DIC 2003 Annual Report

Submitted by Rosemary Barberet (Chair)

April 7, 2004

 

This report details the activities of the DIC since the submission of our last annual report in April, 2003.

 

According to the DIC Constitution the Division has the following purpose:

 

I.                     to foster research and exchange of information concerning criminology in an international perspective;        

II.                   to encourage effective teaching and practice of criminological principles and to develop curricula for courses in international criminology;

III.                  to identify criteria and standards for evaluating criminal justice systems;

IV.               to provide a forum for personal interaction and exchange of ideas among persons involved in international criminology; and,

V.                 to promote conference sessions pertaining to international criminology.

 

  1. Officers

 

Elections were held in August for 2003-2005 Officers.  Rosemary Barberet was

re-elected Chair, William F. McDonald Secretary and Bonnie Fisher re-elected Treasurer.  At the DIC Business Meeting in Denver, the following Executive Councillors were appointed: Dick Andzenge, Liqun Cao (re-appointed), Nancy Grosselfinger, Cindy Smith (re-appointed) and Alexander Vazsonyi (re-appointed).

 

  1. 2003-2005 Short Term Objectives

 

At the DIC Business Meeting in Denver, the following short term objectives were adopted for 2003-2005.  These objectives supplement those previously stated as our purpose in the DIC Constitution.

 

·        Encourage excellency in comparative/international scholarship

·        Play a leading role in our role as a recognized NGO at the UN

·        Increase student membership and membership from developing nations

·        Liase more closely with the ASC Board and with other ASC divisions and committees in achieving internationalisation of the ASC

·        Encourage transparency of crime and criminal justice data worldwide and facilitate research access to such data by criminologists.

·        Monitor funding resources (or lack thereof) for international/comparative criminology

  1. Membership

 

DIC Membership at the time of our business meeting at the ASC in Denver totalled 411.  This represents an increase from 360 in 2002 and 275 in 2001.  Several membership recruitment events took place this year.  At the ASC Annual Meeting in Denver, DIC sponsored sessions were papered with a flyer encouraging presenters and attendees at those sessions to become DIC members.  Additionally, all ASC members received a sheet that was enclosed with the annual ASC membership renewal mailing in early 2004.   DIC Chair Barberet distributed a flyer at the ISC congress in Rio de Janeiro and the ESC conference in Helsinki, both in August of 2003.  A membership committee chaired by Ineke Marshall and composed of three students has been established for 2003-2004, to promote membership among ASC student members in particular.

 

The DIC voted at its business meeting to offer free membership to all ASC members from developing countries, using World Bank indicator criteria (GDP) currently adopted by the International Sociological Association for its own sliding scale membership fee.  This has meant adding about 25 more members to the DIC roster.

 

According to records kept by ASC Executive Director Chris Eskridge, the DIC is now the largest ASC Division.  Our current aim is to hit 500 members by Nashville.

 

2.4.      Finances

 

Finances were reported in absentia by DIC Treasurer Bonnie Fisher at the DIC Business Meeting in Denver as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIC BUDGET REPORT

INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR 2002 THROUGH TO 30 SEPTEMBER 03

 

 

ITEM

AMOUNT

BALANCE

2002 YEAR INCOME

 

 

 

Beginning balance

 

  $-  97.46

Total 2002 dues paid

3,045.00

2,947.54

Luncheons paid

2,186.00

5,133.54

Luncheon expenses

-  3,321.60

1,811.94

Expenses

 

 

Printing

   - 95.18

1,716.76

Awards

 - 360.65

1,356.11

Postage

 -   54.68

1,301.43

Balance as of 31 December 02

 

$1,301.43

 

 

 

2003 YEAR to 30 SEPTEMBER 03[1]

 

 

Total 2003 dues paid

2,820.00

4,121.43

Luncheons paid

   482.00

4,603.43

Expenses

 

 

Printing

  - 107.02

4,496.41

Balance as of 30 September 03

 

  $ 4,496.41

 

 

3.5.      Activities

 

    1. Newsletter.  There were four issues of the newsletter in 2003 (most recent attached).  These were edited by Rosemary Barberet. 

 

    1. Webpage.  The DIC webpage, created in early 2002 as part of the ASC website by Liqun Cao, has been maintained throughout the year by him as well.  He resigned from this task in early 2004 and has been replaced by Sharon Chamard at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

 

    1. DIC sponsored panels.  There were 39 DIC sponsored panels at the ASC Annual Meeting in Chicago.  We reviewed the Annual Meeting Program before it was sent to print and identified panels considered to be international/ comparative:

 

DIC Sponsored Sessions in Denver, 2003
Wednesday, November 19, 2003

 

1:00 p.m.        Session 39    Aspects of Crime and Policing in Taiwan

                        Session 43    Programs Which Prepare Inmates for Reintegration:

Cross National Comparisons

                        Session 47    Punishment and Society: Punitive Mentalities

                        Session 53    International Police Issues

                        Session 61    The New Mafia: Perspectives on the Changing Nature

of Organized Crime

 

2:40 p.m.        Session 64    Civilian Disarmament and Genocide

            Session 65    The American Society of Criminology's Special

Consultative Status at the United Nations

                        Session 73    Is There a Criminology Strong Enough to Confront

U.S. Empire?: Part I-Global Issues

            Session 78    International Policing

 

4:20 p.m.        Session 93    Comparative Analyses of Criminal Justice Processes

and Structures

            Session 94    Who in the World Should Have Guns?

            Session 109  In Search of Security

            Session 117  Understanding Organized Crime and Terrorism  

 

Thursday, November 20, 2003

 

8:00 a.m.        Session 121  Comparative Justice Systems

                        Session 126  Spatial Analysis as a Tool for Guiding Policy and

Practice

 

9:40 a.m.        Session 156  Technology and Police Work

                        Session 160  The Social Construction of Crime and Punishment

 

1:00 p.m.        Session 180  International Issues in Policing

                        Session 181  Roundtable: Punitive Regions: The U.S., Germany,

and Japan

                        Session 204  Roundtable: Eurogang Research Program: Recent

Developments

 

2:40 p.m.        Session 215  Juvenile Justice in Non-Euro-American Traditions

                        Session 217  Roundtable: International Prison Initiative (IPI)

Project           

                        Session 230  Roundtable: Counter Colonial Criminology: A

Critique of Imperialist Reason

                        Session 236  Comparing Systems of Juvenile Justice

                        Session 250  THEMATIC SESSION: Theory and Research on

Terrorism

                        Session 251  Roundtable: Ethnicity as an Essential Factor in

Understanding and Explaining the Nature and

Composition of Organized Crime Groups in the

United States

                        Session 253  Roundtable Organized Crime in Poland and Africa

 

Friday, November 21, 2003

 

8:00 a.m.        Session 266  Globalization and (In)Justice: Feminist and Critical

 Perspectives

                        Session 271  Longitudinal Research in Criminology II

                        Session 272  Policy Responses to International Pressures

 

9:40 a.m.        Session 288  Comparative Cross-National Research: Implications

for Theory

                        Session 298  Comparative and Cross-Cultural Studies of Crime and

Criminal Justice

 

1:00 p.m.        Session 308  THEMATIC SESSION: Generalizing the General

Theory of Crime

                        Session 311  Errors in Justice

                        Session 315  Afro-Optimism and Afrenaissance: Criminology,

Democracy, and Justice in Post-Colonial Africa

                        Session 320  A Democratic Model of Policing, Post Conflict

Criminology and Democratic Development

 

4:20 p.m.        Session 360  International Issues in Juvenile Delinquency

 

Saturday, November 22, 2003

 

10:40 a.m.      Session 419  Homicide and Other Serious Violence

                        Session 420  Human Trafficking and Criminal Networks

           

    1. Social Activities at Annual Meetings in Denver

 

At the Annual Meeting in Denver, besides our business meeting, the DIC sponsored a hosting service, a table, a luncheon, a site visit to VS2000, and two special United Nations workshops. 

 

The hosting service was organized by Alexander Vazsonyi and involved matching an ASC Annual meeting “first timer” to an ASC Annual meeting “old timer” in order to ensure that both scholars from abroad and from the United States are personally welcomed at the Annual Meetings.  Again, despite our best efforts, there was little take-up. 

 

Ineke Marshall coordinated a DIC table near the book exhibit. 

 

The DIC luncheon attracted about 80 attendees, compared to 100 in Chicago and 67 in Atlanta.  A reduced price was offered to students and DIC members, and all enjoyed the ‘Colorado Homestead buffet’.  The DIC luncheon included an awards ceremony, and afterwards, “open mike” during which members were allowed to make spontaneous announcements of upcoming conferences and other activities.

 

    1. Awards

 

The DIC Distinguished Book Award was led by committee chair Ineke Marshall. Committee members were Janice Joseph, Mahesh Nalla, Barbara Owen, and John Winterdyk. There were 12 books nominated, 10 of which were acceptable because they had a publication date of 2002, the other two having a 2003 publication date [and therefore eligible in the coming year]. The Committee did not meet face-to-face but via email. Each member read all of the books, ranked the top candidates 1, 2 or 3 and the book receiving the highest number of positive votes was declared the winner.

 

This year the award went to Martha K. Huggins, Mika Haritos-Fatouros, and Philip P. Zimbardo for Violence Workers: Police Torturers and Murders Reconstruct Brazilian Atrocities, University of California Press. 2002. The book is an empirical study of criminal justice employees in several cultures who engage in unlawful/excessive force/violence in the course of their professional criminal justice duties. The DIC arranged afterwards for DIC members to purchase the book at a 20% discount thanks to the generosity of the University of California Press.  Four copies of the book were donated by the authors for distribution to worthy sites of DIC’s choosing, including universities in Venezuela, Nigeria, and China). A former student of Martha Huggins received the award on behalf of all the authors and expressed their gratitude for this recognition.

 

Marshall also registered several recommendations for decision-making criteria of the Committee. 1) The deadline for submission of nominations should be moved forward from July 1 as getting copies of the books and then moving them into the reviewing member’s hands over the summer proved difficult. 2) The international/comparative nature of the work should be emphasized. 3) It must be published in English. 4) It should demonstrate sound theoretical and methodological frameworks for the subject matter.

 

The Distinguished International Scholar Award was presented by Liqun Cao as Committee Chair. The other committee members were Dick Andzenge, Joan McCord, and Cristina Rechea-Alberola. There were two nominees. After a great deal of discussion they were unable to decide between the two, both of whom presented such worthy credentials, and so they decided to give the award to both.

 

One recipient was James Vadackumchery, Professor of Criminology, Police Training College, Kerala, India who was recognized as one of the leading criminologists in India. He was unable to attend to receive the award for financial reasons.

 

The other recipient was Wang Mu, Professor of Criminal Justice and Law at the Institute of Criminal Justice, China University of Politics and Law, Beijing, China. He was recognized for his efforts at popularizing criminology as an academic discipline in China and his achievement in advancing the understanding of the politics and economics of crime and crime control in China. He was unable to attend to receive the award because he encountered delays with the U.S. government in acquiring a visa.

 

Awards Committees for 2004 are as follows. The Book Award Committee volunteers consist of Edna Erez (Chair), Suzanne Karstedt, and Daniel Glaser. The Distinguished Scholar Committee consists of Alex Vazsonyi (Chair), Mahesh Nalla, Dirk van Zyl Smit, and Nancy Grosselfinger.

 

At the ASC in Denver, the DIC also sponsored two United Nations related workshops:.

The American Society of Criminology’s Special Consultative Status at the United Nations. Wednesday, November 19, 2:40-4:10.

 

International Criminal Justice Reformers Documentary Project, Friday, November 21st, 2:40-4:10.

 

The DIC also arranged a site visit to VS2000 on Friday, November 21st, 9-10:30.  There are many DIC members interested in victimology, and this visit attracted about 15 attendees, many of whom were from Japan and Taiwan.  VS2000 Denver, was an OVC (Office for Victims of Crime) demonstration project that aims to provide comprehensive, coordinated and seamless delivery of services to meet the needs of crime victims at a particular site.   The DIC would be happy to organize site visits in the future.  For many of our attendees from abroad, attending the ASC is a rare and expensive opportunity, such that offering site visits helps them take advantage of their stay in the United States.

 

 

 

f.        Journal affiliation. 

DIC Journal Committee Report was presented by Rosemary Barberet. The Committee was composed of Rosemary Barberet (Chair), Paul Friday, Joan McCord, and Phyllis Schultze. Beside internet discussion they met earlier in the ASC meeting to finalize their report. They had reviewed several potential journals for affiliation. They chose to recommend The  International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, edited by Mahesh Nalla, published out of Michigan State University, based upon its longevity in print,  relative quality, editor’s flexibility in terms of depth of input [advisory and editorial boards], and value for money.

 

Subject to ASC approval, the DIC would enter into a two year “memorandum of understanding” in which the DIC will be able to appoint five persons to the Advisory Board for terms of three years, ten persons to the Associate Editor Board for terms of three years [thus giving DIC 50% input] for the cost of $10 raise in DIC dues membership for two (2) issues of the journal per year beginning in 2005. The objective is to together, with the editorial management, raise a third tier journal to a second tier journal.

 

This recommendation of affiliation with the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice was approved and will now be put to a balloted vote by the full DIC membership.

 

g. DIC Constitution and By-Laws Reform Proposals were circulated and discussed. The Chair explained the intent to create a Treasurer’s post on equal footing with the other officers, changing the language of Advisory Council to Executive Council, raising to at least four Executive Councillors from the current three, accelerating the timeframe for changes in the Constitution and By-Laws, creating a Program Committee to advise the larger ASC Program Committee on subjects ‘recommended’ by the DIC, creating a Web-page Committee, creating a Publications Committee (in anticipation of journal affiliation), creating a U.N. Representation team, structuring the nominations process [for elected office] better, providing for the DIC Chair as ex officio member on all Committees, and having Executive Counselors elected by the membership instead by volunteering.

 

These modified revisions were approved and must now be put to a ballot vote by Division members.

 

4.6.      ASC Policy

 

    1. Representatives sent to criminology association meetings abroad

 

ASC continued to send representatives in 2003 to meetings of associations of criminology abroad.  In last year’s Annual Report, the DIC informed the ASC Board that it would like to play a greater role in these “ambassador” trips and that at the very least, it would like the ASC to fully specify the role of the “ambassador” and request a report on each journey.  The DIC is disappointed that this role is not taken more seriously and that ASC funds have been disbursed for trips that have not resulted in fuller reports to the ASC membership.

    1. ASC Membership to Members from Developing Nations

 

For three years now the DIC has been encouraging the ASC to consider giving free or reduced membership to criminologists from developing nations.  This year the DIC has taken the initiative to give free DIC membership to these criminologists.  Obviously, this is only a gesture of good will since DIC members must first be ASC members.  We reiterate our desire to have the ASC take a stance on this issue.

 

b.c.      DIC Scholar Travel Fund

 

At the DIC business meeting in Denver, we voted to establish a travel fund for the DIC Distinguished Scholar Award recipient, conscious that it has been impossible for many of the awardees to travel to the ASC to collect their award for financial reasons.  We also voted to request that the ASC provide matching funds for this purpose.

 

    1. United Nations

 

The American Society of Criminology applied for NGO special consultative status to the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations in 2001, thanks to the work of DIC members William Chambliss (DIC Chair at the time), Paul Friday and ASC Executive Director Chris Eskridge.   In 2002 this status was granted.  This enables the ASC to attend a variety of UN meetings in an observational role, the most important of which are the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice annual sessions, held in May in Vienna and the quinquennial United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (the next one to be held in Thailand in 2005, for which the DIC is generating interest in special topic sessions) and to join organisations such as the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and ISPAC (International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council).  The DIC is proud to be spearheading this effort of representing the ASC at the United Nations.  Cindy Smith continued to  attend Alliance meetings in New York in 2003, Nancy Grosselfinger and Cindy Smith attended the annual ISPAC meeting in Courmayeur, Italy in November (Cindy Smith attended as an invited speaker), and a delegation of four, including Chris Eskridge, Rosemary Barberet, Nancy Grosselfinger, and Cindy Smith, will be attending the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice thirteenth session in May, 2004 in Vienna.   The DIC has drafted a document of procedures for this new ASC endeavor, as well as a brochure which is distributed at the UN which describes the ASC as an organization.   Last year’s delegation to the Crime Commission in Vienna resulted in a 20 page report to the ASC Board and ASC membership (available on the DIC website) as well as a cover article in the Criminologist (November/December issue).  Cindy Smith routinely submits reports on the Alliance meetings.  After the 2003 Crime Commission meeting in Vienna, DIC Executive Councillor Alexander Vazsonyi researched the backgrounds of other NGOs in consultative status at the UN and wrote a detailed report.

 

The DIC would like to reiterate its wish that the ASC letterhead include the following phrase, as is customary when an NGO is granted consultative status at the U.N.:

 

“The American Society of Criminology is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.”

 

Conclusion

 

The DIC is engaged in constant dialogue twelve months a year on issues relating to comparative international criminology, not just at the Annual Meeting of the ASC.  The DIC’s  role is three-pronged and includes that of village, advocate and resource.  It provides an informational support network for DIC members (‘village’), it advocates for the international perspective within the ASC at large, and it constitutes a valuable knowledge resource for the ASC, the United Nations and other research communities.

 

 



[1]  These are the first 3 quarters figures for 2003.  There will no expenses until after the ASC meeting in Denver.