Evidence for the Adoption of a Learning Theory Approach to Criminal Deterrence: A Preliminary Study
It is a long-held belief that inflicting punishment on criminals will reduce fiiture rates of crime in society. In line with this belief, the current administration in the United States has introduced punishment policies with the aim to “get tough” on violent and drug-related crime. In contrast to this belief in the effectiveness of punishment on crime, many researchers have found that punished offenders evidence similar or higher rates of recidivism than non-punished offenders (DiChiara & Galliher, 1984; Gibbs, 1975; Tittle & Logan, 1973; Zimring and Hawkins, 1973). Previous research studies concerning this topic have been designed solely to test the theory of specific deterrence. It is our contention that methodological and theoretical problems with these previous studies may have impeded their ability to assess the deterrent effect of punishment. We suggest that learning theory provides an alternative theoretical basis for the study of criminal deterrence. The availability of a large-scale, population-based longitudinal data set provides us with the ability to test principles of learning theory as they relate to criminal deterrence, and also to overcome the methodological pitfalls in this area of research.
Suspended Sentences in Israel
A study to evaluate the presumable effectiveness of suspended sentence of imprisonment is described by the authors, who hypothesize that (1) suspended imprisonment is more effective with the first offender than with the recidivist, (2) its effectiveness depends more strongly on the offender's previous criminal history than on any other variable, (3) its effectiveness decreases for the "professional" offender, but (4) increases for offenders whose motive is lucrative. The authors compare a research group of offenders who had received suspended sentences with a control group of offenders who had received other sentences. Cross- tabulation of such factors as age, place of birth, sex, occupation, previous criminal history, and general success rate revealed that age and previous offense were the variables most significant in determining success rates. Those in the highest age group who had no previous convictions tended to be the "best risks" for suspended sentence while those in the lowest age group with more than four previous offenses tended to be the "worst risks." Since the general success rates of both the research and control groups did not differ significantly, the authors conclude that an offender's success or failure is related more to the variables of age, personality, and previous criminal history than to the type and severity of sentence he receives.
La inseguridad jurídica en normas de contratación estatal
It is established by different studies that the issue of government procurement has been marred by several factors, the test objective to publicize these factors, we take as starting point the constant conflict between the branches of government to try and organize this subject; will collect and analyze diverse regulatory and case material in order to achieve evidence and demonstrate the different concepts of constant change that produces excessive regulation of the subject procurement and is in turn causing rapid changes that result in legal uncertainty for our law on the Contract Status.