crime 15

Should status offenders be treated by the juvenile court? Should they be placed in confinement for such acts as running away or cutting school?

Chapter 16  

 Should people who illegally download movies or music be prosecuted for theft?

15)

While they were together in his bedroom, Steven Miles, a 16-year-old British boy, stabbed his girlfriend, Elizabeth Thomas, in the back of her head, killing her.1 He then used tools from his father’s tree business to dismember her corpse and stuffed the parts into trash bags. He was arrested the same day and, at his trial, admitted to jurors that he killed his girlfriend because he wanted to emulate the lead character in the Showtime series Dexter.

Miles had earlier told his family that a voice in his head, from someone named “Ed,” had told him to kill someone. An hour after killing Thomas, Miles told his sister “Ed made me do something bad.” According to experts, Miles displayed some narcissistic personality traits and showed some signs of autism. Nevertheless, Miles was sentenced, at age 17, to a life term in prison.2 Lewis Power, part of Miles’ defense team said:

This was a truly gruesome killing ripped from the pages of a hit TV script. … The case is a sad testament to the perils of how young people can become entrenched in modern TV blockbusters involving violence which, shockingly, led to a copy-cat killing in real life.3

The Miles case is representative of the difficult choices that agents of the juvenile justice system are continually asked to make: How should troubled children be treated? What can be done to treat dangerous young offenders? Should youthful law violators be given special treatment because of their age, or should they be treated in a fashion similar to that for an adult committing the same crime?

Independent of (yet interrelated with) the adult criminal justice system, the juvenile justice system is primarily responsible for dealing with juvenile and youth crime, as well as with incorrigible and truant children and runaways. Conceived at the turn of the twentieth century, the juvenile justice system was originally viewed as a quasi-social welfare agency that was to act as a surrogate parent in the interests of the child; this is referred to as the parens patriae philosophy. Many people who work in the system still adhere to the original social welfare principles of the juvenile justice system. In contrast, those who take a crime control orientation suggest that the juvenile justice system’s parens patriae philosophy is outdated. They question whether the system is designed to handle youths who commit serious violent acts. They point to nationally publicized incidents of juvenile violence, such as the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, as indicators that serious juvenile offenders are out there and that something must be done to protect society from their depraved and violent acts. Violent young criminals, they suggest, should be punished and disciplined rather than treated and rehabilitated.

parens patriae

Latin term meaning “father of his country.” According to this legal philosophy, the government is the true guardian of the needy and infirm, including dependent children. It refers to the power of the state to act on behalf of a child and provide care and protection equivalent to that of a parent.

It remains to be seen whether the juvenile justice system will continue on its path toward deterrence, punishment, and control or return to its former role as a treatment-dispensing agency. This chapter reviews the history of juvenile justice and discusses the justice system’s processing of youthful offenders.

LO1 Describe the history and development of juvenile justice.

THE HISTORY UF JUVENILE JUSTICE

The modern practice of legally separating adult and juvenile offenders can be traced to two developments in English custom and law: poor laws and chancery courts. Both were designed to allow the state to take control of the lives of needy, but not necessarily criminal, children.4 They set the precedent for later American developments.

As early as 1535, the English passed statutes known as poor laws, which in part mandated the appointment of overseers who placed destitute or neglected children with families who then trained them in agricultural, trade, or domestic services; this practice was referred to as indenture. The Elizabethan poor laws of 1601 created a system of church wardens and overseers who, with the consent of justices of the peace, identified vagrant, delinquent, and neglected children and took measures to put them to work. Often this meant placing them in poorhouses or workhouses or, more commonly, apprenticing them until their adulthood. The indenture, or involuntary apprentice, system set the precedent, which continues today, of allowing the government to take control of youths who have committed no illegal acts but are deemed unable to care for themselves.

poor laws

Sixteenth-century English laws under which vagrants and abandoned and neglected children were bound to masters as indentured servants.

In contrast, chancery courts protected the property rights and welfare of more affluent minor children who could not care for themselves—children whose position and property were of direct concern to the monarch. They dealt with issues of guardianship and the use and control of property. Chancery courts operated under the parens patriae philosophy, which held that children were under the protective control of the state and that its rulers were justified in intervening in their lives.5 In the famous English case Wellesley v. Wellesley, a duke’s children were taken from him in the name of parens patriae because of his scandalous behavior.6

chancery courts

Early English courts established to protect the property rights and welfare of the minor children of affluent families.

The concept of parens patriae came to represent the primacy of the state and its power to act in “the best interests of the child.” In the twentieth century, the idea that the state was legally obligated to protect the immature, the incompetent, the neglected, and the delinquent became a major influence on the development of the U.S. juvenile justice system.

Care of Children in Early America

The forced apprenticeship system and the poor laws were brought from England to colonial America. Poor laws were passed in Virginia in 1646 and in Connecticut and Massachusetts in 1678, and they continued in force until the early nineteenth century. They mandated care for wayward and destitute children. However, youths who committed serious criminal offenses were tried in the same courts as adults.

To accommodate dependent youths, local jurisdictions developed almshouses, poorhouses, and workhouses. Crowded and unhealthy, these accepted the poor, the insane, the diseased, and vagrant and destitute children. Middle-class civic leaders, who referred to themselves as child savers, began to develop organizations and groups to help alleviate the burdens of the poor and immigrants by sponsoring shelter care for youths, educational and social activities, and the development of settlement houses. In retrospect, their main focus seems to have been on extending government control over a whole range of youthful activities that previously had been left to private or family control, including idleness, drinking, vagrancy, and delinquency.7

child savers

Civic leaders who focused their attention on the misdeeds of poor children to control their behavior.

LO2 Discuss the child savers and their vision of juvenile justice.

The Child-Saving Movement

The child savers were responsible for creating a number of programs for indigent youths, including the New York House of Refuge, which began operations in 1825.8 Its creation was effected by prominent Quakers and influential political leaders, such as Cadwallader Colden and Stephen Allen. In 1816, they formed the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, which was devoted to protecting indigent youths who were at risk of leading a life of crime by taking them off the streets and reforming them in a family-like environment.9

The first House of Refuge constructed in New York City was the product of their reform efforts. Although the program was privately managed, the state legislature began providing funds partly through a head tax on arriving transatlantic passengers and seamen plus the proceeds from license fees for New York City’s taverns, theaters, and circuses. These revenue sources were deemed appropriate, given that supporters blamed immigration, intemperance, and commercial enter-tainment for juvenile crime.

The reformatory opened on January 1, 1825, with only six boys and three girls. However, within the first decade of its operation, 1,678 youths were admitted. Most kids were sent to the reformatory because of vagrancy and petty crimes and were sentenced or committed indefinitely until they reached adulthood. Originally, the institution accepted inmates from across the state, but when a Western House of Refuge was opened in Rochester, New York, in 1849, residents of the original reformatory came only from the eastern quarters.

This nineteenth-century photo shows indigent boys sleeping on the front door landing of an abandoned tenement building in New York city. The child savers were concerned that if left alone, children such as these would enter a life of crime. critics, however, accused the child savers of class and race discrimination and thought they sought to maintain control over the political system.

In the reformatory, a large part of the adolescent’s daily schedule was devoted to supervised labor, which was regarded as beneficial to education and discipline. Inmate labor also supported operating expenses for the reformatory. Male inmates worked in shops that produced brushes, cane chairs, brass nails, and shoes. Female inmates sewed uniforms, did laundry, and carried out other domestic work. A badge system was used to segregate inmates according to their behavior. Although students acquired a rudimentary education, greater emphasis was placed on evangelical religious instruction; non-Protestant

16)

CYBERCRIME

In October 2013, law enforcement officials shut down the infamous Silk Road website, an online marketplace in which users could use what is known as a TOR (“the onion router”) service to browse anonymously and securely, looking to do everything from purchase illegal drugs to hire hitmen. Silk Road was part of the so-called deep web, or deepnet, which consists of World Wide Web content that is not indexed by standard search engines and therefore lies beneath the “surface web.” In May 2014, a 23-year-old Dutchman, Cornelis Jan “SuperTrips” Slomp, pleaded guilty to drug charges linked to his online activities. According to authorities, he was the most prolific online drug dealer on Silk Road, having amassed over $3 million in bitcoins, a form of online currency. Estimates suggest, in its prime, Silk Road had a million registered users and $1.2 billion in revenue.44 Disturbingly, it was just one of many sites on the deep web; many illegal online marketplaces still exist and thrive to this day.

This case illustrates one of the newest challenges facing the justice system: cybercrime. A relatively new breed of offenses that can be singular or ongoing, cybercrime consists of basically any criminal activity that uses a computer as its primary means of commission. This new category of crimes presents a compelling challenge for the justice system and the law enforcement community because: (a) it is rapidly evolving, with new schemes being created daily, (b) it is difficult to detect through traditional law enforcement channels, and (c) to control it, agents of the justice system must develop technical skills that match those of the perpetrators. It is even possible that the recent decline in crime is actually a result of cybercrime replacing traditional street crime. Instead of robbing a bank at gun point, a new group of contemporary thieves find it easier to hack into accounts and transfer funds to offshore banks. Instead of shoplifting from a bricks-and-mortar store, the contemporary cyberthief devises clever schemes to steal from etailers.

cybercrime

Illegal activity that uses a computer as its primary means of commission. Common forms of cybercrime include theft and destruction of information, resources, and funds.

The Internet, coupled with ever more powerful computers, is now the medium of choice for providing a wide range of global services, from entertainment and communication to research and education. The cyber age has also generated an enormous amount of revenue. Worldwide IT spending is projected to approach $4 trillion by 2020.45 Magnifying the importance of the Internet is the fact that many critical infrastructure functions, ranging from banking to control of shipping on the Mississippi River, are now being conducted online. This vast network has now become a target for illegal activities and enterprise.

Cybertheft: Cybercrimes for Profit

Some cybercriminals use modern technology to accumulate goods and services. Cybertheft schemes range from illegally copying material under copyright protection to using technology to commit traditional theft-based offenses such as larceny and fraud. Computer-based technologies enable criminals to operate in a more efficient and effective manner. Cyberthieves now have the luxury of remaining anonymous, living almost anywhere on the planet, conducting their business during the day or at night, and working alone or in a group, while at the same time reaching a much greater number of potential victims than ever before. No longer are con artists and criminal entrepreneurs limited to fleecing victims in a particular geographic locale; the whole world can be their target. And the technology revolution has opened up novel avenues of attack for cybertheft—ranging from the unlawful distribution of computer software to Internet security fraud—that heretofore were nonexistent.

cybertheft

The use of computer networks for criminal profits. Copyright infringement, identity theft, and Internet securities fraud are examples of cybertheft.

Cyberthieves conspire to use cyberspace either to distribute illegal goods and services or to defraud people for quick profits. Some of the most common methods are described below.

COMPUTER FRAUD Computer fraud is not a unique offense but, rather, a common-law crime committed using contemporary technology. Consequently, many computer crimes are prosecuted under such traditional criminal statutes as those prohibiting larceny and fraud. However, not all computer crimes fall under common-law statutes because the property stolen may be intangible—that is, it may consist of electronic and/or magnetic impulses. Such crimes include:

Theft of information. The unauthorized obtaining of information from a computer (e.g., “hacking”), including software that is copied for profit.

The “salami slice” fraud. The perpetrator carefully “skims” small sums from the balances of a large number of accounts in order to bypass internal controls and escape detection.

“One-off kamikaze” fraud. Similar to a “salami slice,” this manipulation of accounts in the banking system occurs on a much larger and usually more complex scale.

Software theft. The comparative ease of making copies of computer software has led to a huge illegal market, depriving authors of significant revenues.

Corporate espionage. Trade secrets are stolen by a company’s competitors, which can be either domestic or foreign. The goal is to increase the rival company’s (or nation’s) competitive edge in the global marketplace.46

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT For more than a decade, groups of individuals have been working together to obtain software illegally and then “crack” or “rip” its copyright protections before posting it on the Internet for other members of the group to use. Its criminal purveyors refer to this pirated material as warez (pronounced like “wares,” as in “software”).

warez

Copyrighted software illegally downloaded and sold by organized groups without license to do so.

Frequently, these new pirated copies reach the Internet days or weeks before the legitimate product is commercially available. The government has actively pursued members of the warez community, and some have been charged and convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which criminalizes accessing computer systems without authorization to obtain information,47 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it a crime to circumvent the antipiracy measures built into most commercial software and also outlaws the manufacture, sale, or distribution of code-cracking devices used to illegally copy software.48 The U.S. Criminal Code provides penalties for a firsttime offender of incarceration for 5 years and a fine of $250,000.49 Other provisions provide for the forfeiture and destruction of infringing copies and all equipment used to make those copies.50

INTERNET SECURITIES FRAUD Internet fraud involves using the Internet to intentionally manipulate the securities marketplace for profit. Four major types of Internet securities fraud are common today:

Online Investment Newsletters. While legitimate online newsletters may contain valuable information, others are tools for fraud. Some companies pay online newsletters to “tout” or recommend their stocks. Touting isn’t illegal as long as the newsletters disclose who paid them, how much they’re getting paid, and the form of the payment, usually cash or stock. But fraudsters often lie about the payments they receive and their track records in recommending stocks. Fraudulent promoters may claim to offer independent, unbiased recommendations in newsletters when actually they stand to profit from convincing others to buy or sell certain stocks. They may spread false information to promote worthless stocks.

Online Bulletin Boards. Online bulletin boards are a way for investors to share information. While some messages may be true, many turn out to be bogus—or even scams. Fraudsters may use online discussions to pump up a company or pretend to reveal “inside” information about upcoming announcements, new products, or lucrative contracts. You may never know for certain who you’re dealing with, or whether they’re credible, because many sites allow users to hide their identity behind multiple aliases. People claiming to be unbiased observers may actually be insiders, large shareholders, or paid promoters. One person can easily create the illusion of widespread interest in a small, thinly traded stock by posting numerous messages under various aliases.

Pump and Dump Schemes. These schemes have two parts. In the first, promoters try to boost the price of a stock with false or misleading statements about the company. Once the stock price has been pumped up, fraudsters move on to the second part, where they seek to profit by selling their own holdings of the stock, dumping shares into the market. These schemes often occur on the Internet, where it is common to see messages urging readers to buy a stock quickly. Often, the promoters will claim to have inside information about a development that will be positive for the stock. After these fraudsters dump their shares and stop hyping the stock, the price typically falls, and investors lose their money.

Spam. Spam, or junk, e-mail are often is used to promote bogus investment schemes or to spread false information about a company. With a bulk e-mail program, spammers can send personalized messages to millions of people at once for much less than the cost of cold calling or traditional mail. Many scams, including advance fee frauds, use spam to reach potential victims.51

WEB APP 16.2

Visit the Federal Trade Commission website on identity theft at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014-identity-theft.

IDENTITY THEFT Identity theft occurs when a person uses the Internet to steal someone’s identity and/or impersonate the victim to open a new credit card account or conduct some other financial transaction. It is a type of cybercrime that has grown at startling rates over the past few years.52

identity theft

Using the Internet to steal someone’s identity and/or impersonate the victim in order to conduct illicit transactions, such as committing fraud using the victim’s name and identity.

Identity theft can damage a person’s good name and inflict severe losses and inconvenience by manipulating credit records or depleting bank accounts. Some identity thieves create false emails and/or websites that look legitimate but are designed to gain illegal access to a victim’s personal information; this is known as phishing (and also as carding and spoofing).

phishing

Also known as carding and spoofing, phishing consists of illegally acquiring personal information, such as bank passwords and credit card numbers, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in what appears to be an official electronic communication, such as an email or an instant message. The term comes from the lures used to “fish” for financial information and passwords.

Phishing emails and websites have become even more of a problem now that cybercriminals can easily copy brand names, the names of corporate personnel, and their insignia directly into the email. The look is so authentic that victims believe the email came from the advertised company. Most phishers send out spam emails to a large number of recipients, knowing that some of those recipients will have accounts with the company they are impersonating. Some phishing schemes involve job offers. Once the unsuspecting victims fill out the “application,” answering personal questions and including their Social Security number, the phisher has them in his grasp.53