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Posts in diversity
Child sexual abuse in the digital era : Rethinking legal frameworks and transnational law enforcement collaboration

By S.K. Witting.

With access to and usage of it increasing dramatically over the past 20 years, the Internet has become an emerging realm for human interaction. With children constituting one-third of Internet users worldwide, this realm offers endless opportunities to learn, connect, and interact. At the same time, the Internet facilitates child sexual abuse on a large scale – through the production, dissemination, and accessing of child sexual abuse material.This study aims to critically analyse emerging aspects of the international and national regulation, investigation and prosecution of online child sexual abuse material from a child-rights and rule-of-law-based approach. It investigates emerging aspects of substantive and procedural law which have been little explored in the past, zooming in on complex constitutional aspects by applying a comparative legal analysis approach with a strong focus on the Global South as well as interdisciplinary legal research.In order to solve these complex legal issues, the answer lies in the identification and subsequent navigation of a variety of dichotomies that govern the discourse on online child sexual abuse material. The international and national regulation, investigation and prosecution of emerging aspects of online child sexual abuse material hence require constant identification, reflection and calibration of competing discourses, with a view to developing a cyber-specific yet victim-sensitive response that upholds the rule of law and takes a child-centred approach.

Leiden: Leiden University, 2020. 158p.

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The Illegal Trade in Chemicals

By Amanda Cabrejo le Roux, Jacob Duer, Brenda Koekkoek, Arnold Kreilhuber, Elizabeth Mrema, and Andrew Raine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Chemicals provide important benefits to society and play a vital role in the global economy, but they also carry risks for the environment and human health, with greater risks to vulnerable social groups. Chemicals can contaminate soil, air and water and can damage biodiversity, and human exposure to chemicals is implicated in a range of acute and chronic health effects. As industries have grown in recent decades, so too have environmental and health concerns, and now a range of multilateral environmental agreements together with initiatives, non-binding legal instruments, national legislation and policy frameworks regulate the trade in chemicals

Arendal: UNEP and GRID-Arendal , 2020 86p.

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Corruption And Wildlife Crime: A Focus On Caviar Trade

By Louisa Musing, Lindsey Harris, Aled Williams, Rob Parry-Jones, Daan van Uhm, and Tanya Wyatt.

While conservation practitioner anecdotes and existing empirical research all point to corruption as a main facilitator enabling wildlife crime, there is still limited knowledge about what can change this situation and help reverse the pernicious impact of corruption on conservation outcomes in practice. Corruption has a negative impact on conservation by reducing the effectiveness of conservation programmes, reducing law enforcement and political support, as well as establishing incentives for the overexploitation of resources. It undermines the effectiveness and legitimacy of laws and regulations and can be an indicator of the presence of organised crime groups. Corruption needs to be addressed as a central part of the approach to tackling wildlife crime.

Cambridge, UK: A TRAFFIC, WWF, U4 ACRC, Utrecht University, and Northumbria University, 2019. 42p.

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Local Determinants of Crime: Distinguishing Between Resident and Non-resident Offenders

By Thiess Büttner, and Hannes Spengler.

The paper revisits the local determinants of crime using a spatial model distinguishing between resident and non-resident offenders. Employing data for German municipalities, the model is estimated by means of a spatial GMM approach. Focusing on resident offenders legal earnings opportunities and the expected gain from offenses are found to be important determinants of crime. Also the socio-economic background in terms of unemployment, poverty, and inequality proves significant for both property and violent crime. Whereas local inequality only shows an effect on crime committed by resident offenders, crime committed by non-resident offenders is shown to be significantly related to the characteristics in adjacent municipalities such as unemployment and income.

Mannheim: ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, 2003. 30p.

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Gone With the Wind: The Effect of Air Pollution on Crime – Evidence From Germany

By Yasemin Karamik And Kathrine von Graevenitz.

Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of air pollution on crime in large cities. We provide first evidence on the potential effect of air pollution on criminal activity using a broader set of geographical regions with lower air pollution levels. We use a unique combination of daily crime data with weather and emission records for the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW) and Rhineland-Palatinate (RLP) in Germany from 2015 until 2017. We exploit the variation in air pollution which is attributable to changes in daily wind direction. We find that an increase of one standard deviation of PM10 leads to an increase in crime of 4.6%.

Mannheim, Germany: ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, 2002. 47p.

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Adventurers and Risk-Takers: Finnish professional criminals and their organisations in the 1990s cross-border criminality

By Mika Junninen.

This study concentrates on Finnish professional criminals1 and their organisations in Finland and in cross-border crime operations. It is based on qualitative empirical material. The basic idea of this study was developed when working on the study “Crime across the Border - Finnish Professional Criminals and Estonian Crime Opportunities” (Junninen 1999). In the course of that study, it became clear that some Finnish professional criminals are working closely together and taking advantage of the national border, and have a good relationship with the Estonian underworld when committing crimes either in Finland or in Estonia. In the present study, I focus on 14 different Finnish groups active in the 1990s in smuggling (alcohol, tobacco and drugs), and/or procuring prostitutes, and/or handling stolen goods. The objective was to gather collective information about the world of the Finnish professional criminals by studying the personal characteristics of the group members, the crimes they commit, and the structures of the criminal groups. According to Finnish police sources, Finnish professional criminals have in recent years widened their scope of activity, become more violent and started to work more closely together (Häkämies 1999). In the overviews made by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, when EU standards for defining organised crime groups2 are applied, there were 27 organised crime groups active in Finland in 1999. The number of such groups has increased rapidly: in 1995, police identified only 10 active groups in Finland. (NBI 2000)3 . In addition, the criminal justice system operators of the European Union countries have paid attention to the growing organised crime problem and its impact on the work of the judges and prosecutors in member countries. In consequence, the EU created a European justice network in Amsterdam in 1997. In the network meetings, judges and prosecutors practise co-operation of authorities for solving cases where an organised crime group is operating in several EU countries. (Vallisaari 1997.) The global and national lack of information and studies concerning organised crime in general, and the internal and international relations of its participants made this research phenomenon more interesting and challenging.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI), 2006. 202p.

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Human Trafficking And Organised Crime: Trafficking for sexual exploitation and organised procuring in Finland

By Minna Viuhko and Anniina Jokinen.

Research on human trafficking and organised crime is relatively rare in Finland. During the recent years human trafficking, procuring and prostitution have been studied i.a. in a legal perspective (Roth 2007a; 2007b; 2008), in relation to cross-border prostitution (Marttila 2004; 2005a; 2005b; 2006; 2008), and in the context of commercialisation of sex (Jyrkinen 2005). The problems of identifying the victims of human trafficking (Putkonen 2008) and trafficking in women and illegal immigration (Lehti and Aromaa 2003) have also been examined, as well as the effects of globalization on the sex industry in Finland (Penttinen 2004). In addition, Finnish sex-workers (Kontula 2008), prostitution in Northern Finland (Skaffari and Urponen 2004; Korhonen 2003), sex bars (Lähteenmaa and Näre 1994; Näre and Lähteenmaa 1995; Näre 1998), and sex buyers (Keeler & Jyrkinen 1999) have been the focus of recent research. Also organised pandering and prostitution in Finland was studied in the beginning of the 2000s (Leskinen 2003). Organised crime is scrutinised by Junninen (2006) and Bäckman (2006). However, the connection between human trafficking and organised crime has not been a central focus of any specific recent study in Finland. It also seems that prostitution and procuring markets have changed during the recent years and because of this, new studies on the issue are needed. Although human trafficking, prostitution and organised crime have been researched extensively in the global context, in this report we refer mainly to the earlier Finnish studies. The aim is to provide a comprehensive view of the Finnish prostitution-related human trafficking situation in the context of organised crime. We approach the topic from a sociological perspective and with qualitative methods. This study covers the first decade of the 21st century.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI), 2009. 143p.

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Illegal Wildlife Trade in Uganda Tracking Progress on ‘Following the Money’

By Cathy Haenlein and Vincent Opyene.

Uganda occupies a critical position as a logistics hub for transnational flows of illegally sourced wildlife. As a source, consolidation and transit country, it acts as a nexus state – a ‘one-stop shop’ for criminals looking to illegally buy and sell wildlife, launder the proceeds, and tie this in with other illicit activity, from trafficking in timber to drugs. In this context, illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in Uganda is highly lucrative for criminals. Yet, little is known about the associated money flows, despite strong momentum to address the finances of IWT at a global level. In parallel, little research has assessed Uganda’s record in disrupting these flows. While the country has taken tangible steps to target the finances of IWT, the effectiveness of its actions has not yet been analysed. Based on 35 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, a rigorous review of open-source literature and analysis of confidential information, this paper assesses the relationship between IWT and illicit finance in Uganda and considers how effectively the country is responding to these threats. In doing so, the paper represents the most in-depth independent study of a single jurisdiction’s experience of and response to the finances of IWT to date.

London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, 2021. 54p.

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Crime victims and the police: Crime victims’ evaluations of police behaviour, legitimacy, and cooperation: a multi-method study

By N. N. Koster.

Crime is a major problem in society as, for instance, indicated by the most recent report of the Security Monitor.1 According to this monitor, almost 2.5 million citizens in the Netherlands were victimized in 2016 by either a property crime (11.5%) or a violent crime (2.3%). Yet, the Security Monitor does not register how many of these victims were first-time victims or repeat victims. Dutch studies into the prevalence of repeat victimizations, although rather out-dated, suggest that repeat burglary victimization is a serious issue to tackle in the Netherlands (e.g. Arends, 1997; Eijken & Van Overbeeke, 1998; Hakkert & Oppenhuis, 1996; Kleemans, 2001; López, 2001; Tseloni, Wittebrood, Farrell & Pease, 2004; Wittebrood, 2006). For example, Hakkert and Oppenhuis (1996) reported that 21% of the burglary victims have to deal with another burglary within a year and that these repeat burglary crime victims account for 44% of all (attempted) burglaries (see also Kleemans, 2001; Tseloni et al., 2004). In addition, repeat violent crime victimization may also be an important issue. Hakkert and Oppenhuis (1996), for example, reported that about 43% of victims of violent crime face another violent crime victimization within a year – accounting for 77% of all violent crimes (see also Police Monitor Population, 1999). These figures should be seen as a low estimate, because many victims do not report their victimization.

Leiden: University of Leiden, 2018. 205p.

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World Wildlife Crime Report Trafficking in protected species

United Nations Office on Drug and Crime

The heedless exploitation of nature by humans has led to unprecedented biodiversity loss and a worsening climate crisis. It is also a threat to human health, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Three-quarters of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, transferred from animals to humans, facilitated by environmental destruction and wildlife crime. Links between the global health crisis and the illegal exploitation of wildlife have been in the spotlight since it was suggested that wet markets selling wildlife, in this case pangolins, could have facilitated the transfer of COVID-19 to humans. The spike in public awareness of this connection has led to a push for new bans on the sale of wild animals for consumption. It is against this backdrop that the second edition of the World Wildlife Crime Report is published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report shows wildlife crime to be a business that is global; lucrative, with high demand driving high prices; and extremely widespread. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora have been seized between 1999 and 2018, with nearly every country in the world playing a role in the illicit wildlife trade

Vienna; New York: UNODC, 2020. 134p.

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Child sex tourists: A review of the literature on the characteristics, motives, and methods of (Dutch) transnational child sex offenders [English translation]

By Anneke Koning and Lina Rijksen-van Dijke

Child sex tourism is a growing problem and a relatively new challenge for the Dutch national police, which is faced with the task of combatting child sexual abuse by Dutch citizens abroad. Little is known about travelling child sex offenders. In this literature review, information from (international) scientific research, Dutch policy reports, and other documents is analyzed to investigate the characteristics, motives and techniques (modus operandi) of (Dutch) child sex tourists. We conclude that this offender group is not homogeneous, and that different motivations (preferential/situational) and modus operandi (short stay/long stay/online) apply. The diversity of the offender group requires a variety of initiatives which are well-adjusted to the different offender types. The scarcity of research on this topic furthermore illustrates the necessity to gather more intelligence and conduct follow-up research.

Leiden: Leiden University, 2017. 47p.

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Transnational crime and the interface between legal and illegal actors : the case of the illicit art and antiquities trade

By A. J. G. Tijhuis

In this PhD study the interface between legal governments and corporations on the one hand, and transnational criminals at the other hand, is analysed in depth. In the first part of the book, a typology of interfaces is developed that can be used to describe interfaces between legal and illegal actors. Furthermore, an analytical model, the so-called lockmodel, is developed with which the 'laundering' of all kinds of transnational crime can be understood. The analysis is based on the literature on transnational crime as well as a range of case-studies. The case studies include e.g. individual arms traffickers, commercial banks, intelligence agencies, charities, bank secrecy jurisdictions etc. The second part of the book discusses the results of an empirical study of the illicit art and antiquities trade that was part of the PhD project and which has hardly been studied before by criminologists. With the collected data, the use of the typology and lockmodel is looked at. It shows that the laundering of stolen art and antiquities can be understood by the lockmodel that was developed on the basis of other crimes. Finally, an extensive overview of the illicit art and antiquities trade is provided.

Nijmegen: The Netherlands: Wolf Legal Publishing, 2006. 243p.

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Ports, Piracy and Maritime War: Piracy in the English Channel and the Atlantic, c. 1280 c. 1330

By Thomas Heebøll-Holm.

In Ports, Piracy, and Maritime War Thomas K. Heebøll-Holm presents a study of maritime predation in English and French waters around the year 1300. Following Cicero, pirates have traditionally been cast as especially depraved robbers and the enemy of all, but Heebøll-Holm shows that piracy was often part of private wars between English, French, and Gascon ports and mariners, occupying a liminal space between crime and warfare. Furthermore he shows how piracy was an integral part of maritime commerce and how the adjudication of piracy followed the legal procedure of the march. Heebøll-Holm convincingly demonstrates how piracy influenced the policies of the English and the French kings and he contributes to our understanding of Anglo-French relations on the eve of the Hundred Years’ War.

Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2013. 312p.

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Third Parties: Victims and the Criminal Justice System

By Leslie Sebba.

Over the past two decades considerable interest has developed in the subject of the victims of crime. This interest reached a peak in 1982 with the establishment and report of the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime (1982), which made numerous recommendations for legislative, executive, and other institutional action on both the federal and state levels, including an amendment to the United States Constitution. However, the momentum continued. Subsequent developments have included the establishment of an Office for Victims of Crime in the Office of Justice Programs, a flurry of legislative activity across the nation, and the declaration of National Crime Victims' Rights weeks with the participation of the U.S. president. The interests of victims have been taken up not only by special organizations established for the purpose, such as the National Organization of Victims' Assistance (NOVA), the Victims' Assistance Legal Organization in Virginia, and the National Victim Center (founded in honor of Sunny von Bulow), as well as more narrowly focused groups such as MADD (Mothers against Drunk Driving), but also by such mainstream professional bodies as the American Bar Association (ABA), the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Conference of the Judiciary, the American Psychological Association, and the National Institute for Mental Health. Landmark legislation at the federal level includes the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982, the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, and the Victims' Rights and Restitution Act and other related provisions of the Crime Control Act of 1990. (See also the Attorney-General's Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance, issued in pursuance of the 1982 and the 1990 acts.) A review of victim-oriented legislation both at the federal and at the state levels, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1996. 446p.

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Drug-related Homicide in Europe; Part 1: Research Report

R. de Bont. Liem.

Illicit drugs continue to be a profitable area for criminal organizations operating within the EU. Drug use and drug markets can act as facilitators for all types of violence, which could ultimately lead to homicide. Yet, drug-related homicide (DRH) has not been monitored. The development of a drug-related homicide data collection is necessary to study this phenomenon. This report provides a first step towards a European-level DRH monitor.

Leiden; Leiden University, 2017. 66p.

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Violence based on perceived or real sexual orientation and gender identity in Africa

Edited by CALS (Coalition of African Lesbians) and AMSHeR.

Violence against sexual minorities in Africa is rife. Persons belonging to or perceived to be members of the broad grouping ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI)’ are often victim of violence in African states. This violence is sometimes perpetrated by state actors, such as the members of the Police force, and more often by ordinary persons (non-state actors). By condoning violence by state actors, and by failing to diligently investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of these acts, states fail to respect the basic right to security of some of its citizens. By condoning these actions, or by failing to act effectively, the state also violates its human rights obligations. The argument of this report is not that sexual minorities deserve special protection, but that they are entitled to the rights all other citizens have – the right to security, liberty, life, dignity, and a fair trial.

As members of the African Union, states are party to and should abide by their obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter). Like several other regional and international human rights instruments, the African Charter guarantees freedom from discrimination, and equal protection and equality of individuals and peoples’ before the law (articles 2, 3 and 19). The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), the body monitoring compliance with the African Charter, has in various communications presented to it denounced acts of discrimination on several of the listed grounds of discrimination and has clearly established that ‘other status’ (in article 2 of the Charter) can be broadly interpreted to include grounds other than those explicitly listed under that provision of the African Charter. The Commission made its first pronouncement on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues in its Concluding Observations on Cameroon’s periodic report of 2005 by expressing concern about the upsurge in intolerance towards sexual minorities. Most recently, the Chairperson of the Commission issued a statement on in April 2013 stating that the he Commission ‘equally denounces violence committed against individuals based on their sexual orientation as part of its mandate to protect individuals from all forms of violence’.

Pretoria: Pretoria University Law Press, 2013. 57p.

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The Organizational Aspects of Corporate and Organizational Crime

Edited by Judith van Erp.

Corporate crimes seem endemic to modern society. Newspapers are filled on a daily basis with examples of financial manipulation, accounting fraud, food fraud, cartels, bribery, toxic spills and environmental harms, corporate human rights violations, insider trading, privacy violations, discrimination, corporate manslaughter or violence, and, recently, software manipulation. Clearly, the problem of corporate crime transcends the micro level of the individual ‘rotten apple’ (Ashforth et al. 2008; Monahan and Quinn 2006); although corporate crimes are ultimately committed by individual members of an organization, they have more structural roots, as the enabling and justifying organizational context in which they take place plays a defining role. Accounts of corporate fraud, misrepresentation, or deception that foreground individual offender’s motivations and characteristics, often fail to acknowledge that organizational decisions are more than the aggregation of individual choices and actions, and that organizations are more than simply the environment in which individual action takes place.

Basel: MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2018. 152p.

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The Dilemma of lawlessness: Organized Crime, Violence, Prosperity, and Security along Guatemala’s Borders

By Ralph Espach, Daniel Haering, Javier Melendez Quinonez, and Miguel Castillo Giron.

The Dilemma of Lawlessness explores in-depth three towns typical of Guatemala’s border regions and examines the economic, political, and security effects of the amplification of the drug trade in their streets, across their rivers, and on their footpaths. The cases reveal that trade has brought prosperity, but also danger, as illegal profits penetrate local businesses, government offices, and churches as longstanding local smuggling networks must contend with or accommodate the interests of Mexican cartels. The authors argue persuasively for the importance of cultivating local community capital to strengthen these communities’ resiliency in the face of these threats.

Quantico, VA: Marine Corps University Press (MCUP), 2016. 104p.

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The Criminal Imbecile

By Henry Herbert Goddard.

This book is offered to the public in the belief that the three cases herein described are typical of a large proportion of criminal cases and that the analysis and discussion at- tempted will help to make clear important points which are often misunderstood, points relative to the criminal and to the imbecile. A clear conception of the nature of the imbecile and of his relation to crime will inevitably result in a most desirable change in our criminal procedure. It should be noted that we use "imbecile" in the legal sense which includes the moron and often the idiot as scientifically classified. This usage is justified since much of the literature still describes all mental defectives as imbeciles, idiots, or feeble-minded —according to the preference of the writers. These cases are unique in that they were the first court cases in which the Binet-Simon tests were admitted in evidence, the mental status of these persons under indictment being largely determined by this method.

New York: Macmillan, 1916.188p.

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Drug Smuggling and Taking in India and Burma

By Roy K. Anderson.

“ At a time when the drug-evil, as it is called, is attracting so much attention all over the world, it does not seem out of place to tell the public something about how conditions brought it about.”

Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1922. 104p.

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