vol. 54 núm. 1 (2012): enero - junio

This article develops in international terms some aspects of criminal policy in the 19th and 20th centuries and its influence on the Colombian penitentiary system, particularly at the Gorgona Island prison and the Araracuara and Oriente criminal justice colonies, where both the opening and closing of each one of these centers are included. Likewise, it covers the relevant legislative survey, geographical location, features, and penitentiary structure in order to identify the problem of criminal justice colonies and the treatment applied on convicts within their individual efficiency framework.

A transversal, descriptive and correlational study was carried out for the purpose of analyzing domestic violence, alcohol consumption, and depressive symptomatology in a group of inmates in a social re-adaptation center, and to determine as well the relationship between these variables and the type of crimes committed. A non-probabilistic sample of 385 men confined in a social re-adaptation center in Mexico was selected, of which the highest percentage consisted of males between 18 and 30 years of age. An instrument was used to assess: alcohol consumption in terms of frequency and amount (indicators of the National Addiction Survey); depressive symptomatology (Scale of the Epidemiological Study Center CES-D), and domestic violence (verbal aggression, physical aggression, humiliation, and disrespect). The results showed that 75.6% of the inmates had committed theft, and more than half of them were still awaiting sentencing. With respect to domestic violence and alcohol consumption, the highest percentage of inmates reported low volumes (81.8 and 49.5%, respectively). Nevertheless, in depression situations, 50% exhibited high levels. It was found that a larger number of inmates with a history of intense domestic violence had committed kidnappings, and a higher percentage of those with a heavy consumption of alcohol were charged with murder or manslaughter. As per those with high depressive symptomatology rates, most of them reported having committed rapes.

Police performance is an essential factor in the achievement of security policies. However, in the region, both data sources and analysis tools are scarce. Using and taking advantage of opinion surveys and applying an ad hoc instrument like the "perception of police performance index" in Chile is useful to improve the relationship between the Police and people. This article is intended to deal with the study of police efficiency, not only from an econometrical perspective but also in psychosocial and sociopolitical terms. The results of the application of this instrument are presented, and reflections for understanding them are off ered within police work improvement dynamics, and public security policies.

In Colombia, like anywhere worldwide, an increasing involvement of women in criminal behaviors has been witnessed. In this sense, an interdisciplinary team organized by the OBSER DIJIN investigative group has furnished useful facts based on evidences obtained from the application of investigation techniques, the main result of which was an approach to both the dimension and the features of this phenomenon where elements for the formulation of a criminal policy in Colombia were contributed. The study included quantitative and qualitative tools for the gathering of information and further analysis. National Police databases were used to obtain records on women captured in Colombia, as well as information provided by the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) with respect to convicted and imprisoned females. For the purpose of inquiring into some variables of interest, a representative sample was taken to which a three-category structure questionnaire was applied as to obtain, among others: socio-demographic features, crime characterization, and motivations for the perpetration of crimes. Discussion groups were organized for the relevant analysis of these categories in the areas of family environment, criminal careers, cost-benefit considerations for the commission of some kind of crimes, likelihood of recidivism, and the perception of women involved in several criminal activities, in order to delve into factors associated with their decisions and personal motivations having influenced them.

This study shows the existence of organized criminal groups in the Mexican territory engaged in the traffic of protected species by taking advantage of the same routes used by drug traffickers and, in many occasions, through the diversification of illegal trafficking activities whether of humans, arms, drugs, or wild animals. They usually obtain profits exceeded only by the illegal drug business. Despite these facts, no regulation exists in Mexican legislation for wildlife species trafficking seen as an offense committed by organized crime; therefore, all the range of exceptional instruments created to investigate, persecute and punish this kind of criminals cannot be used in these cases. The content analysis method referred to books, specialized journals and magazines, journalistic notes and United Nations documents have been used, with an emphasis on data produced by the environmental crime committee about the actions of organized crime groups.

Considering that the National Police of Colombia is one of the institutions having signed the "Pacto Intersectorial por la Madera Legal en Colombia" designed to verify by means of an inter-sector covenant or alliance, the legality and the legal source of both the wood and the chain of custody, a microscopic characterization of seven threatened forest species, as an academic contribution to police activity within the framework of environmental legislation. This research not only contributes to state environmental management but also as an incentive to the preparation of a technical field guide to the recognition of woods, since Colombian Police, as a control entity in the mobilization of biological diversity specimens, leads -apart from meeting its specific mission-, protection, preservation, recovery or reclamation or natural resources in support of the other regional and local environmental authorities, by deploying strategies oriented to prevent the illegal wood traffic which, at present, amounts to 40% on average, nationwide. This study carries out a microscopic characterization of the Aspidospermapolyneuron, A. megalocarpon, Humiriastrumprocerum, Hymenaeaoblongifolia, H. courbaril, Isidodendrontripterocarpum, and Juglansneotropica species, as a tool for the identification of samples serving to support verification, control, and the post-seizure process in illegal wood mobilization.

This article describes the results obtained by the National Police in the development of strategies leading to guarantee security and good citizen coexistence in Colombia during 2011. It refers to captures relating to all criminal off enses established in the Criminal Code, as well as the rescuing of kidnapped persons, the deactivation of explosive artifacts, the recovery of missing vehicles, and the seizure and recovery of stolen merchandise among other activities of wide national and international notoriety in the scene of the fight against crime.

This article contains a descriptive and analytical study of criminal data as consolidated by the National Police in Colombia during 2011, and some reflections about the criminogenesis throughout the national territory with the use of crime maps for the purpose of envisioning regional criminal dynamics on a geographical basis. Moreover, it makes a comparative description of off enses with social impact in 2010 and 2011, followed by some pondering over the main variables in each criminal type, as well as the modalities used by the perpetrators; finally, it presents come tables with statistical indices, and a spatial analysis of the most shocking criminal behaviors in the country.

This document describes experiences in the legal use of the polygraph as an evaluation technique within the framework of psychological expertise in five criminal actions against sexual offense cases in Bogota, Colombia, and it evidences how forensic psychophysiology could be introduced in the judicial proceeding, although judges are not necessarily or particularly fond of this criterion.