The first five volumes of the Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham contain over 1,300 letters written both to and from Bentham over a 50-year period, beginning in 1752 (aged three) with his earliest surviving letter to his grandmother, and ending in 1797 with correspondence concerning his attempts to set up a national scheme for the provision of poor relief. Against the background of the debates on the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789, to which he made significant contributions, Bentham worked first on producing a complete penal code, which involved him in detailed explorations of fundamental legal ideas, and then on his panopticon prison scheme. Despite developing a host of original and ground-breaking ideas, contained in a mass of manuscripts, he published little during these years, and remained, at the close of this period, a relatively obscure individual. Nevertheless, these volumes reveal how the foundations were laid for the remarkable rise of Benthamite utilitarianism in the early nineteenth century.

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Volume 1 . 1752-76. Edited by Timothy  L.S. Spriggs
London: UCL Press, 2017. 432p.

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Volume 2:  1 7 7 7 – 8 0 Edited by Timothy L.S. Spriggs
London: UCL Press, 2017. 560p.

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Volume 3:  January 1781 to October 1788. Edited by Ian R. Christie.
London: UCL Press, 2017. 656p.

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Volume 4: October 1788 to December 1793. Edited by Alexander Taylor Milne
London: UCL Press, 2017. 554p.

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Volume 5:  January 1794 to December 1797 . Edited by  Alexander Taylor Milne 
London: UCL Press, 2017. 428p.

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By Anu Koskivirta

"This work explores the quantitative and qualitative development of homicide in eastern Finland in the second half of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth. The area studied comprised northern Savo and northern Karelia in eastern Finland. At that time, these were completely agricultural regions on the periphery of the kingdom of Sweden. Indeed the majority of the population still got their living from burn-beating agriculture. The analysis of homicide there reveals characteristics that were exceptional by Western European standards: the large proportion of premeditated homicides (murders) and those within the family is more reminiscent of modern cities in the West than of a pre-modern rural society. However, there also existed some archaic forms of Western crime there. Most of the homicides within the family were killings of brothers or brothers-in law, connected with the family structure (the extended family) that prevailed in the region. This study uses case analysis to explore the causes for the increase in both familial homicide and murder in the area. One of the explanatory factors that is dealt with is the interaction between the faltering penal practice that then existed and the increase in certain types of homicide."

Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society / SKS, 2003. 217p.

By Terry L. Leap

U.S. health care is a $2.5 trillion system that accounts for more than 17 percent of the nation’s GDP. It is also highly susceptible to fraud. Estimates vary, but some observers believe that as much as 10 percent of all medical billing involves some type of fraud. In 2009, New York’s Medicaid fraud office recovered $283 million and obtained 148 criminal convictions. In July 2010, the U.S. Justice Department charged nearly 100 patients, doctors, and health care executives in five states of bilking the Medicare system out of more than $251 million through false claims for services that were medically unnecessary or never provided. These cases only hint at the scope of the problem. In Phantom Billing, Fake Prescriptions, and the High Cost of Medicine, Terry L. Leap takes on medical fraud and its economic, psychological, and social costs. Illustrated throughout with dozens of specific and often fascinating cases, this book covers a wide variety of crimes: kickbacks, illicit referrals, overcharging and double billing, upcoding, unbundling, rent-a-patient and pill-mill schemes, insurance scams, short-pilling, off-label marketing of pharmaceuticals, and rebate fraud, as well as criminal acts that enable this fraud (mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering). After assessing the effectiveness of the federal laws designed to fight health care fraud and abuse—the anti-kickback statute, the Stark Law, the False Claims Act, HIPAA, and the food and drug laws—Leap suggests a number of ways that health care providers, consumers, insurers, and federal and state officials can bring health care fraud and abuse under control, thereby reducing the overall cost of medical care in America.

Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011. .

By Jerzy  Kochanowsk

This book analyzes the history of the black market in Poland before the 1940s and the development of black-market phenomena in post-war Poland. The author evaluates the interrelation between black-market phenomena and historical and geographical conditions. At first, the black market stabilized the system by making it more flexible and creating a margin of freedom, albeit in the short term. In the long run, the informal economic activities of the people ran counter to and undermined the official ideology of the state. The author concludes that in post-war Poland, owing to a singular coincidence of historical, political, economic and social factors, the second economy had its own unique character and an endemic presence that loomed large in the Soviet Bloc.

Bern: Peter Lang, 2017. 436p.

By Hermann Mannheim

From the preface: “It happened perhaps eleven years ago, not long before my retirement from the teaching of criminology in the University of London. One day, after I had just completedmy first lecture of the new session and distributed copies of my, notoriously rather lengthy, reading listfor the course, Iwas approached by ayoung girl student who, holding her copy ni her hand, said ni avoice which sounded polite butalsorather determined: Sir, I am quite willing to read a bookon criminology, but itm u s t be only one, in which I can find everything required. Can you recommend such a book?' After some hesitation and with a strong feeling of guilt I replied that I could not comply with her request as there was no such book and she would probably have to read several of the items on my list, whereupon she silently and rather despondently withdrew.”

Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1965. 772p. CONTAINS MARK-UP.

By Chloe Hooper

London. Hamish Hamilton. 2018. 254p.

On the scorching February day in 2009, a man lit two fires in the Australian state of Victoria, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. What came to be known as the Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 people and injured hundreds more, making them among the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in Australian history. As communities reeling from unspeakable loss demanded answers, detectives scrambled to piece together what really happened. They soon began to suspect the fires had been deliverately set by an arsonist.

The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the puzzle of his mind. But this book is also the story of fire in the Anthropocene. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species, and now, as climate change normalizes devastating wildfires worldwide, we must contend with the forces of inequality, and desperate yearning for power, that can lead to such destruction.

Written with Chloe Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in the age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers.

By Abigail Allen and Emily Backes, Rapporteurs; Committee on Law and Justice; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

From the introduction.The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Law and Justice convened a workshop through its Planning Committee on Crime Rates during the SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic (hereinafter referred to collectively as “COVID-19” or “COVID-19 pandemic”) on November 10, 2022, to explore crime rate changes during the pandemic, potential explanations for those rates, and opportunities for future methods, data, and research. Specifically, it sought to (1) explore existing data on the trends in multiple criminal offenses during the pandemic; (2) explore existing explanations for the crime rate changes in multiple offense types during the pandemic for their scope, logical consistency, empirical support, and limitations, with special attention to explanations related to the pandemic and associated population restrictions (e.g., stay at home orders, social gathering restrictions, etc.), as well as the diffusion and availability of firearms; and (3) discuss methodological issues, data infrastructure needs, and research gaps to inform understanding of crime problems and rates.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. 9p.

By William Perry and Others

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.

We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

London. J. Bumpus et al. 1819. 259p.

By Rosenfeld, Richard; Boxerman, Bobby; Lopez, Ernesto, Jr.

From the Introduction: "This report updates CCJ's [Council on Criminal Justice's] previous studies [hyperlink] of crime changes during the coronavirus pandemic, extending the analyses with data through December of 2022. The current study finds a drop in homicide, aggravated assaults, and gun assaults and a rise in robbery and most property crimes. The authors' conclusions have not changed: to achieve substantial and sustainable reductions in violence and crime, cities should adopt evidence-based crime-control strategies and long-needed reforms to policing. The 35 cities included in this study were selected based on data availability [...] and range from Richmond, VA, the smallest, with 227,000 residents, to New York, the largest, with more than 8.4 million residents. The mean population of the cities for which crime data were available is approximately 1.1 million, while the median population is roughly 652,000. This report assesses monthly changes between January of 2018 and December of 2022 for the following 10 crimes: homicide, aggravated assault, gun assault, domestic violence, robbery, residential burglary, nonresidential burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and drug offenses. As in the previous reports, this analysis focuses special attention on the trend in homicides. It also examines in greater detail than in prior reports the substantial increase in motor vehicle thefts and carjacking since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020."

Council On Criminal Justice. 2023. 29p.

By Safe Tennessee Project

In 2017, nearly 40,000 Americans died from gun violence — 109 every single day. In 2017, 1,246 Tennesseans died from gun violence, 3.4 people every day. Americans are 25 times more likely to die by firearm-related homicide and eight times more likely to die by firearmrelated suicide compared to other economically developed nations. If an illness were killing our friends, family, and neighbors at such an alarming rate, we would not hesitate to label it a crisis. And that’s what gun violence is. It’s a public health crisis. Public health encompasses any threats to a person’s life and wellbeing that can be prevented, contained or treated. For far too long, gun violence has been a leading cause of injury and death in our country, our state and our city, but it can be prevented through focused interventions for individuals who need them the most. This approach is not new; the U.S. dramatically decreased injury rates from car accidents for adults, children and babies by engaging in robust study of the issue, and ultimately making vehicles safer, making car seats safer, passing laws requiring seat belts, lowering speed limits, and passing DUI laws. The public health approach to gun violence reduction does not replace nor is it at odds with law enforcement. Its focus is just different: not deterrence but prevention by addressing the root causes of gun violence. Communities around the country and world integrate public health into public policy challenges. Our country - and our state - should do the same.

Nashville: Safe Tennessee Project, 2019. 72p.

By James Alan Fox

Recent mass public shootings in venues as diverse as a school, a church, and a concert, have alarmed policymakers and the public alike. The massive amount of media attention given these tragedies has convinced many observers that such incidents are on the rise—that we are experiencing a virtual epidemic of bloodshed. Notwithstanding this widely-held perception, shootings in which four or more victims are killed in a public place unrelated to other criminal activity remain rare events, especially when adjusted for population growth. While there has been some increase in the number of cases, the severity—in terms of the number killed and wounded— has spiked over the past several years, with seven of the ten deadliest occurring since 2007. Because of this, and the associated news and social media obsession, the most pronounced increase has been in fear. Despite mounting interest among journalists and academics, questions regarding the nature and prevention of mass shootings remain. For example, to what extent do mass shooters have histories of mental illness, substance abuse, or violence? Does strengthening or weakening gun control laws have an impact on the incidence or severity of mass public shootings? Are mass shooters influenced by media coverage of these events? To address these questions and more, we embarked on a research initiative starting with the creation of a database of mass public shooting incidents, offenders, and victims that occurred in the United States from 1976 forward. Notwithstanding the date range contained in the project title, we updated the data as the work progressed and used the most up-to-date data for analyses and associated publications as they became available. We defined mass public shootings as any event in which four or more individuals, not including the assailant(s), were killed by gunfire in a public setting within a 24-hour period, absent any associated criminal activity (such as robbery, gang conflict, or illicit drug trade). With this as the starting point, we then carried out a series of analyses using these and other data.

Boston: Northeastern University, 2021. 48p.

By U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General (OIG)

The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an evaluation to determine whether Department of Defense law enforcement organizations, such as the U.S. Army Military Police, Naval Security Forces, and Pentagon Force Protection Agency, had established effective active shooter response policies, plans, and training. The report revealed a problematic lack of an active shooter response and training standard, which officials worry may “result in a delayed and uncoordinated response that could increase casualties” at military facilities and installations. According to the report, there are five existing policies related to active shooter situations, but no consistent, overall protocol. The five current policies, “although related to emergency management, arming of personnel, lessons learned, incident response plans, and training, only provide minimal active shooter incident response requirements.” This concerning absence of a strong strategy, particularly regarding the use of force, contributed to law enforcement officers not meeting the expectations set forth in the policies already in place. As part of the evaluation, the OIG proposed several recommendations to address these deficiencies, including updating the preexisting guidelines for active shooter response procedures, as well as standardizing the current directives for the use of force, arming, training, and equipment requirements for law enforcement organizations. Furthermore, the report suggested to publish lessons learned in the aftermath of active shooter incidents, such as those at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, and Naval Air Station Pensacola, into a centralized Joint Lessons Learned Information System. The OIG notes that management officials have not fully agreed with or resolved their recommendations and strongly encourages them to take action as soon as possible.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Defence, 2022. 56p.

By David Hureau, Theodore Wilson

We depicted the episodic nature of illegal gun carrying and tested its co-occurrence with gun violence victimization and exposure. We tested differences in differences using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, originally collected between 2000 and 2010 (Phoenix, Arizona, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), on young people adjudicated for serious involvement in crime. We then tested the changes in gun victimization experiences attending gun-carrying changes for this sample. We found gun victimization to be highest during periods of gun carrying, and this correspondence held regardless of future or past gun-carrying behavior. This manifests both in direct victimization and witnessing gun violence. Even among gun carriers, episodes of non-carrying are common, with 76.4% of gun carriers in a 1-year period also reporting a pause in their carrying behavior of at least 6 months. Gun carrying and gun violence exposure co-occur at a high rate. During any period of gun carrying, the carrier has at least a 2% chance of getting shot versus near 0% for periods of non-carrying. Our results suggest that illegal gun carrying is malleable, and public health efforts to reduce the incidence of gun carrying could yield meaningful reductions in violence.

Am J Epidemiol. 2021;190(12):2544–2551

By Sophia Falkner

Policy Exchange’s report, Knife Crime in the Capital , reveals the real injustice that at least four out of five gang related homicide victims and perpetrators in London are black or ethnic minority. 5 It confirms that the Metropolitan Police is losing a battle against knife crime that is out of control in some parts of London, with young black and ethnic minority men by far the most likely to be stabbed or commit knife crime. Black people in London, it shows, are five times more likely to be hospitalised than white people due to a stabbing. The report analyses a decade of knife crime data, revealing how a combination of drill music, social media, tit-for-tat revenge attacks and a failure in police strategy are causes of dozens of deaths and hundreds more injuries every year.

London: Policy Exchange, 2021. 63p.

By Jake Phillips, Kate Whitfield, Paula Hamilton, Fiona de Hoog and Charlotte Coleman

‘Knife crime’, which here we use as shorthand for children and young people using and carrying bladed weapons in public places, has been increasing in recent years. Current evidence suggests that knife crime is driven by a combination of poverty, marginalisation, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma, fear and victimisation, including exploitation. Youth offending teams (YOTs), amongst their other duties, are responsible for working with children (aged 10-17 years) who are at risk of involvement with knife crime, or who have been found guilty of a knife crime. YOTs are interdisciplinary teams which provide multi-agency input based on local need. They provide supervision and intervention programmes which focus on desistance from crime, and support children to avoid offending and reoffending, and to live a healthy and positive life. Although YOTs are increasingly sharing or co-commissioning services across local government boundaries, greater understanding of effective YOT activity is needed to allow for improved practice sharing, and potentially to deliver financial savings.

Manchester, UK: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, 2022. 49p.

By Aase Villadsen and Emla Fitzsimons

At age 17, 6.4% of young people self-reported carrying or using a weapon in the past year. For males the figure was 8.8% and for females 3.9%. • Carrying or using a weapon at age 17 intersected with other types of offences at the same age. Of those who had carried or used a weapon in the past year, 66% reported assault, 32% had shoplifted, 20% committed neighbourhood crime, 50% were involved in criminal damage, 30% reported cybercrime, and 5.3% had participated in online bullying. A high proportion (26%) of those who had carried or used a weapon were currently or 4 previously members of a gang. • Weapon carrying or use at age 17 was associated with a wide range of prior factors, when examined bivariately with no other variables controlled for. Factors related to a higher prevalence of carrying or using a weapon included individual characteristics, socioeconomic background, family environment, school factors, child and adolescent mental health, leisure activities, peer factors, substance use, and previous involvement in offending behaviours. • In multivariate examinations of weapon carrying or use at age 17, controlling for other variables, many bivariate associations dissipated. Significant associations remained for being male, use of substances at age 14, spending a lot of time on computer/electronic gaming at age 14, being excluded from school between age 11 and 14, and having peers who use multiple substances at age 14. Furthermore, these age 14 experiences and behaviours appeared to be mediators between childhood experiences (low household income, domestic abuse between parents, externalising problems, and self-harm in adolescence) and carrying or using a weapon at age 17. Finally, cohort members carrying or use of a weapon previously at age 14 was highly predictive of continuity at age 17. There were no differences between males and females in terms of variables associated with this age 17 outcome.

London: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2021, 117p.

By Mallory O’Brien and Michael F. Totoraitis

In 2005, the Mayor of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Chief of Police, and the Milwaukee County District Attorney formed the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission (MHRC) to address lethal violence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Modeled after other review processes such as child death or crime incident reviews, homicide reviews were rare and information about them was scarce. Since then, the MHRC has been a central component of the City of Milwaukee’s violence prevention efforts. The MHRC strives to reduce homicides and nonfatal shootings through a multilevel, multidisciplinary, and multi-agency homicide review process. The commission was designed to achieve the following goals: 1 . Gain a better understanding of homicide through strategic problem analysis. 2 . Develop innovative and effective responses and prevention strategies. 3 . Help focus available prevention and intervention resources. Guiding the creation of MHRC were four tenets that would inform the entire initiative and affect its governance, leadership, and staffing structure; partnership development; collection and use of real-time data; and preference for multilevel and multi-agency decision-making. These four tenets were 1 . Homicide is preventable; 2 . Only a collaborative and well-coordinated effort of community, nonprofit, business, government, academic, legal, and medical partnerships will lead to lasting change; 3 . Data-driven strategies are essential; 4 . Multi-level responses help ensure meaningful, robust, and sustainable results over the long term.

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2021. 18p.

By Emily Tiry, Kelly Roberts Freeman and William Adams

States and localities maintain primary responsibility for addressing violent crime in their communities, but the federal government also plays an important role in combating violence. One key part of that role is the enforcement of federal gun laws that regulate receipt and possession of firearms as well as their manufacture, importation, distribution, and transfer. Federal law also penalizes the criminal use of firearms. Most defendants in federal firearms cases are charged pursuant to the Gun Control Act of 1968, which regulates interstate and foreign firearms commerce and prohibits certain persons, such as those with felony convictions, from possessing a firearm (box 1). Federal prosecution is sometimes considered more advantageous than state prosecution because it carries more certain and punitive penalties. Moreover, targeted federal prosecutions through federal, state, and local task forces like Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) can be a key component of crime-reduction strategies.

Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2021. 45p.

By Marissa Edmund

Gun violence is a major problem in the United States as well as the key driver of the rise in violent crime across the nation.1 Notably, gun violence has a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities and is highly concentrated in a relatively small number of neighborhoods that have historically been under-resourced and racially segregated. This is due to a combination of weak gun laws; systemic racial inequities, including unequal access to safe housing and adequate educational and employment opportunities; and a history of disinvestment in public infrastructure and services in the communities of color most affected by gun violence. To reduce gun violence in these communities, U.S. policymakers must complement common sense gun laws with investments in community-based violence intervention (CVI) initiatives and policies to address root causes of gun violence.

Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2022. 4p.

By Alexandra Kuimova, Dr Andrea Edoardo Varisco and Pieter D. Wezeman

This SIPRI Policy Report synthesizes the data on small arms and light weapons (SALW) diversion from the United Nations Panel of Experts reports on the five UN arms embargoes in place in subSaharan Africa in 2022—on the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan (Darfur region). The report provides a typology on the sources of illicit SALW in the states and regions under embargo and discusses the challenges of enforcing arms embargoes and possible policy solutions to address the various sources of illicit SALW in order to inform and support efforts to combat the proliferation of illicit arms.

Stockholm: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2022. 53p.