ABSTRACT Mafia-type organisations often have a strong geographical and cultural entrenchment in the territory they belong. However, their analysis as a spatially networked social structure is still missing. A combined socio-spatial network analysis is presented here, through the demise of a large police operation called Operazione Perseo in 2008. This approach is developed in two ways. At first, a

ABSTRACT Using a crime script analysis, this research aims to document how smugglers operate when they traffic arms from the US to foreign countries. Our study is based on an analysis of 66 cases that have been judged by US courts (2008–2017). The criminal activities involved are detailed in a series of distinct scenes, according to Cornish’s theory. Five scripts have been developed, based on the means

(2022). Introduction: the criminology of Carlo Morselli. Global Crime: Vol. 23, The Criminology of Carlo Morselli, pp. 1-4.

ABSTRACT Individuals who report having had a mentor also tend to report higher levels of criminal achievement. However, prior studies focused on indirect yet tangible outcomes of mentorship, telling us little about the direct – though potentially intangible – benefits of these relationships to the mentee. In this study, we analyse the content of 28 life story narratives of offenders to examine the

ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore the determinants of co-membership in organised crime groups in a British police force. We find that co-membership of OCGs is higher among individuals who share the same ethnicity and nationality; who have committed acts of violence; and who perpetrate the vast majority of their crimes in the same area. We also find a homophily tendency in relation to age and gender

ABSTRACT Cybercriminal markets serve as hubs for offenders and enable the sale of illegal goods and services. Thus far, the primary tactics that have been employed against these sites are arrests of cybercriminals and takedowns of marketplace infrastructure. This research note examines a different genus of disruptive strategy: attacks on user reputation. In this area, there has been some scholarly

ABSTRACT Criminal capital theory suggests more experienced offenders receive higher returns from crime. Offenders who accrue skills over their criminal career are better able to minimise detection, increase profits, and navigate illegal markets. Yet shifts in the offending landscape to technologically-dependent crimes have led some to suggest that the skills necessary to be successful in conventional

ABSTRACT Why do criminal groups decide to adopt political discourses? We argue that an armed group’s discursive politicisation (the public declaration of political motivations) is more likely when the state declares the organisation to be an existential threat, militarises the fight against it (securitisation), and when the leaders of the armed group have had political training. This discourse aims

ABSTRACT This article asks whether some forms of collective action against criminal rule can mitigate or reduce violence. Focusing on the case of Michoacán, Mexico, this study examines the aftermath of an armed mobilisation against criminal governance that occurred between 2013 and 2014. It argues that the emergence of vigilante groups known as autodefensas was part of a regional cycle of violence

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the impact of the targeting of key players by law enforcement on the structure, communication strategies, and activities of a drug trafficking network. Data are extracted from judicial court documents. The unique nature of the investigation – which saw a key player being arrested mid-investigation but police monitoring continuing for another year – allows to compare

ABSTRACT The rise of organised crime changed Chicago violence structurally by creating networks of rivalries and conflicts wherein violence ricocheted. This study examines the organised crime violence network during Prohibition by analysing ‘violence brokers’ – individuals who committed multiple violence acts that linked separate violent events into a connected violence network. We analyse the two-mode

ABSTRACT This article reviews research undertaken over the past two decades to support international policy on small arms and light weapons (SALW) – which include firearms – and discusses its relevance to academic debates and policy on gun violence. It examines whether SALW research generated a greater understanding of the most problematic uses and users of firearms, and of the role of different weapons

ABSTRACT The unique scholarship of Carlo Morselli fuelled interest in criminal networks, entrepreneurship, and achievement. In this paper, we summarise Morselli’s contributions to the scholarship on criminal achievement, with special attention to the subjective aspects of such achievement. We show how Morselli’s work ignited interest in the novel concept of criminal self-efficacy and we offer a number

ABSTRACT The theft of refined oil products provides criminal groups with significant financial resources that threaten the environment and socio-economic stability of countries where it occurs. Violence is also associated with this criminal activity. Using crime script analysis, a detailed interpretation of the theft of oil via the illegal tapping of pipelines in Mexico was constructed. The analysis

ABSTRACT During the 1990s, the United States and other wealthy democracies experienced a decline in homicide rates. However, not all nations shared this trend. Despite disparate homicide patterns, researchers usually examine the average effect of correlates on homicide, potentially obscuring the impact of heterogeneity within large samples. The current study addresses this implicit homogeneity assumption

ABSTRACT During the last decade, over 160,000 people were forcibly displaced internally because of narco-violence in Mexico. Displaced families suffer social and economic vulnerabilities that make them easy prey for trafficking and exploitation. This paper analyses the association between forced displacement caused by narco-violence and trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation in Mexico

ABSTRACT Recent literature has demonstrated that the War on Drugs policies had different consequences for different population groups. Despite this, female homicide victimisation resulting from such policies remains an underexplored subject of study. This paper examines the asymmetrical patterns of female homicides in the Mexican states that implemented the 2006 War on Drugs. A group-based trajectory

ABSTRACT Homicidal violence has increased substantially in Mexico City in recent years. In this regard, we ask three questions: First, is there a contagious spread of this violence across neighbourhoods? Second, does it spread in association with drug market activity among local criminal organisations? Third, does it spread to neighbourhoods characterised by concentrated disadvantage, disorder, and

ABSTRACT The reinstating of temporary EU-internal physical borders and their increased safeguarding through border checks has increased the dependence of irregular migrants on organised criminal groups (OCGs) in facilitating their journeys. The article explores organisational structure and operation of OCGs operating within this under-researched human smuggling context, with a focus on the transit

ABSTRACT This paper identifies offender choice patterns associated with extortion subtypes in El Salvador, Central America. Previous research attributes the rise of extortion in the country to the evolution and propagation of Los Angeles-born street gangs Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18. Data from a unique business victimisation survey is used to analyse 53 decisions in 869 reported cases. The

ABSTRACT Disrupting drug operations requires a measured approach to identifying critical actors playing instrumental roles in support of illicit drug market activity. We use a quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) nodal regression routine to explore the explanatory relevance of human capital in accounting for an actor’s structural position within two methamphetamine trafficking communities—one originating

ABSTRACT For decades Japanese criminal syndicates, collectively known as the yakuza, enjoyed a highly visible and semi-legal status that positioned them in a grey area. Accordingly, also much of the yakuza’s business lies in a grey zone: night-entertainment, different forms of gambling, front companies and (fake) social movements. However, following the introduction of new stricter regulations, the

ABSTRACT Online and digital platforms play a central role in today’s illegal activities and related networks. Communicating through these channels makes creating an online criminal identity crucial to establish oneself as trustworthy and meet the needs of potential buyers, especially when reaching out to strangers in a market. A highly needed skill is balancing the signals of attracting wanted attention

ABSTRACT The size of the global market for illicit tobacco products is estimated to be between USD$8.6 and USD$11.6 billion yearly. In addition to an estimated cost of USD$40.5 billion in lost tax revenue the illicit tobacco market further increases the accessibility of a harmful substance for minors and provides a revenue stream for both organised crime and violent political groups. In this paper

(2021). The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia. Global Crime: Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 166-169.

With Industry of Anonymity, Jonathan Lusthaus has written a thorough scientific book which reads like a novel and keeps you interested till the end. The empirical work on which this book is based i...

ABSTRACT This article applies Haggerty and Ericson’s surveillant assemblage concept to the recent wave of social media user arrests in Russia. In doing so, it addresses the legislative frameworks applied to online self-expression, depicts the nuances of legal charges pressed against select social media users, assesses the role of formal law enforcement and vigilant citizens recruited to extend the

ABSTRACT This paper introduces and discusses a methodology for estimating the scale of illicit consumption of cigarettes at a national level. After reviewing current data gathering approaches and estimates, the paper delineates a methodology to estimate the consumption of each type of illicit cigarette (i.e., counterfeits, illicit whites, smuggled/trafficked genuine cigarettes). The proposed methodology

ABSTRACT Despite the growing interest in illicit waste trafficking (IWT), studies that empirically address the issue are still few. Mostly, they fail to present in-depth analysis of the different stages of IWT and to suggest crime prevention strategies. This study conducts a crime script analysis of five cross-border judicial cases from Italy to other countries. This method makes it possible to shed

ABSTRACT Focused on Mexico City, this article offers a seminal examination of the relationship between block layout and intentional homicide. The authors applied multilevel random-intercept negative binomial models to assess the contribution of block layout characteristics to homicide counts while controlling for other factors related to the physical environment and socioeconomic disadvantage. The

Research using social network analysis to study illicit networks has blossomed since publication of a seminal article by Sparrow. Nonetheless, it took about ten years before Sparrow’s call to arms gained traction, with some scepticism from the wider social science academy about the utility of social network analysis as a viable tool. Since those early days, we have witnessed a burgeoning interest in

ABSTRACT Based on two small-scale case studies, this paper discusses the supportive role of digital media in the practices of far-right vigilante groups in Slovakia and describes their political nature, motives, and the groups that they target instead of targeting crime prevention. Based on theoretical frameworks by Johnston (1996) and Trottier (2017), this paper argues that the contemporary activities

ABSTRACT The rise of a reactionary political agenda in favour of traditional values led to the launching of an anti-paedophile campaign in Russia in the early 2010s. Taken on by ‘moral entrepreneurs’ well known by the general public for their familialist ideology and homophobic speeches, the issue of paedophilia was used to justify the adoption of legislative measures reinforcing a clampdown on child

ABSTRACT The rapid evolution and current ubiquity of social media as a form of communication calls for a revision of many models of collective behaviour. In this paper, we modify a classic agent-based model of civil violence by Epstein (2002) consisting of citizen and law-enforcement agents by integrating a Watts-Strogatz small-world network (SWN). The SWN simulates non-local connections between citizens

ABSTRACT Introducing the concept of ‘armed violence capital’, this paper intends to explore radicalisation leading to violence through the acquisition of knowledge and skills of violence without active ideological indoctrination. Using civilian communities practicing specific military simulations as a case study, it assesses how this type of training might be used for a deviant and extremist purpose

ABSTRACT Using data on 32 actors and ties among them drawn from available court files, we combine analytical sociology with statistical models for networks in order to analyse a case of a counterfeit alcohol distribution network from the Czech Republic. We formulate a theory of action and identify relational mechanisms which could explain how the structure of the network emerged and describe. We use

ABSTRACT This paper explores the role of local structural conditions that facilitate or hinder violence when enmity is present between parties, by examining shooting-involved violence among street gangs in Long Beach, California. Using structural balance theory, this paper investigates whether certain triadic structures in which two rival gangs i and j are related to a third gang is associated with

ABSTRACT Digital vigilantism involves direct online actions of targeted surveillance, dissuasion or punishment, which tend to rely on public denunciation or on an excess of unsolicited attention, and are carried out in the name of justice, order or safety. Drawing on a diversity of case studies, this article seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of its manifestations, addressing both the social

ABSTRACT Drug trafficking is frequently argued to be the leading driver of other serious and organised crime, but the interrelationships between such activities remain poorly understood. This paper uses open source law enforcement data to explore interrelationships in Australia. A database was compiled of all reported criminal incidents of high-level drug trafficking between 2011 and 2017 and any concurrent

ABSTRACT There is a tendency to consider covert networks as separate from overt networks. Drawing on data from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we demonstrate that this is not the case and identify how covert and overt networks are mutually constitutive. While most studies of African brokers have relied on network metaphors like ‘Big Men’ and ‘social membranes’, we consider the embeddedness of

ABSTRACT Vigilantism is defined as collective coercive practices carried out by non-state actors and intended to enforce norms (social or judicial) or to act directly to enforce such actors’ views of the law. Vigilantes are involved in both societal control and the fight against crime. In this article, we analyse how societal vigilantes use digital media (Facebook) to act on immigration, national identity

ABSTRACT The paper addresses the nature of gang governance. It questions the notion that gangs regulate social and economic transactions and create stable orders in certain territories. It shows that, while presenting themselves as upholders of the ‘law’ in their territory, the gangs also create a climate of uncertainty and fear. The gangs manipulate their own unwritten rules and set up traps for residents

ABSTRACT The term ‘neomelodic’ defines a pop-folk music genre featuring the mediascape of Naples, Southern Italy, since the late 1980s. Neomelodic songs depict the experiences of lower-class Neapolitan subjects with a preference for those engaging with the Camorra, a powerful criminal organisation that is also a major investor in the local media industries. This article constitutes an exploration of

ABSTRACT International cocaine trafficking has been well-studied, but little is known about cocaine flows within Colombia, the largest producer and exporter of cocaine in the world. Using a unique dataset on the monthly wholesale prices of cocaine across 32 municipios in 2016, this paper estimates patterns of flows of cocaine within Colombia. For the 496 possible resulting pairs of municipios, price

ABSTRACT Individuals rely on digital media to denounce and shame other individuals. This may serve to seek justice in response to perceived offences, while often reproducing categorical forms of discrimination. Both offence taking and its response are expressed online by gathering and distributing information about targeted individuals. By seeking their own form of social and/or criminal justice, participants

ABSTRACT Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) are identified in Australia and internationally as being heavily involved in organised crime and/or as being criminal organisations. However, academic studies have shown that OMCG members are involved in organised crime to varying extents; this differs between clubs and across jurisdictions. To date, Australian studies of OMCGs are rare. Despite this, Australian

ABSTRACT In many Western countries, citizen knowledge of terrorist events is intrinsically shaped by the style of broadcasted messages published by the media. Media discourses regarding terrorist acts raise questions about how such rhetoric elicits fear in people who typically experience such events through news reports. However, we do not fully understand the impact of the media on perceptions of

ABSTRACT Globally, tobacco is responsible for the death of approximately 6 million individuals per year. In reaction, governments have enacted tobacco control policies that cope with the harmful effects of the drug. However, these policies have also created geographic price disparities and increased the effort needed to purchase legal tobacco products. The result was the creation of a new illicit tobacco

ABSTRACT The three eras in American policing – political, reform, and community – has become the default theoretical framework within the study of criminal justice, explicitly and implicitly shaping the discourse of police studies. Despite historically informed criticisms of this three-era model, no alternative theory has been proffered as a way of critically thinking about the police. This paper draws

ABSTRACT The last two decades turned Latin America into one of the most violent regions in the world. While previously, violence in the region has predominantly been associated with state repression and military dictatorships, the “new violence” that emerged since the mid-1990s is predominantly criminal. Related research has been mostly problem-driven, implying that the focus has been on how to improve

ABSTRACT What role do criminal organisations play in policymaking? Evidence presented in this paper from Latin America and the Caribbean points to the complex ways that various types of criminal groups influence the policy process. Based on the structure of the criminal organisation and the relationship between these groups and state officials this article illustrates the different types of dynamics

ABSTRACT This article assesses the nexus of militarised humanitarian work, governance and violence in the context of the ‘Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti’ (MINUSTAH). It draws on empirical fieldwork in Port-au-Prince and Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s leading role in this UN mission reinforces the country’s ambitions as an emergent economic and political power on a global stage.

ABSTRACT This article engages with institutionalist knowledge production in US-Mexican security relations, demonstrating how anti-crime governance in the Americas has shifted from a heavy-handed military rationale to a good governance and civil society–centred approach. This shift has been facilitated by the newly emerging resilience discourse which advocates turning local communities from passive

Violence in Central America has become one of the reasons for leaving the region. Recent scholarship tends to understand violence within local and regional processes, while neglecting the larger transnational processes. Focusing on the case of Hondurans seeking asylum in the United States, this article argues that the phenomenon of violence that has forced Hondurans to leave is a result of a combination

ABSTRACT The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and biggest guerrilla organisation, has long been constructed as the country’s public enemy number one, an enemy that is increasingly portrayed as an outright criminal actor who abandoned all political ambitions. This image of the FARC as a criminal threat to the Colombian state and society is central to a broader turn towards criminalisation in Colombian politics

ABSTRACT While Mexico is widely considered as an example of consolidated statehood, the deepening of drug-related violence and insecurity has corroborated the existence and expansion of ‘dark spaces’ governed by coalitions of state and non-state actors driven by criminal and political interests. In contrast to the prevailing interpretations and public narratives, I will argue that it is historically

ABSTRACT For Brazil’s ‘violence worker’ street-level bureaucrats, violence is woven into everyday practice. But violent influence flows in multiple directions; from the state to society, within the state and its agencies, from violent actors upon state bureaucrats. Real and potential violence defines the bureaucratic regime of truth, alongside the influence of a self-defined organised crime group.

ABSTRACT Here I dissect the institutionalisation of ‘citizen security’ as a category and sector of public policy in post-authoritarian Chile. Deploying a Bourdieusian field theory approach and questioning narratives of security policies as responses to criminality or adaptations to democratic values, I argue that the construction of a new security policy sector – with a new consensus (distinct from

ABSTRACT The distribution or consumption of traditional drugs has become the subject of stringent penalties throughout most of the world and synthetic designer drugs have become the alternative. Novel psychoactive substances, also called ‘legal highs’, are highly varied in terms of chemical composition. These substances are advertised and distributed as an alternative to traditional drugs on the Internet

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing literature on the use of computer-mediated communications to research illicit markets. In it, we conduct an analysis of the British cannabis market using data crowdsourced from a publicly available platform, PriceofWeed.com. Crowd-sourced transaction data present some new insights into the British cannabis market. First, this study has tracked the trafficking