By C.J. Valaseka , Samantha A. Streuli a, Heather A. Pines , Steffanie A. Strathdeec , Annick Borquez , Philippe Bourgois , Tara Stamos-Buesige , Carlos F. Verac , Alicia Harvey-Verac , Angela R. Bazzi

Background: People who use drugs (PWUD) in the San Diego, USA and Tijuana, Mexico metroplex face high overdose risk related to historic methamphetamine use and relatively recent fentanyl introduction into local drug supplies. The personal overdose experiences of PWUD in this region are understudied, however, and may have been influenced by the COVID pandemic. Methods: From September-November 2021, we conducted 28 qualitative interviews among PWUD ≥18 years old sampled from an ongoing cohort study in the San Diego-Tijuana metroplex. Interviews explored overdose experiences and changes in the drug supply. Thematic analysis of coded interview transcripts explored overdose experiences, perspectives on drug supply changes, interactions with harm reduction services, and naloxone access. Results: Among 28 participants, 13 had experienced an overdose. Participants discussed rising levels of fentanyl in local drug supplies and increasing overdose incidents in their social networks. Participants discussed a general shift from injecting heroin to smoking fentanyl in their networks. Participants’ most common concerns included having consistent access to a safe and potent drug supply and naloxone. Conclusion: Participants prioritized adapting to drug supply changes and preventing overdose compared to other health concerns, such as HIV and COVID-19. Efforts to address overdose in this region could benefit from drug checking services and expanded, equitable delivery of naloxone.

Volume 7, June 2023, 100154, Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports

By Lauren J. Tanz, R. Matt Gladden, Amanda T. Dinwiddie, Kimberly D. Miller, Dita Broz, Eliot Spector, Julie O’Donnell

Summary

What is already known about this topic?

More than 109,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in 2022; nearly 70% involved illegally manufactured fentanyls (IMFs). Data from the western United States suggested a transition from injecting heroin to smoking IMFs.

What is added by this report?

From January–June 2020 to July–December 2022, the percentage of overdose deaths with evidence of smoking increased 73.7%, and the percentage with evidence of injection decreased 29.1%; similar changes were observed in all U.S. regions. Changes were most pronounced in deaths with IMFs detected, with or without stimulant detection.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Strengthening and expanding public health and harm reduction services to address overdose risk with smoking and other noninjection routes might reduce deaths.

Preliminary reports indicate that more than 109,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in 2022; nearly 70% of these involved synthetic opioids other than methadone, primarily illegally manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (IMFs). Data from the western United States suggested a transition from injecting heroin to smoking IMFs. CDC analyzed data from the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System to describe trends in routes of drug use in 27 states and the District of Columbia among overdose deaths that occurred during January 2020–December 2022, overall and by region and drugs detected. From January–June 2020 to July–December 2022, the percentage of overdose deaths with evidence of injection decreased 29.1%, from 22.7% to 16.1%, whereas the percentage with evidence of smoking increased 73.7%, from 13.3% to 23.1%. The number of deaths with evidence of smoking increased 109.1%, from 2,794 to 5,843, and by 2022, smoking was the most commonly documented route of use in overdose deaths. Trends were similar in all U.S. regions. Among deaths with only IMFs detected, the percentage with evidence of injection decreased 41.6%, from 20.9% during January–June 2020 to 12.2% during July–December 2022, whereas the percentage with evidence of smoking increased 78.9%, from 10.9% to 19.5%. Similar trends were observed among deaths with both IMFs and stimulants detected. Strengthening public health and harm reduction services to address overdose risk related to diverse routes of drug use, including smoking and other non-injection routes, might reduce drug overdose deaths.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report; February 15, 2024

By R. Santamarina  D. Caldicott , J. Fitzgerald , J.L. Schumann 

Background : Illicit drug use is overrepresented in music festival attendees compared with the general population. Drug use often involves a wide range of substances with the potential to cause drug toxicity. Law enforcement-centred strategies intended to deter drug use and supply at these mass gatherings have been implemented throughout Australia. However, many have been criticised for their lack of effectiveness, with evidence suggesting that they can inadvertently increase the risk of drug harm. Drug deaths are often multifactorial, providing added challenges in the development of prevention strategies. This study aimed to determine the frequency of deaths involving alcohol and other drugs at music festivals in Australia and to identify potential risk factors that may inform future harm reduction strategies.

Methods : A descriptive case series study was conducted using the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) to investigate drug-related deaths at music festivals throughout Australia between 1 July 2000 (Queensland from 1 January 2001) and 31 December 2019, using a list of keywords comprising music festival names and terms.

Results : There were 64 deaths, of which most involved males (73.4%) aged in their mid-20s (range 15-50 years). Drug toxicity was the most common primary cause of death (46.9%) followed by external injuries (37.5%). The drug most commonly detected or reported as being used was MDMA (65.6%), followed by alcohol (46.9%) and cannabis (17.2%), with most cases reporting the use of two or more drugs (including alcohol) and 36% reporting a history of drug misuse in the coroner's findings. Most deaths were unintentional, with less than a fifth of cases (17.2%) involving intentional self-harm. Clinical intervention was involved in 64.1% of cases and most festivals occurred in inner city locations (59.4%).

Conclusions : The findings suggest that drug-related deaths at music festivals in Australia typically involve young people using multiple illicit substances in combination with alcohol. Most are unintentional and could potentially be prevented through the implementation of a range of harm reduction strategies, including mobile medical care, drug checking services, and increased consumer education and awareness.

International Journal of Drug Policy Volume 123, January 2024, 104274

By Kunal Madan  , Samantha Schmidt  , Raeiti Fouladi Chami  , Raymond Ho , Justin C. Lewis  , Dorie E. Apollonio

Background: As of June 2023, a majority of states had legalized the sale of cannabis, which past research has found to be associated with increased exposures. In 2018, a change in federal policy increased access to cannabidiol (CBD) and derived psychoactive cannabis products, but there has been limited study of reported exposures following this change. Methods: This observational retrospective study analyzed exposures involving synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) and derived cannabis products, including CBD, reported to the California Poison Control System (CPCS) from 2010 to 2022. We focused primarily on potential shifts in reported exposures before and after the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed products derived from hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. We reviewed and hand-coded individual call records to assess reported exposures over time and their characteristics, and conducted interrupted time series analysis to assess whether exposure counts changed after policy interventions. Results: Reported CBD exposures significantly increased following the federal reclassification of hemp products. Exposure reports were most common among young children and for edibles. Exposure reports provided limited information about derived psychoactive cannabis products. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a need for improved data collection regarding derived psychoactive cannabis products, as well as potential public health value in modifying packaging regulations and in providing additional guidance to parents to help prevent CBD exposures.

International Journal of Drug Policy Volume 124, February 2024, 104313

By ENACT

Iboga, a plant native to Central Africa, has been used for centuries in religious rituals and traditional medicine. In recent years, it has gained notoriety for its potential to treat substance use disorders. However, its increasing commercialisation and global trade are having a negative impact on the plant and the communities that rely on it. Ibogaine, the psychoactive alkaloid found in iboga root, can cause a variety of effects, including stimulation, aphrodisia, trance, and hallucinations. At high doses, it can be toxic. Despite the risks, iboga is being used in unregulated therapeutic clinics around the world to treat addiction. The online market for iboga is thriving, and consumers often seek out Gabonese iboga due to its sacred properties. This has led to overharvesting and deforestation in Gabon, harming local communities and the environment. Criminal networks are involved in the illicit harvesting, trafficking and sale of iboga. These networks are composed mostly of nationals from Gabon and Cameroon with connections to Europe and North America. Iboga is sold online in a variety of formats, including root bark, root powder, capsules, and, less commonly, ibogaine powder or iboga seed.

Lyon, France, INTERPOL, 2023. 31p.

Editor(s): D. Asher Ghertner, Hudson McFann, Daniel M. Goldstein

Security is a defining characteristic of our age and the driving force behind the management of collective political, economic, and social life. Directed at safeguarding society against future peril, security is often thought of as the hard infrastructures and invisible technologies assumed to deliver it: walls, turnstiles, CCTV cameras, digital encryption, and the like. The contributors to Futureproof redirect this focus, showing how security is a sensory domain shaped by affect and image as much as rules and rationalities. They examine security as it is lived and felt in domains as varied as real estate listings, active-shooter drills, border crossings, landslide maps, gang graffiti, and museum exhibits to theorize how security regimes are expressed through aesthetic forms. Taking a global perspective with studies ranging from Jamaica to Jakarta and Colombia to the U.S.-Mexico border ;Futureproof expands our understanding of the security practices, infrastructures, and technologies that pervade everyday life.

Contributors: Victoria Bernal, Jon Horne Carter, Alexandra Demshock, Zaire Z. Dinzey-Flores, Didier Fassin, D. Asher Ghertner, Daniel M. Goldstein, Rachel Hall, Rivke Jaffe, Ieva Jusionyte, Catherine Lutz, Alejandra Leal Martínez, Hudson McFann, Limor Samimian-Darash, AbdouMaliq Simone, Austin Zeiderman

Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. 312p.

By Nanzi Zheng, Karen M. Abram,  Leah J. Welty; et alDavid A

Importance  Youths, especially Black and Hispanic males, are disproportionately affected by firearm violence. Yet, no epidemiologic studies have examined the incidence rates of nonfatal firearm injury and firearm mortality in those who may be at greatest risk—youths who have been involved with the juvenile justice system.

Objectives  To examine nonfatal firearm injury and firearm mortality in youths involved with the juvenile justice system and to compare incidence rates of firearm mortality with the general population.

Design, Setting, and Participants  The Northwestern Juvenile Project is a 25-year prospective longitudinal cohort study of 1829 youths after juvenile detention in Chicago, Illinois. Youths were randomly sampled by strata (sex, race and ethnicity, age, and legal status [juvenile or adult court]) at intake from the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Participants were interviewed at baseline (November 1995 to June 1998) and reinterviewed as many as 13 times over 16 years, through February 2015. Official records on mortality were collected through December 2020. Data analysis was conducted from November 2018 to August 2022.

Main Outcomes and Measures  Participants self-reported nonfatal firearm injuries. Firearm deaths were identified from county and state records and collateral reports. Data on firearm deaths in the general population were obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Population counts were obtained from the US census.

Results  The baseline sample of 1829 participants included 1172 (64.1%) males and 657 (35.9%) females; 1005 (54.9%) Black, 524 (28.6%) Hispanic, 296 (16.2%) non-Hispanic White, and 4 (0.2%) from other racial and ethnic groups (mean [SD] age, 14.9 [1.4] years). Sixteen years after detention, more than one-quarter of Black (156 of 575 [27.1%]) and Hispanic (103 of 387 [26.6%]) males had been injured or killed by firearms. Males had 13.6 (95% CI, 8.6-21.6) times the rate of firearm injury or mortality than females. Twenty-five years after the study began, 88 participants (4.8%) had been killed by a firearm. Compared with the Cook County general population, most demographic groups in the sample had significantly higher rates of firearm mortality (eg, rate ratio for males, 2.8; 95% CI, 2.0-3.9; for females: 6.5; 95% CI, 3.0-14.1; for Black males, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.7-3.7; for Hispanic males, 9.6; 95% CI, 6.2-15.0; for non-Hispanic White males, 23.0; 95% CI, 11.7-45.5).

Conclusions and Relevance  This is the first study to examine the incidence of nonfatal firearm injury and firearm mortality in youths who have been involved with the juvenile justice system. Reducing firearm injury and mortality in high-risk youths and young adults requires a multidisciplinary approach involving legal professionals, health care professionals, educators, street outreach workers, and public health researchers.

JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(4):e238902. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.8902

By The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism

Every year, individuals with ties to different extreme causes and movements kill people in the United States; the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) tracks these murders. Extremists regularly commit murders in the service of their ideology, to further a group or gang they may belong to, or even while engaging in traditional, non-ideological criminal activities.

In 2023, domestic extremists killed at least 17 people in the U.S., in seven separate incidents. This represents a sharp decrease from the 27 extremist-related murders ADL has documented for 2022—which itself was a decrease from the 35 identified in 2021. It continues a trend of fewer extremist-related killings after a five-year span of 47-79 extremist-related murders per year (2015-2019). One reason for the trend is the decrease in recent years of extremist-related killings by domestic Islamist extremists and left-wing extremists.

The 2023 murder totals include two extremist-related shootings sprees, both by white supremacists, which together accounted for 11 of the 17 deaths. A third shooting spree, also by an apparent white supremacist, wounded several people but luckily did not result in fatalities.

All the extremist-related murders in 2023 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds, with 15 of the 17 killings involving perpetrators or accomplices with white supremacist connections. This is the second year in a row that right-wing extremists have been connected to all identified extremist-related killings.

Two of the incidents from 2023 involved women playing some role in the killing or its aftermath. This report includes a special section that examines the role played by women in deadly extremist violence in the United States by analyzing 50 incidents from the past 20 years in which women were involved in some fashion in extremist-related killings

New York: ADL, 2024. 36p.

By Mary Holper

This article examines evidence that the government presents in deportation proceedings against young men of color to prove that they are gang members. The gang evidence results in detention, deportation, adverse credibility decisions, and denial of discretionary relief. This article examines the gang evidence through the lens of the law’s use of presumptions and the corresponding burdens of proof at play in immigration proceedings. The immigration burden allocations allow adjudicators to readily accept the harmful presumption contained in the gang evidence—that urban youth of color are criminals and likely to engage in violent crime associated with gangs. The article seeks to explain how this racist assumption led to the creation of a gang database and proposes an evidentiary presumption that the gang evidence is not reliable, in order to specifically instruct the immigration adjudicator to reject the presumption society has put in place about urban youth of color and criminality. In this way, the article tracks common interests of critical race theory, by explaining how US society has subordinated people of color in the creation of gang databases, and seeking not only to understand, but to change this bond between law and racial power.

9 Brook. L. Rev. 119 (2023).

By Sjoukje van Deuren, Robby Roks & Teun van Ruitenburg

Outlaw biker clubs have drawn considerable attention of law enforcement agencies across European countries. Despite law enforcement efforts, the popularity of the outlaw biker subculture has been on the rise recently. There is, however, still little understanding of how individuals become engaged in the outlaw biker subculture. Using unique data from interviews with current members of the Dutch Hells Angels (N = 24), this article addresses the entry mechanisms into the club and how individuals become full-patched members. The results show that active recruitment by the Hells Angels MC and gradually growing into the club’s membership are common entering mechanisms. Pre-existing social ties, both on the club and the individual level, play a significant role for involvement in Dutch Hells Angels membership. Moreover, the Dutch Hells Angels apply various mechanisms to establish the trustworthiness, loyalty, and suitability of a person before becoming a full-patched member of the club.

Trends in Organized Crime, 2024.

By Patrick Naef

Medellin and New Orleans were regularly presented as resilience flagships of the Rockefeller's 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) program. In this article, I will demonstrate how 100RC was embedded or abandoned in both cities' policies. The two case studies provide an opportunity to understand how the 100RC approach to resilience offered – or failed to offer – an appropriate space for the multiple deployments of resilience. 100RC initially promoted an integrative definition of resilience, aiming to address natural as well as social stresses and shocks. I argue that this holistic approach paradoxically contributed to limiting the multiplicity of resilience in both cities. In Medellin, the project came to a halt after political changes. New Orleans eventually developed a more reductionist and technical approach than that initially formulated, focusing on the effectiveness of infrastructures rather than social changes. Considering the importance of contextualizing resilience to local concerns, this analysis will thus demonstrate some of the challenges implied in the institutionalization of a global model of resilience. Moreover, it will also highlight the importance of contextualizing neoliberalism and question the widespread vision of resilient cities as being merely neoliberal.

June 2022Political Geography 96(1):102603

By Patrick Naef

This article provides a picture of the political economy of tourism and violence in Medellín. It analyses the way criminal actors and tourism entrepreneurs share a territory, by shedding light on the extortion of tour guides, street performers and business owners in some of its barrios populares (poor neighbourhoods). The main objective is to demonstrate how intimate relationships – between and among kin, friends, long-term acquaintances – impact what is considered the criminal governance of tourism. This contribution shows that extortion in Medellín meets only limited resistance from tourism entrepreneurs. It also emphasises how criminals, tourism actors and tourists themselves contribute to the creation of fragile secured spaces in the developing tourist-scapes of Colombia's second city.

Journal of Latin American Studies (2023), 55, 323–348

By Reynell Badillo-Sarmiento, Luis Fernando Trejos-Rosero

This article investigates why organised criminal organisations opt for dismemberment, a costly and resource-intensive practice compared to targeted killings. We argue that dismemberment serves two functions for OCGs: first, it demonstrates OCGs' willingness to use gruesome violence against those who challenge their territorial hegemony, and second, it sustains criminal governance regimes by punishing individuals who violate OCGs' regulations. To demonstrate this argument, we analyse 25 cases of dismemberment in Colombia that we compiled during more than four years of fieldwork, review of press archives and databases provided by local authorities. This article contributes to extending the concept of extra-lethal violence to organised crime studies

Working Paper, 2023.

By Julia Deeb-Swihart

Human trafficking is a serious crime that continues to plague the United States. With the rise of computing technologies, the internet has become one of the main mediums through which this crime is facilitated. Fortunately, these online activities leave traces which are invaluable to law enforcement agencies trying to stop human trafficking. However, identifying and intervening with these cases is still a challenging task. The sheer volume of online activity makes it difficult for law enforcement to efficiently identify any potential leads. To compound this issue, traffickers are constantly changing their techniques online to evade detection. Thus, there is a need for tools to efficiently sift through all this online data and narrow down the number of potential leads that a law enforcement agency can deal with. While some tools and prior research do exist for this purpose, none of these tools adequately address law enforcement user needs for information visualizations and spatiotemporal analysis. Thus to address these gaps, this thesis contributes an empirical study of technology and human trafficking. Through in-depth qualitative interviews, systemic literature analysis, and a user-centered design study, this research outlines the challenges and design considerations for developing sociotechnical tools for anti-trafficking efforts. This work further contributes to the greater understanding of the prosecution efforts within the anti-trafficking domain and concludes with the development of a visual analytics prototype that incorporates these design considerations.

Dissertation. Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022.

Edited by Ivan Sammut, Jelena Agranovska

This book is the result of an academic project, funded by the Hercules Programme of the European Commission to study legislation dealing with crimes against the Financial Interest of the EU awarded to the Department of  European and Comparative Law within the Faculty of Laws of the University of Malta. The study deals with the notion of criminal law at the European Union level as well as the relationship between the EU legal order and the national legal order. The focus of the study is on the development of EU criminal legislation aimed at protecting the financial interests of the EU, with a focus on cybercrime, fraud and public spending. It starts with the current legal basis in the TFEU, followed by the development of EU legislation in the area as well as the legislation of relevant bodies, such as EPO, OLAF and EUROPOL. The study tackles how this legislation is being received by the national legal orders, whereby eleven EU Member States are selected based on size, geography and legal systems. These Member States are France, Ireland, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain, Latvia, Greece and Poland. A comparative study is made between those sections of EU criminal law dealing with the financial interests of the EU in these Member States to analyse the current legislation and propose future developments. The study, which is led by the editors based at the University of Malta, examines the subject from a European perspective. Besides the European perspective, the  study focuses on national case-studies, followed by a comparative analysis.

The Hague: Eleven International Publishing, 2020. 340p.

Edited by Marcelo F. Aebi, Stefano Caneppele, Lorena Molnar 

Cybercrime has become part of everyday life. We live in hybrid societies, fluctuating between the material and the virtual world, and we are hence confronted with online, offline and hybrid offences. However, the few victimisation surveys conducted in Europe reveal that victims of online crimes seldom report them to the police. Consequently, cybercrimes – which according to the best estimates represent between one third and more than half of all attempted and completed crimes in Europe – seldom appear in national criminal statistics. The State seems powerless to prevent them and private security companies flourish. 

During two days, experts from all over the continent gathered together in the framework of a virtual conference organized by the Council of Europe and the European Union to discuss what we know, what we do not know, and what we could do to improve our knowledge of crime in our contemporary hybrid societies, develop evidence-based criminal policies, provide assistance to crime victims, and implement realistic programs in the field of crime prevention and offender treatment. This book presents their experiences, reflexions, and proposals.

The Hague: Eleven International Publishing, 2022. 154p.

By Teun van Ruitenburg, Sjoukje van Deuren & Robby Roks

The impact of organized crime measures remains largely unknown. Moreover, for practical and ethical reasons, the perspectives of the individuals who are subjected to organized crime policies are often not included in research. Based on semi-structured interviews with 24 current members of the Dutch Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC), this study fills this knowledge gap by examining how HAMC members reacted to the multi-agency approach to outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in the Netherlands. The results of this study illustrate that the reactions of HAMC members can be divided into four categories: (1) conforming, (2) adapting, (3) resisting, and (4) continuing. The analysis furthermore shows that a variety of different reactions to the OMCG approach coexist within the same club, charter, and even within the same individual member. These findings indicate that crime policies can spark different, sometimes contradicting reactions, within a group that from the outside appears to be a uniform and top-down coordinated organization. Future evaluation studies should take the multifaceted nature of reactions to crime policies into consideration.

Eur J Crim Policy Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-023-09566-6

By Indhu Rammohan, Tommi Gaines, Ayden Scheim, Ahmed Bayoumi, Dan Werb

Supervised consumption services (SCS) prevent overdose deaths onsite; however, less is known about their effect on population-level overdose mortality. We aimed to characterise overdose mortality in Toronto, ON, Canada, and to establish the spatial association between SCS locations and overdose mortality events.

Canada, Lancet Public Health. 2024, 9pg

By Gillian Isabelle Foster

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is known to affect an individual’s intimate relationships during adulthood. While previous reviews have focused on providing insight regarding the association between CM and various factors, there are still components that need to be updated in the literature. This systematic review provided young adults and researchers with accumulative, empirical evidence and updated the information in the existing literature regarding how childhood maltreatment consequently has an influence on IPV, depression, and intimacy problems in intimate relationships during adulthood. Platforms were systematically searched between the years 2019 and 2022. An initial search revealed a total number of 106 studies and thirty-one articles were included in the current systematic review. A mixed-methods approach was used for the analysis of the study. Results show that CM has a positive association with IPV, depression and intimacy problems. More studies need to focus on the following factors: neglect, narrower dynamics, and potential mediators.

Canada, University of Manitoba. 2024, 34pg

By Bridget Harris & Delaine Woodlock

This project explored the impact of technology on victim–survivors of intimate partner violence in regional, rural or remote areas who are socially or geographically isolated. Specifically, it considered the ways that perpetrators use technology to abuse and stalk women, and how technology is used by victim–survivors to seek information, support and safety. Interviews and focus groups with 13 women were conducted in regional, rural and remote Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The findings showed that perpetrators used technology to control and intimidate women and their children. While this impacted women and children’s lives in significant ways, causing fear and isolation, the use of technology was often not viewed as a serious form of abuse by justice agents. 

Australia, Institute of Criminology. 2022, 81pg