Dog thefts - but not prosecutions - on the rise.

Georgina Mills reports on new findings from the Kennel Club showing that dog thefts are on the rise but criminal charges are rarely brought.

Perceived Types, Causes, and Consequences of Financial Exploitation: Narratives From Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to investigate the perception of financial exploitation and its causes and consequences by older adults who have firsthand experience of being exploited. METHOD: Thirty-one cognitively healthy older adult participants aged 50 or older were drawn from the Finance, Cognition, and Health in Elders Study. In-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted. Interview transcripts were analyzed using an iterative, data-driven, thematic coding scheme and emergent themes were summarized. RESULTS: Categories of financial exploitation included (a) investment fraud, (b) wage theft/money owed, (c) consumer fraud, (d) imposter schemes, and (e) manipulation by a trusted person. Themes emerged around perceived causes: (a) element of trust, (b) promise of financial security, (c) lack of experience or awareness, (d) decision-making, and (e) interpersonal dynamics. Perceived consequences included negative and positive impacts around (a) finances, (b) financial/consumer behaviors (c) relationships and trust, (d) emotional impact, and (e) future outlook. DISCUSSION: These narratives provide important insights into perceived financial exploitation experiences.

To Catch a Thief: Protecting Proprietary Information Including Trade Secrets From Corporate Espionage.

Corporate espionage is a multifaceted problem causing hundreds of billions of dollars in losses to businesses each year. Health care managers have a wide variety of options available to prevent theft of their organizations' trade secrets and other proprietary information. Organizations should protect their confidential and trade secret information by taking various security measures to limit access to protected material and by using appropriate types of restrictive covenants such as nondisclosure, noncompetition, and nonsolicitation agreements. This article provides helpful guidance for managers to maximize protection against theft of proprietary information.

What To Do When Employees Steal: Medical Practices Are a Ripe Target for Embezzlement.

Medical practices are a ripe target for embezzlement.

Gun Theft and Crime.

Some law enforcement officials and other observers have asserted that theft is the primary source of guns to crime. In fact, the role of theft in supplying the guns used in robbery, assault, and murder is unknown, and current evidence provides little guidance about whether an effective program to reduce gun theft would reduce gun violence. The current article analyzes publicly available national data on gun theft together with a unique data set for Chicago. The results tend to support a conclusion that stolen guns play only a minor role in crime. First, publicly available data are used to calculate that thefts are only about 1% of all gun transactions nationwide. Second, an analysis of original data from Chicago demonstrates that less than 3% of crime guns recovered by the police have been reported stolen to the Chicago Police Department (CPD). If a gun is reported stolen, there is a 20% chance that it will be recovered, usually in conjunction with an arrest for illegal carrying. Less than half of those picked up with a stolen gun have a criminal record that includes violent offenses. Third, results from surveys of convicted criminals, both nationally and in Chicago, suggest that it is rare for respondents to have stolen the gun used in their most recent crime. The data on which these results are based have various shortcomings. A research agenda is proposed that would provide more certainty about the role of theft.

An Epidemiological Study of Burglary Offenders: Trends and Predictors of Self-Reported Arrests for Burglary in the United States, 2002-2013.

Burglary is serious property crime with a relatively high incidence and has been shown to be variously associated with other forms of criminal behavior. Unfortunately, an epidemiological understanding of burglary and its correlates is largely missing from the literature. Using public-use data collected between 2002 and 2013 as part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the current study compared those who self-reported burglary arrest in the prior 12 months with and without criminal history. The unadjusted prevalence estimates of self-reported burglary arrest were statistically different for those with a prior arrest history (4.7%) compared with those without an arrest history (0.02%) which is a 235-fold difference. Those with an arrest history were more likely to report lower educational attainment, to have lower income, to have moved more than 3 times in the past 5 years, and to use alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and engage in binge drinking. Moreover, those with prior arrest histories were younger and more likely to be male. There is considerable heterogeneity among burglars with criminal history indicating substantially greater behavioral risk.

Stealing behavior and impulsivity in individuals with kleptomania who have been arrested for shoplifting.

OBJECTIVES: Kleptomania is characterized by strong urges to steal and is one of only a few psychiatric disorders defined by illegal behaviors, but the clinical characteristics of individuals with kleptomania who have faced legal consequences due to their behavior are poorly understood. METHOD: From 2001 to 2012, we recruited 107 adult participants with DSM-IV kleptomania. Participants with a history of shoplifting-related arrest (N=82) were compared with those who had no such history (N=25) on demographics, clinical features, and a self-report measure of impulsivity. RESULTS: Participants whose shoplifting had resulted in arrest had higher self-rated impulsivity on a weak trend level (Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire), with large to very large effect size (Cohen's d=1.12). Group comparisons showed no significant differences in terms of overall functioning (d=0.60), time spent stealing (d=0.73), frequency of stealing behavior (d=0.33), psychiatric comorbidity, or severity of kleptomania symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Legal problems in kleptomania may be associated with generalized deficits in inhibitory control independent of kleptomania symptom severity. These findings emphasize the need for treatment to improve functional status in individuals with kleptomania and reduce the social and economic costs associated with reoffending.

[Task force for falsified medicines]. / Bund-Länder-Arbeitsgruppe Arzneimittelfälschungen.

In 2014, a large number of falsified medicines of Italian origin had come to light. Because of the extent of the falsification, the situation that most of these falsified medicines had been traced back to thefts in Italy by criminal networks, and the necessity of actions by national and local authorities, an intensified exchange of information was essential, in addition to a process of coordination. A task force for falsified medicines was established to optimize the flow of information among all parties involved and to coordinate the necessary measures.One result was the implementation of a procedure for optimizing the exchange of information and for harmonisation of required measures on falsified medicines. In particular, this procedure covers situations in which there is no clear legal responsibility, and is now considered as part of the work of the authorities. In addition, a database has been established in which all pharmaceutical wholesalers located in Germany with a valid wholesale license are publicly accessible. As a preventive measure, information about known thefts will be forwarded to parallel traders and their associations. This is to avoid these products coming onto the market in Germany.

Análisis psiquiátrico-forense del concepto jurídico de arrebato / Psychiatric-forensic analysis of the legal concept of outburst

El arrebato, como circunstancia atenuante de responsabilidad penal recogida en la legislación española, se corresponde psicopatológicamente con la emoción de ira. Identificamos en este artículo los elementos comunes jurídicos y psicopatológicos de ambos conceptos (presencia de estímulos, provocación de reacciones emocionales, desencadenamiento de conductas). Estudiamos la ira como constructo psicológico y psiquiátrico (reacciones vivenciales anormales) y tratamos de establecer los criterios para el diagnóstico médico-legal de las conductas derivadas de la ira: estudio de los estímulos, de la personalidad del sujeto, de su biografía y de sus circunstancias actuales, análisis de las emociones provocadas y de los comportamientos delictivos presentados, y repercusiones en las esferas cognitiva y volitiva. La observación global de todos estos elementos facilitará un diagnostico psiquiátrico-forense que permita al juzgador la eventual aplicación del atenuante de arrebato

An outburst, as an extenuating circumstance of criminal liability under Spanish law, psychopathologically corresponds to the emotion of anger. In this article, we identify the common legal and psychopathological elements of both concepts (presence of stimuli, provocation of emotional reactions, trigger of conduct). We study anger as a psychological and psychiatric construct (abnormal existential reactions) and try to establish criteria for the medical and legal diagnosis of anger-derived conduct. Study of stimuli, of the subject's personality, their biography and current circumstances, analysis of the emotions provoked, and of the offensive behaviour in question and repercussions on the cognitive and volitional spheres. The global observation of all these elements will enable a psychiatric and forensic diagnosis that allows the court to apply the mitigating circumstances of fit of rage as required

[Stealing as an Impulse Control Disorder Associated with Pramipexole - A Case Report from Forensic Psychiatric Practice]. / Diebstahl als Pramipexol-assoziierte Impulskontrollstörung ­ Ein Fallbericht aus der Schuldfähigkeitsbegutachtung.

We report the case of a 48-year-old female whom we examined for legal culpability. The proband was taking the dopamine agonist pramipexole as a treatment for Parkinson's disease. In temporal association, she had committed numerous shoplifting offences.While pathological gambling, excessive shopping and hypersexuality have often been described as adverse effects of dopamine agonists, there are only few reports about impulsive stealing in this context.We discuss the synergy of the pharmacological effects with familial, biographic and social factors, suggesting a bio-psycho-social etiology.