By The Asia Pacific International Spirits & Wines Alliance. et al.

Illicit trade in alcohol is widespread, representing significant percentages of alcohol consumption worldwide and stripping governments of billions of dollars in tax revenues. According to Euromonitor’s 2018 Global Study on Illicit Alcohol, 1 in 4 alcohol bottles are illicit, representing 25.8% of all global consumption.

In addition to the serious health risk for consumers, the illicit trade in alcohol results in substantial losses in tax and duty revenue for governments. According to the Euromonitor report, the fiscal loss to governments in these countries is as much US$ 3.6 billion every year. These findings correspond to a 2016 report by the EU Intellectual Property Office that estimated counterfeit spirits and wine drain €1.2 billion (US$1.4 billion) in government revenues in Europe, of which €739 million (US$843 million) are excise duties. For industry, the main impact relates to lost market shares, costs related to intellectual property theft, reputational damage and lost consumer trust.

New York: Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade, 27p

By World Economic Forum

From the Preface: "The 2023 edition of the 'Global Risks Report' highlights the multiple areas where the world is at a critical inflection point. It is a call to action, to collectively prepare for the next crisis the world may face and, in doing so, shape a pathway to a more stable, resilient world."

World Economic Forum: www.weforum.org/. 2023. 98p.

By Rosenfeld, Richard; Boxerman, Bobby; Lopez, Ernesto, Jr.

From the Introduction: "This report updates CCJ's [Council on Criminal Justice's] previous studies [hyperlink] of crime changes during the coronavirus pandemic, extending the analyses with data through December of 2022. The current study finds a drop in homicide, aggravated assaults, and gun assaults and a rise in robbery and most property crimes. The authors' conclusions have not changed: to achieve substantial and sustainable reductions in violence and crime, cities should adopt evidence-based crime-control strategies and long-needed reforms to policing. The 35 cities included in this study were selected based on data availability [...] and range from Richmond, VA, the smallest, with 227,000 residents, to New York, the largest, with more than 8.4 million residents. The mean population of the cities for which crime data were available is approximately 1.1 million, while the median population is roughly 652,000. This report assesses monthly changes between January of 2018 and December of 2022 for the following 10 crimes: homicide, aggravated assault, gun assault, domestic violence, robbery, residential burglary, nonresidential burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and drug offenses. As in the previous reports, this analysis focuses special attention on the trend in homicides. It also examines in greater detail than in prior reports the substantial increase in motor vehicle thefts and carjacking since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020."

Council On Criminal Justice. 2023. 29p.

By Safe Tennessee Project

In 2017, nearly 40,000 Americans died from gun violence — 109 every single day. In 2017, 1,246 Tennesseans died from gun violence, 3.4 people every day. Americans are 25 times more likely to die by firearm-related homicide and eight times more likely to die by firearmrelated suicide compared to other economically developed nations. If an illness were killing our friends, family, and neighbors at such an alarming rate, we would not hesitate to label it a crisis. And that’s what gun violence is. It’s a public health crisis. Public health encompasses any threats to a person’s life and wellbeing that can be prevented, contained or treated. For far too long, gun violence has been a leading cause of injury and death in our country, our state and our city, but it can be prevented through focused interventions for individuals who need them the most. This approach is not new; the U.S. dramatically decreased injury rates from car accidents for adults, children and babies by engaging in robust study of the issue, and ultimately making vehicles safer, making car seats safer, passing laws requiring seat belts, lowering speed limits, and passing DUI laws. The public health approach to gun violence reduction does not replace nor is it at odds with law enforcement. Its focus is just different: not deterrence but prevention by addressing the root causes of gun violence. Communities around the country and world integrate public health into public policy challenges. Our country - and our state - should do the same.

Nashville: Safe Tennessee Project, 2019. 72p.

By James Alan Fox

Recent mass public shootings in venues as diverse as a school, a church, and a concert, have alarmed policymakers and the public alike. The massive amount of media attention given these tragedies has convinced many observers that such incidents are on the rise—that we are experiencing a virtual epidemic of bloodshed. Notwithstanding this widely-held perception, shootings in which four or more victims are killed in a public place unrelated to other criminal activity remain rare events, especially when adjusted for population growth. While there has been some increase in the number of cases, the severity—in terms of the number killed and wounded— has spiked over the past several years, with seven of the ten deadliest occurring since 2007. Because of this, and the associated news and social media obsession, the most pronounced increase has been in fear. Despite mounting interest among journalists and academics, questions regarding the nature and prevention of mass shootings remain. For example, to what extent do mass shooters have histories of mental illness, substance abuse, or violence? Does strengthening or weakening gun control laws have an impact on the incidence or severity of mass public shootings? Are mass shooters influenced by media coverage of these events? To address these questions and more, we embarked on a research initiative starting with the creation of a database of mass public shooting incidents, offenders, and victims that occurred in the United States from 1976 forward. Notwithstanding the date range contained in the project title, we updated the data as the work progressed and used the most up-to-date data for analyses and associated publications as they became available. We defined mass public shootings as any event in which four or more individuals, not including the assailant(s), were killed by gunfire in a public setting within a 24-hour period, absent any associated criminal activity (such as robbery, gang conflict, or illicit drug trade). With this as the starting point, we then carried out a series of analyses using these and other data.

Boston: Northeastern University, 2021. 48p.

By U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General (OIG)

The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an evaluation to determine whether Department of Defense law enforcement organizations, such as the U.S. Army Military Police, Naval Security Forces, and Pentagon Force Protection Agency, had established effective active shooter response policies, plans, and training. The report revealed a problematic lack of an active shooter response and training standard, which officials worry may “result in a delayed and uncoordinated response that could increase casualties” at military facilities and installations. According to the report, there are five existing policies related to active shooter situations, but no consistent, overall protocol. The five current policies, “although related to emergency management, arming of personnel, lessons learned, incident response plans, and training, only provide minimal active shooter incident response requirements.” This concerning absence of a strong strategy, particularly regarding the use of force, contributed to law enforcement officers not meeting the expectations set forth in the policies already in place. As part of the evaluation, the OIG proposed several recommendations to address these deficiencies, including updating the preexisting guidelines for active shooter response procedures, as well as standardizing the current directives for the use of force, arming, training, and equipment requirements for law enforcement organizations. Furthermore, the report suggested to publish lessons learned in the aftermath of active shooter incidents, such as those at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, and Naval Air Station Pensacola, into a centralized Joint Lessons Learned Information System. The OIG notes that management officials have not fully agreed with or resolved their recommendations and strongly encourages them to take action as soon as possible.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Defence, 2022. 56p.

By David Hureau, Theodore Wilson

We depicted the episodic nature of illegal gun carrying and tested its co-occurrence with gun violence victimization and exposure. We tested differences in differences using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, originally collected between 2000 and 2010 (Phoenix, Arizona, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), on young people adjudicated for serious involvement in crime. We then tested the changes in gun victimization experiences attending gun-carrying changes for this sample. We found gun victimization to be highest during periods of gun carrying, and this correspondence held regardless of future or past gun-carrying behavior. This manifests both in direct victimization and witnessing gun violence. Even among gun carriers, episodes of non-carrying are common, with 76.4% of gun carriers in a 1-year period also reporting a pause in their carrying behavior of at least 6 months. Gun carrying and gun violence exposure co-occur at a high rate. During any period of gun carrying, the carrier has at least a 2% chance of getting shot versus near 0% for periods of non-carrying. Our results suggest that illegal gun carrying is malleable, and public health efforts to reduce the incidence of gun carrying could yield meaningful reductions in violence.

Am J Epidemiol. 2021;190(12):2544–2551

By Sophia Falkner

Policy Exchange’s report, Knife Crime in the Capital , reveals the real injustice that at least four out of five gang related homicide victims and perpetrators in London are black or ethnic minority. 5 It confirms that the Metropolitan Police is losing a battle against knife crime that is out of control in some parts of London, with young black and ethnic minority men by far the most likely to be stabbed or commit knife crime. Black people in London, it shows, are five times more likely to be hospitalised than white people due to a stabbing. The report analyses a decade of knife crime data, revealing how a combination of drill music, social media, tit-for-tat revenge attacks and a failure in police strategy are causes of dozens of deaths and hundreds more injuries every year.

London: Policy Exchange, 2021. 63p.

By Jake Phillips, Kate Whitfield, Paula Hamilton, Fiona de Hoog and Charlotte Coleman

‘Knife crime’, which here we use as shorthand for children and young people using and carrying bladed weapons in public places, has been increasing in recent years. Current evidence suggests that knife crime is driven by a combination of poverty, marginalisation, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma, fear and victimisation, including exploitation. Youth offending teams (YOTs), amongst their other duties, are responsible for working with children (aged 10-17 years) who are at risk of involvement with knife crime, or who have been found guilty of a knife crime. YOTs are interdisciplinary teams which provide multi-agency input based on local need. They provide supervision and intervention programmes which focus on desistance from crime, and support children to avoid offending and reoffending, and to live a healthy and positive life. Although YOTs are increasingly sharing or co-commissioning services across local government boundaries, greater understanding of effective YOT activity is needed to allow for improved practice sharing, and potentially to deliver financial savings.

Manchester, UK: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, 2022. 49p.

By Aase Villadsen and Emla Fitzsimons

At age 17, 6.4% of young people self-reported carrying or using a weapon in the past year. For males the figure was 8.8% and for females 3.9%. • Carrying or using a weapon at age 17 intersected with other types of offences at the same age. Of those who had carried or used a weapon in the past year, 66% reported assault, 32% had shoplifted, 20% committed neighbourhood crime, 50% were involved in criminal damage, 30% reported cybercrime, and 5.3% had participated in online bullying. A high proportion (26%) of those who had carried or used a weapon were currently or 4 previously members of a gang. • Weapon carrying or use at age 17 was associated with a wide range of prior factors, when examined bivariately with no other variables controlled for. Factors related to a higher prevalence of carrying or using a weapon included individual characteristics, socioeconomic background, family environment, school factors, child and adolescent mental health, leisure activities, peer factors, substance use, and previous involvement in offending behaviours. • In multivariate examinations of weapon carrying or use at age 17, controlling for other variables, many bivariate associations dissipated. Significant associations remained for being male, use of substances at age 14, spending a lot of time on computer/electronic gaming at age 14, being excluded from school between age 11 and 14, and having peers who use multiple substances at age 14. Furthermore, these age 14 experiences and behaviours appeared to be mediators between childhood experiences (low household income, domestic abuse between parents, externalising problems, and self-harm in adolescence) and carrying or using a weapon at age 17. Finally, cohort members carrying or use of a weapon previously at age 14 was highly predictive of continuity at age 17. There were no differences between males and females in terms of variables associated with this age 17 outcome.

London: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2021, 117p.

By Mallory O’Brien and Michael F. Totoraitis

In 2005, the Mayor of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Chief of Police, and the Milwaukee County District Attorney formed the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission (MHRC) to address lethal violence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Modeled after other review processes such as child death or crime incident reviews, homicide reviews were rare and information about them was scarce. Since then, the MHRC has been a central component of the City of Milwaukee’s violence prevention efforts. The MHRC strives to reduce homicides and nonfatal shootings through a multilevel, multidisciplinary, and multi-agency homicide review process. The commission was designed to achieve the following goals: 1 . Gain a better understanding of homicide through strategic problem analysis. 2 . Develop innovative and effective responses and prevention strategies. 3 . Help focus available prevention and intervention resources. Guiding the creation of MHRC were four tenets that would inform the entire initiative and affect its governance, leadership, and staffing structure; partnership development; collection and use of real-time data; and preference for multilevel and multi-agency decision-making. These four tenets were 1 . Homicide is preventable; 2 . Only a collaborative and well-coordinated effort of community, nonprofit, business, government, academic, legal, and medical partnerships will lead to lasting change; 3 . Data-driven strategies are essential; 4 . Multi-level responses help ensure meaningful, robust, and sustainable results over the long term.

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2021. 18p.

By Emily Tiry, Kelly Roberts Freeman and William Adams

States and localities maintain primary responsibility for addressing violent crime in their communities, but the federal government also plays an important role in combating violence. One key part of that role is the enforcement of federal gun laws that regulate receipt and possession of firearms as well as their manufacture, importation, distribution, and transfer. Federal law also penalizes the criminal use of firearms. Most defendants in federal firearms cases are charged pursuant to the Gun Control Act of 1968, which regulates interstate and foreign firearms commerce and prohibits certain persons, such as those with felony convictions, from possessing a firearm (box 1). Federal prosecution is sometimes considered more advantageous than state prosecution because it carries more certain and punitive penalties. Moreover, targeted federal prosecutions through federal, state, and local task forces like Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) can be a key component of crime-reduction strategies.

Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2021. 45p.

By Marissa Edmund

Gun violence is a major problem in the United States as well as the key driver of the rise in violent crime across the nation.1 Notably, gun violence has a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities and is highly concentrated in a relatively small number of neighborhoods that have historically been under-resourced and racially segregated. This is due to a combination of weak gun laws; systemic racial inequities, including unequal access to safe housing and adequate educational and employment opportunities; and a history of disinvestment in public infrastructure and services in the communities of color most affected by gun violence. To reduce gun violence in these communities, U.S. policymakers must complement common sense gun laws with investments in community-based violence intervention (CVI) initiatives and policies to address root causes of gun violence.

Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2022. 4p.

By Alexandra Kuimova, Dr Andrea Edoardo Varisco and Pieter D. Wezeman

This SIPRI Policy Report synthesizes the data on small arms and light weapons (SALW) diversion from the United Nations Panel of Experts reports on the five UN arms embargoes in place in subSaharan Africa in 2022—on the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan (Darfur region). The report provides a typology on the sources of illicit SALW in the states and regions under embargo and discusses the challenges of enforcing arms embargoes and possible policy solutions to address the various sources of illicit SALW in order to inform and support efforts to combat the proliferation of illicit arms.

Stockholm: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2022. 53p.

By Jessica Reichert, Jacquelyn Gilbreath; and Morgan McGuirk

Gun violence is a persistent and concerning issue across the country and the state of Illinois. In communities with high levels of gun violence, individuals may carry guns for protection. These individuals may never intend to, or actually, fire them; however, if arrested for possession, they may 2 face a felony conviction. We summarized literature on why individuals illegally carry guns, how they obtain them, and the criminal legal ramifications they may face. In addition, we examined Illinois gunrelated arrest data collected between 2012 and 2021. The findings revealed firearm possession arrests more than doubled during that period. In 2021, Black men in their 20s and arrested in Chicago with previous arrests on their records comprised the majority of the nearly 16,000 individuals arrested for a firearm-related offense. Community investment, diversionary criminal justice programming, and evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment may reduce crimes related to illegal gun carrying.

Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Authority, 2022. 19p

By Timothy Carey, Lisa Geller, Daniel Webster

Though Illinois has stronger gun violence prevention laws than much of the country, there are specific actions Illinois could take to further reduce rates of firearm death and injury in the state. This report offers several recommendations, backed by empirical research, that state actors should adopt to achieve this end. The recommendations are divided among four main issue areas and preceded by an overview of the current state law and relevant research supporting the recommendations that follow. As public health researchers and advocates, our recommendations are for Illinois to: Improve Firearm Restraining Order (FRO) Implementation a. Assign statewide FRO coordinators to serve as a liaison between petitioners and the court system b. Mandate clear and comprehensive reporting on FRO use c. Mandate FRO training for those involved in implementation d. Expand the list of eligible FRO petitioners to include licensed healthcare providers e. Provide FRO education to key partners and advocates in the violence prevention space f. Extend the sixmonth FRO to one year g. Utilize Byrne JAG funding for FRO implementation. Improve FOID Card Process a. Raise the age to 21 to buy firearms & obtain a FOID Card b. Require individuals applying for a FOID Card to apply for the license and to undergo fingerprinting in person at a state agency or state-certified vendor c. Convene experts and impacted groups in the mental health community to reevaluate potential stigmatization in the FOID denial and revocation criteria d. Submit Governor Pritzker’s recommendations to expand the use of Clear and Present Danger Reports to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ proposed rules process Ban the Sale, Transfer, Manufacture, and Possession of Large Capacity Magazines Counteract Gun Trafficking a. Establish an anti-gun trafficking unit within ISP b. Create accountability for firearm dealers in Illinois by codifying a public nuisance law for dangerous firearm distribution practices to fit within the PLCAA exception

Baltimore: Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2022. 16p.

By Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts & Chicago Council of Lawyers

  Police who lie, perjure themselves in court, and/or file false reports are pervasive throughout the United States. Perjury and false reporting prevents courts from operating as designed and poses enormous barriers to justice. While the issue of police perjury – or “testilying” – has been discussed as a broad phenomenon and in relation to specific cases, there have been few attempts to examine the issue within a single court system. For this report, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers interviewed attorneys, researchers, journalists, community organizers, and directly impacted people to identify how false reports and police perjury impact the Circuit Court of Cook County and the people it serves. We have reviewed secondary data in order to understand the  scope and impact of police perjury and false reporting on Cook County community members, while paying particular attention to issues relating directly to the Chicago Police Department. Through this research, we have identified several themes that indicate that systemic factors allow police to lie, submit false reports, and perjure themselves. We have also identified the roles of court actors – including law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges – in allowing or encouraging false reporting to exist and go unaddressed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Based on our findings, we provide nine recommendations to limit opportunities and enforce consequences for lying, better monitor officers in the field, improve transparency, and create long-term cultural change in an attempt to limit the police perjury and false reporting that harms communities.  

Chicago: Chicago Appleseed, 2023. 45p.

By Matt Herbert and Max Gallien

This report offers a sizing and analysis of the developing trends around drugs in the Maghreb. It begins by detailing the production of narcotics in the Maghreb, including both cannabis and poppies. Next, it focuses on the trafficking of these products, exploring the types of drugs that transit the region, the routes they take and the groups involved in their movement.

The report then looks at drug consumption trends in the Maghreb, before detailing the impacts of narcotics on state capacity, security and public health and ending with brief recommendations.

Geneva: The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. 2020. 65p

By Tien-Li Kuo  

  Environmental criminology concerns the role of opportunities (both people and objects) existing in the environment that make crimes more likely to occur. Research consistently shows that opportunity perspectives (particularly with regard to individuals’ lifestyles and routines) help in explaining the prevalence and concentration of crimes. However, there is a paucity of studies investigating crime patterns from an opportunity perspective both outside western countries and in relation to cybercrimes. Hence, it is not clear whether non-Western and online contexts exhibit similar patterns of crime as would be predicted by an opportunity perspective. This thesis is concerned with criminal victimisation in Taiwan – a less researched setting in the field of environmental criminology. It covers both offline victimisation (with a focus on burglary) and online victimisation from the aforementioned opportunity perspective. The goal of this thesis is to identify individual- and area-level characteristics that affect the patterns of victimisation in Taiwan. To achieve this, the thesis draws on a range of secondary datasets, including police recorded crime statistics, the Taiwan Area Victimisation Survey, and the Digital Opportunity Survey for Individuals and Households. With the application of quantitative modelling, the thesis suggests that the generalisability the lifestyle-routine activity approach in explaining crime patterns in Taiwan should be taken with caution. The findings provide partial support for its applicability in relation to burglary and cybercrime in Taiwan. Furthermore, the findings reported here in relation to patterns of repeat and near repeat victimisation depart from those observed in the western literature. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for academic research and practice in crime prevention.  

London: University College London. UCL Department of Security and Crime Science, 2021. 400p.

By Vanda Felbab-Brown 

This report analyses the landscape of anti-crime militias and vigilante forces in Nigeria’s south over the past 20 years. It focuses on two vigilante groups, tracing their evolution and the anti-crime, security, and political impacts, before providing policy recommendations. The report explains the context of vigilante and anti-crime militia group formation in Nigeria, including the struggles, challenges, and deficiencies of the Nigeria Federal Police. It discusses the evolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), its own role in criminality, and the anti-SARS protests. It also provides a historic background of vigilantism in Nigeria and lays out the various sources from which vigilantism in Nigeria stems. It goes on to review the landscape of militia groups in southern Nigeria and outlines their different types, including in terms of formalization and official recognition. It then details the formation, effectiveness, evolution, and anticrime, security, and policy effects of the Bakassi Boys in Nigeria’s South East. It also analyzes 20 years of federal and state policy responses toward them. The following section provides the same analysis for the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in the South West.

New York: United Nations University, 2021. 67p.