Johan van Wilsem

Worlds tied together? Online and non-domestic routine activities and their impact on digital and traditional threat victimization

The article compares risk factors between threat victimization by digital and traditional modes (e.g. email or chat room versus letter or face-to-face). Until now, empirical tests of routine activity theory have applied a segregated approach in such cases, linking computer activities to cybercrime victimization and outdoor activities to traditional victimization. However, an integrated approach suggests that social interactions between people in the physical and digital world are connected. Thus, exposure to conflict-prone situations and eventual escalation of the conflict by a threat can occur in separate domains. Routine activities online can therefore result in traditional threat victimization and, conversely, outdoor activities can result in digital threat victimization. Results from victimization survey data from a sample of the Dutch general population (N = 6896) offer support for these hypotheses. The findings suggest that routine activity theory needs to be tested in new ways in contemporary digitalized societies.The article compares risk factors between threat victimization by digital and traditional modes (e.g. email or chat room versus letter or face-to-face). Until now, empirical tests of routine activity theory have applied a segregated approach in such cases, linking computer activities to cybercrime victimization and outdoor activities to traditional victimization. However, an integrated approach suggests that social interactions between people in the physical and digital world are connected. Thus, exposure to conflict-prone situations and eventual escalation of the conflict by a threat can occur in separate domains. Routine activities online can therefore result in traditional threat victimization and, conversely, outdoor activities can result in digital threat victimization. Results from victimization survey data from a sample of the Dutch general population (N = 6896) offer support for these hypotheses. The findings suggest that routine activity theory needs to be tested in new ways in contemporary digitalized societies.

Hacking and Harassment—Do They Have Something in Common? Comparing Risk Factors for Online Victimization

Contrary to committing hacking offences, becoming a victim of hacking has received scant research attention. This article addresses risk factors for this type of crime and explores its theoretical and empirical connectedness to the more commonly studied type of cybercrime victimization: online harassment. The results show that low self-control acts as a general risk factor in two ways. First, it leads to a higher risk of experiencing either one of these two distinct types of victimization within a 1-year period. Second, cumulatively the experiences of being hacked and harassed are also more prominent among this group. However, specific online behaviors predicted specific online victimization types (e.g., using social media predicted only harassment and not hacking). The results thus shed more light on the extent to which criminological theories are applicable across different types of Internet-related crime.

Imprisonment length and post-prison employment prospects

This study considers the relationship between imprisonment length and employment outcomes. The data are a unique prospective, longitudinal study of Dutch pretrial detainees (N = 702). All subjects thus experience prison confinement of varying lengths, although the durations are relatively short (mean = 3.8 months; median = 3.1 months). This contrasts with prior research that was limited to the study of American prison sentences spanning an average of 2 years. These data thus fill a gap in the empirical base concerning short-term confinement, which is the norm in the United States (e.g., jail incarceration) and other Western countries. Using a comprehensive array of pre-prison covariates, a propensity score methodology is used to examine the dose-response relationship between imprisonment length and a variety of employment outcomes. The results indicate that, among prison lengths less than 6 months in duration, longer confinement is largely uncorrelated with employment. In contrast, among spells in excess of 6 months, longer imprisonment length seems to worsen employment prospects.

Offender’s Personal Circumstances and Punishment: Toward a More Refined Model for the Explanation of Sentencing Disparities

Prior research suggests that offender sex, age, and race are often influential determinants of sentencing outcomes. According to focal concerns theory, they affect sentencing because—due to limited time and information—judges rely on stereotypical behavioral expectations when assessing offender blameworthiness and dangerousness. As such, extralegal offender characteristics may serve as proxies for more specific risk indicators. Whether more complete information on additional risk factors helps account for the effects of extralegal characteristics, however, remains an untested assumption. Therefore, this study analyzes the Dutch data on standardized pre-sentencing reports to examine the influence of personal circumstances of the offender, such as employment, family, and drug use factors, on the likelihood and length of incarceration. The results suggest that personal circumstances exert inconsistent influence over sentencing outcomes and that they fail to significantly mitigate the direct effects of sex and age, but do mitigate the effects of national origin.

The effect of labour market absence on finding employment: A comparison between ex-prisoners and unemployed future prisoners

A period of labour market absence reduces one’s chances of getting a job. The labour market position of both imprisoned and unemployed individuals tends to worsen after their time out of the labour market. This study considers whether imprisonment has ‘scarring’ effects on job acquisition over and above unemployment. Using a unique quasi-experimental design with a high-risk sample, we conduct event history analyses in order to estimate the time to employment for a group of ex-prisoners (n = 1159) and a group of unemployed future prisoners (n = 271). The results show that ex-prisoners find employment more quickly and more often than unemployed future prisoners. This suggests that job assistance and deterrence may have positive effects on the job chances of released prisoners.

Not Just Any Job Will Do A Study on Employment Characteristics and Recidivism Risks After Release

Ex-prisoners’ recidivism risks are high. Several theories state that employment can reduce these risks but emphasize that the protective role of employment is conditional on job qualities (work intensity, job duration, etc.). Longitudinal research on the role of employment in ex-prisoners’ recidivism patterns is scarce, and most existing work used a simplistic employment measure (i.e., employed vs. unemployed), leaving the topic of job quality underexplored. This study examines the association between employment characteristics and recidivism among Dutch ex-prisoners. Using longitudinal data of the Prison Project (n = 714), we found that not just any job, but particularly stable employment and jobs with a higher occupational level could help reduce crime rates among these high-risk offenders. Many ex-prisoners face a human capital deficit that complicates the guidance to high-quality jobs. It might, however, be possible to help place ex-prisoners in stable employment.

Pre-sentence reports and punishment: A quasi-experiment assessing the effects of risk-based pre-sentence reports on sentencing:

The current study investigates the effects of structured risk-based pre-sentence reports on sentencing outcomes in the Netherlands by means of a quasi-natural experiment. Defendants with such a report are compared with similar defendants without such a report, based on propensity score matching and synchronization on nine additional criteria relevant to penal decision-making (N = 6118). Although structured risk-based pre-sentence reports are a textbook example of ‘new penological’ accounts, high-risk defendants with such a report are not sentenced to more ‘controlling’ and less ‘diverting’ sentencing outcomes than are high-risk defendants without such a report. Instead, these reports overall relate to less ‘controlling’ and more ‘diverting’ sentencing outcomes, indicating that the penal welfarism account is still prevalent in penal decision-making in the Netherlands.

Trait Impulsivity and Change in Mental Health Problems After Violent Crime Victimization: A Prospective Analysis of the Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences Database

Violent crime victimization can have serious mental health consequences, but what it is that makes victims at risk of mental health problems or delayed recovery from such problems is largely unknown. Previous research has focused on, amongst other things, the disabling impact of personality factors involved in the regulation of emotions. Using data from the Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel (n = 2628), this study explored whether the association between violent crime victimization and change in mental health problems over a 1-year time span also varies by trait impulsivity (TI)—a personality factor involved in regulating behavior. TI may serve as a risk factor for mental health problems, but research into this topic is scarce and inconsistent. Results suggested that low TI subjects are prone to experience an increase in mental health problems following victimization. As a possible explanation for this finding, it was speculated that subjects with low TI do not perceive themselves at risk of victimization and thus see this positive assumption shattered when victimization does occur. Results were further discussed in terms of study limitations and strengths and implications for future research.

Straffen omvat meer dan gevangenisstraf. De effecten van daderkenmerken op de straftoemeting voor het gehele sanctiepakket

Straftoemetingsonderzoek richt zich vaak alleen op de onvoorwaardelijke gevangenisstraf en doet daarmee onvoldoende recht aan de straftoemetingspraktijk, waarin vele sanctietypen juist ook gecombineerd worden opgelegd. Om te onderzoeken in hoeverre de bevindingen ter toetsing van de focal concerns theory door deze gevangenisstraf-bias vertekend kunnen zijn, vergelijken we de effecten van daderkenmerken voor gevangenisstraf met die voor andere sanctietypen en met een model dat ook combinaties van sancties omvat. De resultaten tonen aan dat de effecten van daderkenmerken verschillen per sanctietype. Als ook combinaties van sancties in het onderzoek worden betrokken, blijken sommige factoren niet langer strafverlichtend of -verzwarend te zijn, of slaat de richting van het effect zelfs om. Toekomstig straftoemetingsonderzoek dient zich daarom te richten op het gehele sanctiepakket.