Open Access Free Library
CRIME+CRIMINOLOGY.jpeg

CRIME

Violent-Non-Violent-Cyber-Global-Organized-Environmental-Policing-Crime Prevention-Victimization

Posts in equity
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Cause of the Social Evil and the Remedy

By Albert W. Elliott.

“In the following pages, I purpose to lay bare the stark facts of the Social Evil, believing that public knowledge of conditions as they really are will prove a power for good; I will strive to tell the unflinching truth, pitiless though it appears, for therein lies the world’s only hope of freedom from error and vice. This book, my reader, is meat for strong men, not milk for babes. The author has devoted six years of his life to rescue work among fallen women, has studied the underworld from New Orleans to New York, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; has entered on the course of his mission, more than three thousand houses of shame and talked with more than fifteen thousand inmates ; he has walked the valley of this terrible shadow meeting its blackened spirits face to face, searching their innermost secrets, praying and working for their deliverance, and crying from the depth of his soul over the hopeless tragedy of it all. Of the intimate, accurate, heart-crushing ex- perience thus gathered, this book is a faithful record.”

Atlanta, GA: Webb & Vary Co., 1914..

Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets

Edited by Enrique Desmond Arias and Thomas Grisaffi.

The contributors to Cocaine analyze the contemporary production, transit, and consumption of cocaine throughout the Americas and the illicit economy's entanglement with local communities. Based on in-depth interviews and archival research, these essays examine how government agents, acting both within and outside the law, and criminal actors seek to manage the flow of illicit drugs to both maintain order and earn profits. Whether discussing the moral economy of coca cultivation in Bolivia, criminal organizations and drug traffickers in Mexico, or the routes cocaine takes as it travels into and through Guatemala, the contributors demonstrate how entire ways of life are built around cocaine commodification. They consider how the authority of state actors is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers, complicating notions of governance and of the relationships between economic and moral economies. The collection also outlines a more progressive drug policy that acknowledges the important role drugs play in the lives of those at the urban and rural margins. Contributors. Enrique Desmond Arias, Lilian Bobea, Philippe Bourgois, Anthony W. Fontes, Robert Gay, Paul Gootenberg, Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Thomas Grisaffi, Laurie Kain Hart, Annette Idler, George Karandinos, Fernando Montero, Dennis Rodgers, Taniele Rui, Cyrus Veeser, Autumn Zellers-León.

Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021. 377p.

Macrocriminology and Freedom

By John Braithwaite.

How can power over others be transformed to ‘power with’? It is possible to transform many institutions to build societies with less predation and more freedom. These stretch from families and institutions of gender to the United Nations. Some societies, times and places have crime rates a hundred times higher than others. Some police forces kill at a hundred times the rate of others. Some criminal corporations kill thousands more than others. Micro variables fail to explain these patterns. Prevention principles for that challenge are macrocriminological.

Freedom is conceived in a republican way as non-domination. Tempering domination prevents crime; crime prevention reduces domination. Many believe a high crime rate is a price of freedom. Not Braithwaite. His principles of crime control are to build freedom, temper power, lift people from poverty and reduce all forms of domination. Freedom requires a more just normative order. It requires cascading of peace by social movements for non-violence and non-domination. Periods of war, domination and anomie cascade with long lags to elevated crime, violence, inter-generational self-violence and ecocide. Cybercrime today poses risks of anomic nuclear wars.

Braithwaite’s proposals refine some of criminology’s central theories and sharpen their relevance to all varieties of freedom. They can be reduced to one sentence. Strengthen freedom to prevent crime, prevent crime to strengthen freedom.

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2022. 814p.

Transnational Organized Crime

Edited by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and Regine Schönenberg.

Analyses of a Global Challenge to Democracy. ”In June 2011, the Heinrich Böll Foundation hosted an international conference on transnational organized crime (TOC). It was the first time that the Foundation addressed the issue of transnational organized crime in such a comprehensive manner. The intention of this event was to raise awareness about the interdependency of international criminal structures, legal economic processes, and the respective political orders. A further aspect that was addressed was the interwovenness of drug, arms, human and organ trafficking, and money laundering.”

Creative Commons (2013) 309p.

Who Pays? Casino Gambling and Organized Crime

By Craig A. Zendzian.

Written by a former NYPD cop, this book gives a behind the scenes look at the hidden interests that lie behind casino gambling from Nevada to New Jersey. Provides a concise analysis of how politics, organized crime and special interests created one of the greatest gambling empires in the United States. CONTENTS: 1. Introduction, 2.Nevada and Earlier Gambling Movements in America, 3. The Bahamas and Casino Gambling, 4. Gambling Comes to New Jersey, 5. Let's Do Business: The Corporate Way That is, 6. Who Investigates Racketeers?, 7. Where Does It End?

NY. Harrow and Heston Publishers. 2012.

Behavioural drivers of corruption facilitating illegal wildlife trade: Problem analysis and state of the field review

By Claudia Baez Camargo and Gayle Burges.s

This Problem Analysis is a review of the efficacy and opportunities for using social norm and behaviour change (SNBC) approaches to combat illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and similar natural resource-related corruption. Behavioural science is a rich and expansive field that has received prominent coverage in recent years for the promise it offers as a foundational yet underutilised approach to achieving biodiversity conservation. Extensive literature shows how SNBC initiatives can help combat diverse corruption problems, although for those related to natural resource management the evidence for doing so is sparse. This report synthesises the available information and suggests the next steps to redress this current lack of evidence.

Basel, SWIT: Basel Institute on Governance , 2022. 61p.

State of the Apes Section 2

Arcus Foundation.

Killing, Capture, Trade and Conservation. The illegal trade in live apes, ape meat and body parts occurs across all ape range states and poses a significant and growing threat to the long-term survival of wild ape populations world- wide. What was once a purely subsistence and cultural activity, now encompasses a global multi-million-dollar trade run by sophisticated trans-boundary criminal networks. The chal- lenge lies in teasing apart the complex and interrelated factors that drive the ape trade, while implementing strategies that do not exacerbate inequality. This volume of State of the Apes brings together original research and analysis with topical case studies and emerging best practices, to further the ape conservation agenda around killing, capture and trade.

Cambridge (2021) 410 pages.

State of the Apes

Arcus Foundation.

Killing, Capture, Trade and Conservation. The illegal trade in live apes, ape meat and body parts occurs across all ape range states and poses a significant and growing threat to the long-term survival of wild ape populations world- wide. What was once a purely subsistence and cultural activity, now encompasses a global multi-million-dollar trade run by sophisticated trans-boundary criminal networks. The chal- lenge lies in teasing apart the complex and interrelated factors that drive the ape trade, while implementing strategies that do not exacerbate inequality. This volume of State of the Apes brings together original research and analysis with topical case studies and emerging best practices, to further the ape conservation agenda around killing, capture and trade.

Cambridge University Press. (2021) 410 pages.

Journeys to freedom? Post-rescue ethnography of bonded labourers and sex workers in India

By Pankhuri Agarwal.

Working with a simplistic notion of release from bondage as “freedom”, mainstream anti-trafficking activists focus on rescue. They argue that victims of trafficking are “free” once removed from their employers. Critics contest this approach and argue that significantly less attention is paid to the role of the state and the NGOs in producing conditions due to which people remain vulnerable. This research lends empirical support to this critical position through a multi-sited ethnography of informal migrant workers, sex workers, and law enforcement officers, traversing through courtrooms, police stations, district welfare offices, worksites, shelter homes, and offices of NGOs, in New Delhi, India. It corroborates that the authority of law is compromised ‘on ground’ and is actively negotiated within the legal space of anti-trafficking efforts. Instead of being instantly transported to “freedom”, the workers end up in protracted legal proceedings, ranging two to thirty-seven years, to seek justice and rights. Their rights are neglected due to a Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Their mobility is restricted due to improper documentation. Their suffering is intensified through an evasive legal system. The result – arbitrary, unjust legal outcomes after an endless wait and dependence on intermediaries. In fact, their journey through the system, with cost and time overruns, has no direct or precise chronology, and often moves in a circle rather than reaching an end. The workers resemble the class of people that Denise Ferreira da Silva (2009) describes as “nobodies”. They continue to struggle to achieve the rights and recognition that would allow them to escape this status. The combination of empirical data, doctrinal analysis, and socio-legal theory in this research provide an insight on the harm and limits of the anti-trafficking discourse with reference to India.

Bristol, UK: University of Bristol, 2021. 233p.