows that police confirmation and prosecutorial silence operate as decisive gatekeeping signals: once these endorsements are present, the origin and delivery channel of intelligence have little additional explanatory power. Prices paid for intelligence, likewise, display only a weak association with legal benefit. We argue that, in this bureaucratized snitch market, courts track institutional endorsements more closely than underlying provenance or quality, effectively treating bureaucratic signals as a proxy for truth and rewarding cooperation in a composite currency of cash, guanxi, and institutional trust. The findings contribute to comparative debates on cooperation-for-leniency regimes by showing how a formally benevolent mechanism can generate a state-run market for criminal intelligence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100829"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147396031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing the efficiency of penitentiary system in Minas Gerais, Brazil: Evidence from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)","authors":"Maria Eduarda Souza Costa ,&nbsp;Leandro Moreira ,&nbsp;Enzo Barberio Mariano ,&nbsp;Diogo Ferraz","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100824","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100824","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Brazil faces a persistent penitentiary crisis marked by institutional fragility, social inequality, and chronic underinvestment, while empirical evidence on the efficiency of its prisons remains limited. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the performance of 55 Penitentiary Units (PUs) in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais using a dual-model framework based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Two dimensions of institutional performance are examined: Custodial Services Efficiency (CSE), which captures each PU’s ability to ensure secure accommodation, supervision, and administrative control; and Social Services Efficiency (SSE), which reflects the provision of staff-based services related to inmate well-being, including healthcare, education, and psychosocial support. These two dimensions are integrated into a composite index, the Prison System Efficiency Index (PSEI), which provides a global efficiency score for each PU. The findings reveal that nearly 90% of PUs operate with low or very low efficiency, and that small PUs tend to outperform larger ones. Paradoxically, PUs in less urbanized areas often show higher SSE scores despite custodial constraints. By revealing structural asymmetries and scale-related disadvantages, the results contribute to international debates on prison governance and demonstrate the need for more equitable and evidence-based penal policy in the Global South.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 100824"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146037794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The path from childhood to crime: Adverse childhood experiences, personality, substance abuse, and criminal decision-making","authors":"Richard J. Stringer ,&nbsp;Nicole Gatipon","doi":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100775","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100775","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research in criminal decision-making has greatly expanded beyond the focus on rational (cognitive) choices in several ways. For example, scholars have begun to explore how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), affective states, maladaptive personality traits, and substance abuse contribute to offending decisions. However, little research has empirically tested the wholistic path from ACEs, personality traits, substance abuse, affect, cognition, and criminal offending. As such, this project explores the indirect path from ACEs to criminal offending via Dark Triad personality traits, substance abuse, and cognitive and affective states. Findings indicate that ACEs are strong positive predictors of both substance abuse and personality traits. In addition, these traits are also positively related to future offending. The results also show that both cognitive and affective states are important predictors of decisions. Specifically, greater perceived certainty, and confidence in this perception, are related to increased fear of apprehension (affect), which nonlinearly predicts future offending.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46026,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law Crime and Justice","volume":"83 ","pages":"Article 100775"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145010709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}