Edited by Morgan Currie, Jeremy Knox and Callum McGregor

Data Justice and the Right to the City engages with theories of social justice and data-driven urbanism. It explores the intersecting concerns of data justice - both the harms and civic possibilities of the datafied society – and the right to the city - a call to redress the uneven distribution of resources and rights in urban contexts. These concerns are addressed through a variety of topics: digital social services, as cities use data and algorithms to administer to citizens; education, as data-driven practices transform learning and higher education; labour, as platforms create new precarities and risks for workers; and activists who seek to make creative and political interventions into these developments. This edited collection proposes frameworks for understanding the effects of data-driven technologies at the municipal scale and offers strategies for intervention by both scholars and citizens.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023. 386p.

By Marieke Kluin · Lisa Ansems · Jelle Brands

The public has grown increasingly concerned about environmental issues. However, few studies examine the perceived seriousness of environmental crimes. Those that do tend to focus on US citizens and compare crime seriousness ratings among different types of crimes, rather than examining the factors that shape perceptions of environmental crime seriousness. By employing a vignette survey among Dutch citizens (N=261), the current paper seeks to address this knowledge gap. It focuses on two such factors: (1) whether or not the environmental crime is committed intentionally, and (2) whether or not the environmental crime causes considerable harm. The results show that environmental crimes were perceived as more serious when committed intentionally and when they caused considerable harm. Furthermore, intentions affected perceived seriousness less in case of harm and harm affected perceived seriousness less in case the crime was committed intentionally. Together, these findings enhance our understanding of the factors that shape the perceived seriousness of environmental crimes.

Crime, Law and Social Change (2025) 83:3

By Jeffrey E. Clutter , Samuel Peterson , Samantha Henderson and Cory P. Haberman

Weather variables, like temperature and precipitation, have long been established as predictors of criminal behavior. So too have researchers established the importance of controlling for potentially criminogenic places when predicting when and where crimes will occur at micro-level units of analysis. The current study examines the role that temperature and precipitation play, along with places, in the odds of street robbery occurrence on street blocks in Cincinnati, Ohio. Using multilevel modeling, with days clustered within street blocks, our results showed that temperature, but not precipitation, predicted increased odds of street robbery occurrence, even after controlling for the presence of potentially criminogenic places. We conclude that research should continue to examine these important relationships, specifcally how weather impacts the role of places in the formation of criminal opportunities

Crime Science (2024) 13:42

By Susan L. Prescott ,Alan C. Logan ,Christopher R. D’Adamo ,Kathleen F. Holton ,Christopher A. Lowry ,John Marks ,Rob Moodie andBlake Poland

There is mounting concern over the potential harms associated with ultra-processed foods, including poor mental health and antisocial behavior. Cutting-edge research provides an enhanced understanding of biophysiological mechanisms, including microbiome pathways, and invites a historical reexamination of earlier work that investigated the relationship between nutrition and criminal behavior. Here, in this perspective article, we explore how this emergent research casts new light and greater significance on previous key observations. Despite expanding interest in the field dubbed ‘nutritional psychiatry’, there has been relatively little attention paid to its relevancy within criminology and the criminal justice system. Since public health practitioners, allied mental health professionals, and policymakers play key roles throughout criminal justice systems, a holistic perspective on both historical and emergent research is critical. While there are many questions to be resolved, the available evidence suggests that nutrition might be an underappreciated factor in prevention and treatment along the criminal justice spectrum. The intersection of nutrition and biopsychosocial health requires transdisciplinary discussions of power structures, industry influence, and marketing issues associated with widespread food and social inequalities. Some of these discussions are already occurring under the banner of ‘food crime’. Given the vast societal implications, it is our contention that the subject of nutrition in the multidisciplinary field of criminology—referred to here as nutritional criminology—deserves increased scrutiny. Through combining historical findings and cutting-edge research, we aim to increase awareness of this topic among the broad readership of the journal, with the hopes of generating new hypotheses and collaborations.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,   2024, 21(2), 120, 25p.

By Ella Cockbain, Patricio Estévez-Soto, and Felia Allum

Organised crime – and the people, processes and structures involved – do not exist in a geographical vacuum. They have an inherent spatiality: shaped by and shaping the places they occupy in physical, virtual and hybrid spaces. Although the ‘social embeddedness’ of organised crime is relatively well-recognised, its spatiality – or ‘spatial embeddedness’ – has been neglected. This article contextualises and introduces our special issue on the new geographies of organised crime. We put forward a central argument that geographical lenses can advance and enrich understanding of organised crime, briefly review relevant literature and explain some of the foundational concepts in geographical thinking. We discuss the rationale for this special issue and highlight its papers’ main contributions. Since the geographies of the illicit are full of complexities, heterogeneities and subjectivities, we do not propose any singular approach, but rather see a plurality of possibilities for better incorporating geography into organised crime scholarship. Accordingly, the papers are theoretically and methodologically diverse, as well as covering varied topics and locations

Criminology & Criminal Justice, 25(1). 2025, 3-20 pages

By John W. Ropp, Jacqueline G. Lee, Laura L. King, Lisa M. Growette Bostaph

Research continues to explore factors that contribute to high rates of attrition among sexual assault cases. Comparatively little is known, however, about prosecutorial, as opposed to police, decision-making in these cases. Using a mixed-method approach to analyze (1) 175 case files from a midsize policing agency in the West with trained sexual assault investigators and (2) detailed prosecutor notes from 52 corresponding cases, we explore patterns in three key outcomes: (a) arrest, (b) referral for prosecution, and (c) charging. Logistic regression results indicate that fewer variables predicted case outcomes compared with previous studies, suggesting that specially trained officers may be more adept at dismissing “rape myth” factors. Qualitative analysis of prosecutorial case notes, however, revealed that prosecutors tended to compare specific case elements to an envisioned “ideal” case, which frequently aligned with some pervasive rape myths prevalent in society. Prosecutors focused heavily on convictability, anticipating how a potential jury would respond to the case. Although specially trained investigators may better disregard extralegal rape-myth factors, these myths still plague decision-making at the prosecutorial stage indirectly via concerns for juror interpretation of the facts. We find strong support for the “downstream” perspective of prosecutorial decision-making.

Criminology, Volume 62, Issue 4, 2024, pages 704-738

UNITED STATES. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

From the document: "Education plays a critical role in preventing substance use and misuse. 'Drugs of Abuse, A DEA Resource Guide,' is designed to be a reliable resource on the most commonly used and misused drugs in the United States. This comprehensive guide provides important information about the harms and consequences of drug use by describing a drug's effects on the body and mind, overdose potential, origin, legal status, and other key facts. 'Drugs of Abuse' also offers a list of additional drug education and prevention resources, including the DEA websites: www.DEA.gov[;] www.JustThinkTwice.com, aimed at teenagers[;] www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com, designed for parents, educators, and caregivers[;] www.CampusDrugPrevention.gov, for higher education[; and] www.OperationPrevention.com, for opioid curricula[.]"

UNITED STATES. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION. 2024. 117p.

By Charles C. Lanfear, David S. Kirk , Robert J. Sampson

Most homicides in the United States are committed using a handgun, but little research examines gun carrying over critical stages of the life course and changing contexts of violence. Notably, although most of the handgun homicides are committed by adults, most research on concealed gun carrying focuses on adolescents in single cohort studies. Using more than 25 years of longitudinal multi-cohort data from Chicago, 1994–2021, we show that pathways of concealed gun carrying are distinct between adolescence and adulthood. Adolescent carrying is often age-limited and responsive to direct exposure to gun violence (witnessing and victimization), while adult carrying is a persistent behavior that is less tied to direct exposure. The onset of concealed carry is also a strong predictor of later gun use (shooting or brandishing), and we find distinct patterns of gun use between individuals who first carry in adolescence versus adulthood. We discuss the implications of these dual pathways for research and policies on firearm use.

Sci. Adv. 10, 2024, 12p.

By Rohit Acharya and Rhett Morris

In 2020, the average U.S. city experienced a surge in its homicide rate of almost 30%—the fastest spike ever recorded in the country. Across the nation, more than 24,000 people were killed compared to around 19,000 the year before.

Homicides remained high in 2021 and 2022, but in 2023 they began to fall rapidly. Projections suggest the national homicide rate in 2024 is on track to return to levels close to those recorded in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet that spike in murders continues to deliver major costs in terms of the lives lost, the people incarcerated, and the perception of decreased safety across the country.

Some commentators have suggested the increase in homicides during 2020 was a response to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May of that year. Others hypothesized that it was caused by a police “pull back,” in which officers chose to do less work in reaction to the protests that followed Floyd’s death.

As more information has become available, these theories appear to be less supported by evidence than some initially thought.1 The evidence indicates that the national homicide rate was already on track to reach a peak far above the previous year even before Floyd was killed.As Figure 1 demonstrates, murders began to rise rapidly in mid-April of 2020. Cell phone data show this is when residents started leaving home more often as lockdown policies eased and the weather grew warmer. During the 6-week period from April 12 to May 23 (weeks 16 to 21 in Figure 1), homicides went up by an average of 17 murders each week.

After Floyd was killed on May 25, the national homicide rate continued to follow this trend, with additional increases during the 2 weeks around Memorial Day and the 2-week period around July 4. But even the highest point of these additional increases was less than 40 murders above the pre-existing trend. While it’s true that homicides did temporarily rise more than they were already on track to following Floyd’s death, these additional increases are unlikely to explain the 5,000 additional murders seen during the year.

This leaves us with a question: What happened that could have caused homicides to spike in 2020, remain high for 2 years, and then start to decline rapidly in 2023?

New data offers a potential explanation. In this report, we analyze thousands of police records and compare them to changes that occurred in U.S. cities just before homicides started to surge. This showed that the spike in murders during 2020 was directly connected to local unemployment and school closures in low-income areas. Cities with larger numbers of young men forced out of work and teen boys pushed out of school in low-income neighborhoods during March and early April, had greater increases in homicide from May to December that year, on average. The persistence of these changes can also explain why murders remained high in 2021 and 2022 and then fell in late 2023 and 2024.

These analyses point to new answers and offer focused solutions that civic leaders can use to prevent future spikes in murder and reduce current levels of violence. We present these findings in detail below in three main sections:

First, we review evidence from existing research that reveals a formula for how violence develops in cities.

Second, we analyze detailed administrative data from a single city with multiple spikes in murder prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate how this formula applies to local communities.

Finally, we use lessons from this analysis to offer a new explanation for the national spike in homicides in 2020 and make recommendations on how to avoid future increases in murder.

Brookings, 2024. 20p.

By the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration,

Education plays a critical role in preventing substance use and misuse. Drugs of Abuse, A DEA Resource Guide, is designed to be a reliable resource on the most commonly used and misused drugs in the United States. This comprehensive guide provides important information about the harms and consequences of drug use by describing a drug’s effects on the body and mind, overdose potential, origin, legal status, and other key facts.

Washington, DC: DEA, 2024. 117p.

By Earth League International; John Jay College of Criminal Justice; State University of New York - Farmingdale

In the early twentieth century, the Totoaba fishery was the most important fishery in the Gulf of California. At its peak, in 1942, over two thousand tons of fish maw were exported to China and the Chinese communities in California. Realizing the danger the fish faced, in 1975, the Mexican government banned the fishing of the species (Martínez & Martínez, 2018). Nonetheless, this critically endangered fish remains heavily overfished today, with organized criminal networks across the country playing a pivotal role in trafficking the species (Alvarado Martinez, 2014). The swim bladder is a highly prized commodity in China, as it is believed that the bladder can be used to treat a variety of medical conditions, including infertility, circulatory issues, kidney problems, and arthritis (Yagoub, 2016). Because of this, a single bladder can fetch for significantly high prices, and one gram of totoaba fish bladder can be more expensive than one gram of cocaine (Martínez & Alonso, 2021). Totoaba swim bladders are also referred to as “money maw” (Amepou et al, 2024), as individuals buy the bladder when prices drop in hopes that fish maw prices will rise once again and can be sold for profit. The poaching of totoaba for its swim bladder has had devastating consequences not only for the species itself and the marine life in the Sea of Cortez, but also for the vaquita porpoise, the world's most endangered marine mammal. The illegal fishing methods used to catch totoaba, particularly gillnets, also ensnare and kill vaquitas as bycatch. With only a few individuals remaining, the vaquita is on the brink of extinction. The survival of this species is directly linked to the elimination of totoaba poaching and trafficking.

Using the crime script analytical technique, and the meticulously-recorded first-hand investigative materials by Earth League International, this report analyzes the intricacies involved in trafficking totoaba swim bladder from Mexico to international destinations.

Los Angeles: Earth League International (ELI), 2024. 14p.

By Tami L. Mark; Benjamin D. Huber

IMPORTANCE: Medicaid programs have expanded coverage of substance use disorder treatment and undertaken many other initiatives to reduce drug overdoses among beneficiaries. However, to date, no information has been published that tracks overdose deaths among the Medicaid population. OBJECTIVE To determine the rate of drug overdose among Medicaid beneficiaries. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this cross-sectional study, US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data from 2016 to 2020 that linked enrollment and demographic data from all Medicaid beneficiaries in the US with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Death Index were used to determine the rate of drug overdose death among Medicaid beneficiaries. The Medicaid population rates were compared with those of the total US population, overall and by age and sex. EXPOSURE Participation in the Medicaid program. MAIN OUTCOME Death of a drug overdose. RESULTS In 2020, the drug overdose death rate among Medicaid beneficiaries was 54.6 per 100 000, a rate that was twice as high as the drug overdose rate among all US residents (27.9 per 100 000). In 2020, Medicaid beneficiaries comprised 25.0% of the US population but 48% of all overdose deaths (44 277 of 91 783). For each age and sex group older than 15 years, overdose deaths were higher for the Medicaid population than for the US population, with the greatest difference occurring among adults ages 45 to 64 years. From 2016 to 2020, Medicaid overdose deaths increased by 54%. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The results of this study suggest that more research is needed to understand why Medicaid beneficiaries have higher rates of drug overdoses than all US residents. Additionally, research is needed to understand how best to prevent overdoses among Medicaid beneficiaries. The federal government should s

JAMA Health Forum. 2024;5(12):e244365. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2024.4365

By The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

The most significant drug-related threat to Illinois is posed by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), particularly the Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS) and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Mexican DTOs dominate the wholesale supply of illicit opioids (fentanyl and heroin), cocaine, methamphetamine, and Mexico grown marijuana in the state.

Washington, DC: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA Intelligence Report; 2024. 6p.

By The U.S.Drug Enforcement Administration

The most significant drug-related threat to Indiana is posed by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTO), particularly the Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS) and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Mexican DTOs dominate the wholesale supply of illicit opioids (both fentanyl and heroin), cocaine, methamphetamine, and Mexico-grown marijuana in the state. The opioid threat remains dire and is of grave concern.

Washington, DC: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA Intelligence Report; 2024. 7p.

By V. Boilevin, A. Crosta and S.J. Hennige

Demand for totoaba swim bladders has created a transnational illicit supply chain network. Organised crime groups are instru-mental in this process, impacting Mexico at social, environmen-tal, economic, and political levels. There are five main points within the supply chain: the poachers in the Upper Gulf ofCalifornia, the Mexican illegal traders, the Chinese illegal traders in Mexico, illegal traders and retailers in China and Hong Kong,and the consumers and investors located primarily in China.Illegal fishers in Mexico use gillnets to capture totoaba, leadingto bycatch and decline of the critically endangered vaquita.There have been significant conservation efforts by the local and international communities to reduce this bycatch, but these have been unsuccessful in addressing the continued traf-ficking of totoaba and the decline of the vaquita. Here we highlight the complexity of the totoaba supply chain and argue that totoaba illegal trade has to be viewed as organised envi-ronmental crime rather than as a conservation issue. A particu-larly enforceable point in the chain is through the Chineseorganised crime group in Mexico, which is a crucial link toonward trafficking through ports and airports. While recent efforts have been made with regard to totoaba seizures and prosecutions, to dismantle the supply chain, strong transnational collaboration is needed at multiple levels, and in particular between Mexico, the USA, and China.GRAPHICAL

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, Volume 26, 2023 - Issue 2, 32p.

By Caroline Cox and Luke Hauser

ABSTRACT - The United Kingdom, with the introduction of the Ivory Act2018, is at the forefront of elephant protection, and it is hopedthat governmental commitments, made in the 25 YearEnvironment Plan, will see increased protection for other spe-cies at risk due to the illegal wildlife trade. However, one spe-cies that currently falls outside of the regulation of theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species ofWild Fauna and Flora (CITES) can be directly linked to the ivorytrade: the mammoth. The woolly mammoth became extinctmore than 10,000 years ago, but the genus Mammuthus, sinceits appearance in Africa c.5 ma, was one of the most successfulmegafaunal groups, radiating into 10 species and found acrossthe Northern Hemisphere from Siberia to Crete. As the worldwarms and the permafrost melts, mammoth tusks are beinguncovered across the Northern Hemisphere, particularly inSiberia’s Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). There are close similaritiesbetween the tusks of elephants and mammoths, leading con-servationists to fear that the increase in “ice ivory” heralds anew threat to elephants and our wider understanding of the“woolly” mammoth and its world.1. IntroductionThere are no accurate figures for the value of the illegal wildlife trade.1In common with other illegal activities, dealers in illegally sourced wildlifeproducts will not exhibit the kinds of behavior associated with legal traders(such as the completion of accurate tax returns).

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, Volume 26, Issue 1, 2023, 26p.

By The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK)

The global plastic waste trade is an environmental disaster hiding in plain sight, fuelling organised crime, working conditions that amount to human rights violations and devastation to human health and the environment.

The Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA’s) second instalment of our two-part Dirty Deals report pulls back the curtain on a system where misdeclared plastic waste, murky supply chains and shadowy brokers thrive, enabling millions of tonnes of waste to be dumped in countries unequipped to handle such huge volumes.

Despite the Basel Convention, which regulates the transboundary movement of hazardous and other wastes, including plastic waste, these illicit operations exploit loopholes and weak enforcement, creating a facade of ‘recycling’ while wreaking havoc on the local communities on which the Global North dumps its waste.

London: Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK), 2024. 28p.

By The Environmental Investigation Agency UK (EIA)

Five years after EIA first revealed a widespread European illegal trade in hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) climate super pollutant gases, a new investigation has revealed that significant levels of trafficking persist, despite the worsening climate emergency.

Commonly used in refrigeration and air-conditioning, HFCs are being phased out under the European Union (EU) F-gas Regulation. Driven by high profits and weak law enforcement, organised criminals are closely associated with this illicit trade.

EIA’s previous investigation, 2021’s Europe’s Most Chilling Crime, highlighted Romania as a key entry point for illegal HFCs arriving in the EU. In our latest investigation, we uncovered evidence of traders routing illegal HFCs (sourced primarily in Türkiye and China) from Europe’s edge – Bulgaria – across the continent to the likes of Greece, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The investigation demonstrated that traders are becoming more sophisticated and adapting their tactics to elude detection, for example by avoiding banned disposable cylinders and disguising HFCs as less regulated hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerant alternatives.

London: by the Environmental Investigation Agency UK (EIA), 2024. 34p.

By The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK)

The long-standing illegal trade in substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

As Parties to the Montreal Protocol meet in Bangkok for the 45th Open Ended Working Group, they will also attend a workshop on strengthening the effective implementation and enforcement of the Montreal Protocol.

EIA has produced this briefing describing the long history of the illegal trade of controlled substances under the Montreal Protocol, including CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs.

It examines efforts by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol to combat such trade, with consideration of potential next steps to meet the continued and growing challenge of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and HFC climate crime. EIA has been investigating and documenting the illegal trade in ODS since the mid-1990s, providing unprecedented insights into the dynamics of this multi-million dollar environmental crime, including the shifting smuggling routes and methods used to evade detection.

London: The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA UK) , 2023. 16p.

By Amnesty International

Enforced disappearance is both a crime under international law and a serious human rights violation. When a person is deprived of their liberty and their fate or whereabouts concealed, the lives of their families, loved ones and communities are put on hold while they wait to learn of what has happened to them and where they are. In Colombia, as in other countries in the Americas, many of the people left waiting or searching for their loved ones after an enforced disappearance have turned uncertainty into a force for change. Firstly, to find the victims of enforced disappearance. Second, to demand truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. Third, to continue the struggle to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of other people’s loved ones and to defend human rights. Women play a leading role in this story. They are the ones who have overwhelmingly taken on the task of searching for the victims of enforced disappearance in Colombia. In doing so, not only have they raised their voices against the injustice of the enforced disappearance imposed on them, but they have also acted as searchers and human rights defenders. In Colombia, taking on these roles means exposing themselves to unacceptable risks, threats and attacks. Whether they are searching for a loved one, helping someone else to search for a loved one, or defending the rights of victims of enforced disappearance and their families, women who search face arbitrariness, impunity and violence, sometimes from the state and sometimes from non-state actors, especially state security forces and armed opposition groups. In most cases, this violence is gendered. The nature of the risks, threats and attacks that women searchers face often intersect with their gender. Among other forms of violence against women, threats relate to their bodies or to their assigned or assumed gender roles, and perpetrators disproportionately use sexual violence against women. However, women searchers not only continue their work, but also put forward proposals for action to ensure that the state respects, guarantees and protects their rights. The most recent manifestation of this driving force is the approval of Law 2364 of 2024, a proposal that emerged from a group of organizations and communities of women searchers who spoke of their own life experiences, analysed them and used them to draft a bill designed to urge the state to take appropriate measures to end this scourge. With this report, Amnesty International begins a process of documenting the situation of risks, threats and attacks faced by women searchers in Colombia and, based on this, a process of monitoring the implementation of Law 2364 of 2024, which will continue over the next few years. This first part documents the story of Yanette Bautista, Andrea Torres and the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (FNEB), an organization of women searchers and victims of enforced disappearance that accompanies other organizations and communities in their own cases.

London: Amnesty International, 2024. 64p.