By Chantal Marijnissen, Saskia Ozinga, Beatrix Richards and Sebastien Risso

By mid-2004, the European Commission is due to report back to the Council of the European Union with its proposals for implementing the EU Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) that it released in May 2003. FERN, Greenpeace and WWF welcome the Plan and aim, with this report, to provide further recommendations to EU policy makers that will assist their efforts to ensure its successful implementation. Given the stage of development of the FLEGT Action Plan, this report will focus primarily on criminal aspects of the timber industry. However, it is important to remember that much legal logging is also highly destructive – and that ultimately it is the issue of forest sustainability that needs to be addressed. As the environmental NGO community has repeatedly shown, the impacts of illegal logging on wildlife and human welfare are devastating. Illegal logging contributes to deforestation and loss of biodiversity; fuels civil wars and threatens international security through bribery, organised crime and human rights abuses; cuts tax revenue of producer countries; destabilises international markets and undermines both legitimate business and responsible forest management.

Brussels: FERN; Greenpeace European Unit; World Wildlife Fund, 2004. 38p.

By FERN

At a time when the space for civil society is shrinking, the need for people to be able to influence the powers that control their lives, and have the freedom to work together to tackle the challenges they face, is more critical than ever. These reports from the frontline of the struggle against deforestation and illegal logging show how it can be done. Written by local journalists from tropical forested countries which have signed (or are negotiating) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) timber trade deals with the European Union (EU), these stories offer snapshots of the lives of people dependent on forests for their survival, and underline how putting local people in the driving seat of the policies that affect them is key to keeping forests standing.

Brussels; London: FERN, 2002. 40p.

By Duncan Brack, Chantal Marijnissen, and Saskia Ozinga

Around the world, people are waking up to the fact that illegal forestry activities are widespread and have extremely negative consequences. Not only does illegal logging damage the environment, but tax evasion by forestry companies deprives governments of billions of euros in revenues, related corruption and impunity to prosecution undermine the rule of law, and in several countries the proceeds from illegal forestry activities have financed violent conflict. Clearly something must be done. In this paper several of Europe’s most knowledgeable experts about illegal forestry activities have put their heads together to examine what the European Commission and member states can do to address the problem. They focus particularly on trade, finance, and procurement issues, although they briefly discuss efforts to strengthen the capacity of national institutions in developing countries. One by one they go through each of the specific instruments that might be used and analyse their advantages and disadvantages and the practical aspects of their application. They conclude that steps can be taken by using existing legislation and mechanisms if the Commission and member states vigorously pursue those options, but additional legislation is needed.

Brussels; FERN: London: Royal Institute of International Affairs , 2002. 74p.

By Mark Berry

Illegal drug trafficking and retail drug sales constitute the most common activity of organised crime groups in the UK and draw the largest share of resources from the police and prison services, whilst also generating considerable social costs. There are few contemporary studies in the UK on the supply of drugs, its organisation, culture and risk management practices, and even fewer on active dealers themselves. There remains limited ethnographic research into the drug trade, missing important insights that can be gained from observing distributors in a natural setting. A key absence in criminological literature is the voice of offenders who commit serious crimes and how they perceive and mitigate problems related to their activities. This research aims to fill gaps in the knowledge base by investigating the nature of the drug market, the crime risk management practices of drug dealers, and possible reasons for their involvement and patterns of activity. The study examines the criminal careers of offenders who operate in one of Britain’s largest cities, termed here anonymously as Red City. The participants in this study distribute and manufacture a range of illicit substances, both offline and online. They distribute drugs on local, national and international levels (retail, wholesale, import and export). To complement the fieldwork, interviews were conducted with official actors from the criminal justice system, the private sector and the third sector. The thesis seeks to provide a more nuanced and grounded picture of illicit drug dealing and ‘organised crime’, that provides an account that corrects popular stereotypes.

Cardiff, Wales: Cardiff University, 2020. 195p.

Edited by Giovanni Fiandaca

The insightful essays in this book shine a new light on the roles of women within criminal networks, roles that in reality are often less traditional than researchers used to think. The book seeks to answer questions from a wide range of academic disciplines and traces the portrait of women tied to organized crime in Italy and around the world. The book offers up accounts of mafia women, and also tales of severe abuse and violence against women.

New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2007. 307p.

By Paula Miraglia, Rolando Ochoa, Ivan Briscoe

Transnational organised crime (TOC) refers to a fluid and diversified industry that engages in illicit activities ranging from drug and human trafficking to drug smuggling, piracy and money laundering. Although it may affect strong states, conflict-affected and fragile states are especially vulnerable to the dynamics of TOC and may provide more favourable conditions for its development. The implications for those states are many and serious. This paper outlines the ways in which TOC has evolved in recent years and how policy might be adapted to take account of this evolution. It emphasises that TOC today is less a matter of organised cartels established in producer or end-user states, but increasingly characterised by fluid, opportunistic networks that may for example specialise in transport and logistics. The paper recommends tackling the problem through a comprehensive approach that considers TOC as but one element within a greater complex of cause and effect. This would entail a re-evaluation of many current assumptions about TOC and a reformulation of current policies.

Paris: OECD, 2012. 37p.

By Victoria Dittmar and Parker Asmann

The expansion of illegal cattle ranching is threatening nature reserves in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. This activity provokes staggering levels of deforestation, irreversible environmental degradation and violence towards Indigenous communities, all while fueling a criminal market that generates millions of dollars in proceeds. A portion of these cattle are smuggled into Mexico, where they either feed the domestic demand for meat or are mixed with beef exports sent to the United States and other countries. This report, produced by InSight Crime, follows the cattle trafficking chain from Central America to Mexico and provides an overview of how this illicit market works. It estimates the size and scope of the industry, highlights illegal ranching hotspots and smuggling routes, identifies the main actors involved in the value chain, analyzes where and how this activity overlaps with other criminal economies, and offers recommendations for governments to tackle the issue. The findings are based on a 14-month investigation that included desktop research, telephone and in-person interviews, and fieldwork in the Mexican states of Veracruz, Tabasco, and Chiapas, the Río Plátano Reserve in Honduras and the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Our sources include international, national and local authorities, cattle ranchers and cattle union leaders, former contraband cattle buyers, veterinarians, Indigenous leaders, park rangers, residents of the nature reserves, environmental activists and academic experts. Most of them asked to remain anonymous for their protection. We also reviewed official government data, studies conducted by academics nd non-governmental organizations, and press reports.

Washington, DC: InSight Crime, 2022. 68p.

Edited by R. Forte

The policy paper (ed. Forte, R., Sapucca, 2013) offers a description of the situation of organized crime in the Western Balkans in general and in individual countries - Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro - as well as a focus on the recent legislation on the recovery and management of criminal assets in Bulgaria, used as a term of confrontation with the consolidated approach applied in Italy to such issues. It offers as well a feasibility analysis on the extension of the model to the Western Balkans.

Sofia, Bulgaria: Center for the Study of Democracy, 2013. 88p.

By Ernesto U. Savona and Matteo Anastasio

This study requested by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), aims to provide information on Organised Property Crime in the EU, by offering a strategic discussion on the Union policies on this topic and highlighting key recommendations for future action. The study proposes a holistic approach to the problem, adding new elements to existing measures.

Brussels: European Union, 2020. 50p.

By Ernesto Ugo Savona, Francesco Calderoni, Alessia Maria Remmerswaal

This report provides an analysis of selected possible understudied organized crime activities present in the Canadian context, contributing to the knowledge on both of the nature and the scope of organized crime. The analysis involved an extensive review of the literature and available data on organized crime activities in Canada, and a discussion of the existing state of organized crime literature in the international context. The analysis was based on available literature, official reports and informed speculations. Given the difficulty in gathering information about understudied activities, an in-depth analysis of such activities was not always possible. Nonetheless, the findings show the possible involvement of organized crime in some activities. Selected understudied organized crime activities were identified and analysed.

Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2011. 38p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and testing public healthcare systems to a breaking point. Many areas of economic activity have either been shut down by governments to halt the spread of the virus or have seen demand collapse. In many countries where organized criminal groups are prevalent, struggling private businesses – many unable to access enough public funds to keep them afloat – are more likely to seek out loans on the illicit market than they would be at other times. Businesses in the transport, hospitality, arts, retail, and beauty sectors are particularly vulnerable to infiltration by organized criminal groups (OCGs). As these businesses begin to reopen, some will find themselves either in the debt of OCGs, or directly controlled by them. The OCGs can seize control either through exchange of money for buying shares or by directly taking over operations. This generates more opportunities for criminal activity, including money laundering and trafficking activities, enabling OCGs to further expand their control and power over the licit economy.

Vienna: UNODC, 2020. 37p.

By Marco Dugato, Marco De Simoni and Ernesto U. Savona

This working paper aims at developing and testing a methodology for measuring Organized Crime (hereinafter OC) in a list of selected countries of the Latin American region. This study represents one of the first systematic attempts to obtain reliable and comparable measurement of OC presence and threats in the region. The outcomes will provide a more comprehensive view on how to measure and to analyze OC today in Latin America, taking into account the regional specificities of this phenomenon. Moreover, creating a valid measurement of OC has relevant policy implications, since valid indicators may improve the effectiveness of government and enforcement actions.

Milan: TRANSCRIME, 2014. 53p.

By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Technological advances in noninvasive neuroimaging, neurophysiology, genome sequencing, and other methods together with rapid progress in computational and statistical methods and data storage have facilitated large-scale collection of human genomic, cognitive, behavioral, and brain-based data. The rapid development of neurotechnologies and associated databases has been mirrored by an increase in attempts to introduce neuroscience and behavioral genetic evidence into legal proceedings.

In March 2018, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine organized a workshop in order to explore the current uses of neuroscience and bring stakeholders from neuroscience and legal societies together in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Participants worked together to advance an understanding of neurotechnologies that could impact the legal system and the state of readiness to consider these technologies and where appropriate, to integrate them into the legal system. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 2018. 80p.

By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

To derive statistics about crime – to estimate its levels and trends, assess its costs to and impacts on society, and inform law enforcement approaches to prevent it - a conceptual framework for defining and thinking about crime is virtually a prerequisite. Developing and maintaining such a framework is no easy task, because the mechanics of crime are ever evolving and shifting: tied to shifts and development in technology, society, and legislation.

Interest in understanding crime surged in the 1920s, which proved to be a pivotal decade for the collection of nationwide crime statistics. Now established as a permanent agency, the Census Bureau commissioned the drafting of a manual for preparing crime statistics—intended for use by the police, corrections departments, and courts alike. The new manual sought to solve a perennial problem by suggesting a standard taxonomy of crime. Shortly after the Census Bureau issued its manual, the International Association of Chiefs of Police in convention adopted a resolution to create a Committee on Uniform Crime Records —to begin the process of describing what a national system of data on crimes known to the police might look like.

Report 1 performed a comprehensive reassessment of what is meant by crime in U.S. crime statistics and recommends a new classification of crime to organize measurement efforts. This second report examines methodological and implementation issues and presents a conceptual blueprint for modernizing crime statistics.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 2018. 280p.

By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Reliable and valid forensic science analytic techniques are critical to a credible, fair, and evidence-based criminal justice system. There is widespread agreement that the scientific foundation of some currently available forensic science methods needs strengthening and that additional, more efficient techniques are urgently needed. These needs can only be met through sustained research programs explicitly designed to ensure and improve the reliability and validity of current methods and to foster the development and use of new and better techniques. This task is challenging due to the broad nature of the field.

Concerns have been raised repeatedly about the ability of the criminal justice system to collect and analyze evidence efficiently and to be fair in its verdicts. Although significant progress has been made in some forensic science disciplines, the forensic science community still faces many challenges. Federal leadership, particularly in regard to research and the scientific validation of forensic science methods, is needed to help meet the pressing issues facing state and local jurisdictions.

This report reviews the progress made by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to advance forensic science research since the 2009 report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward and the 2010 report, Strengthening the National Institute of Justice. Support for Forensic Science Research examines the ways in which NIJ develops its forensic science research priorities and communicates those priorities as well as its findings to the scientific and forensic practitioner communities in order to determine the impact of NIJ forensic science research programs and how that impact can be enhanced.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 2015. 116p.

By Hernando Zuleta González

The increase in the area cultivated with coca in Colombia has cast doubt on the country’s anti-drug strategy and has encouraged skepticism about the possibility of a complete and definitive peace. Furthermore, this perception of failure has given rise to policy proposals based on the idea that illicit crops are a criminal issue, not a development one. This paper is a complete review of the available evidence and aims at organizing the information related to this debate and shedding light on the convenience or inconvenience of certain policies. There are six highly relevant facts: (i) With respect to reducing cocaine supply, the efforts in seizures and destruction of infrastructure are more efficient than the efforts in eradication. (ii) Seizures and destruction of infrastructure may help in reducing coca plantations. (iii) There is no evidence to support the hypothesis that the consumption of cocaine in Colombia has increased. (iv) Most regions of the country have seen a decrease in the amount of coca crops. However, at least one armed group is present in the regions where the cultivated area has increased. (v) Coca growing municipalities are, on average, poorer than the rest of the country. These municipalities have a low tax revenue, and reduced levels of connectivity and institutional development. (vi) The increase in the consumption of cocaine in the United States is concentrated in a specific age group and in certain states. This fact makes it difficult to relate the increase in consumption to an exogenous increase in the supply.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE, 2019. 40p.

By Thomas Friis Søgaard, Marie Højlund Bræmer, and Michael Mulbjerg Pedersen

This report provides an analysis of current drug supply models and the related violence and exploitation of vulnerable groups in Denmark. Recent years have seen a growth in criminals’ exploitation of vulnerable groups for drug-related crimes. This development appears to be driven by several structural factors, including increased drug market competition and a proliferation of more labour-intensive supply models. Based on the findings of this study, we identify some priorities for future research to understand the impact of digital developments in retail-level drug distribution on vulnerable individuals and to inform responses to reduce criminal exploitation.

Lisbon: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA); Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021. 55p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The present case digest contains an analysis of cases of cyber organized crime. The digest is global in scope and attempts, to the extent possible, to ensure an equitable representation of cases from different geographical regions and legal systems. On the basis of more than 100 cases from more than 20 jurisdictions, observations are made about the ways in which cyber organized crime is identified in case law and how this illicit activity is investigated, prosecuted and adjudicated across jurisdictions. The case digest examines the structure and organization of cyber organized criminal groups, tools used by perpetrators of cyber organized crime, types of cyber organized crime and procedural issues relating to the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of cyber organized crime cases. The case digest contains summaries of relevant judicial proceedings concerning cyber organized crime, organized according to theme. The ultimate goals of the digest are to identify cases involving cyber organized crime and the manner in which such crime has been investigated, prosecuted and adjudicated in different areas of the world. The digest concludes by identifying challenges to investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating cases involving cyber organized crime, as well as the lessons learned for criminal justice professionals, including some of the challenging aspects of criminal justice responses to such crime.

Vienna: UNODC, 2021.144p.

By Ana Paula Oliveira

Afghanistan experienced a marked rise in violent crimes, including kidnappings and armed robbery in 2021. The reported increase in targeted attacks against civilians in the country, specifically regarding women human rights defenders and media workers, had already raised concerns in the period preceding the Taliban takeover. These events and the changing nature of the killings—from widespread casualties to targeted violence— underscored the need for a nuanced examination of the different ways conflict and crime converge to create conditions that incentivise violent actors and instability. This paper looks at these issues through the lens of illicit market violence in Afghanistan. It explores its potential as a key proxy to project current and future trends of other illicit and criminal market development in the country. The paper suggests a framework for further research to examine the evolution of illicit markets in Afghanistan by using a methodologically sound proxy indicator of such violence. First, it draws on a literature review on violence related to illicit markets and presents the methodology developed by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) to research assassinations. Second, the paper undertakes a focused literature review on targeted violence in Afghanistan, focusing particularly on the 2020–2021 period.

Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham, 2022. 22p.

By Tyrone Kirchengast

This book brings together the diverse and fragmented rights and powers of victims constitutive of the modern adversarial criminal trial as found across the common law jurisdictions of the world. One characteristic of victim rights as they emerge within and constitute aspects of the modern criminal trial is that they are dispersed within an existing criminal process that largely identifies the offender as the benefactor of due process rights, originating in the seventeenth-century adversarial criminal trial. This trial increasingly excluded the victim for the Crown and state, and the role of the victim was slowly eroded to that of witness for the prosecution as the adversarial trial matured into the latter part of the twentieth century. Increasing awareness of the removal of the victim and the need to secure the rights and interests of victims as stakeholders of justice resulted in the last decade of the twentieth century, bearing witness to the gradual relocation of the victim in common law and statute. This relocation has occurred, however, in a highly fragmented and disconnected way, usually following spontaneous and at times ill thought-out law reform initiatives that may or may not connect to the spirit of existing reforms, foundational structures of the criminal process, or international or domestic rights frameworks that have emerged in the meantime.

London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 360p.