By Amy Farrell; Meredith Dank; Katherine Kaufka Walts; Callie Hansson; Andrea Hughes; Chlece Neal

The exploitation of children who are working in the United States is a critical social issue. While recent public attention has been directed toward labor abuses of migrant children, there is strong evidence that labor trafficking impacts a wide range of children who experience individual and structural vulnerabilities. Despite public concern about the exploitation and labor trafficking of children, we lack detailed information about what young people are exploited for labor, the contexts under which these abuses occur, and how to best meet the needs of these young survivors – both U.S. citizen and foreign-national. Utilizing data from 71 cases of child labor trafficking either prosecuted by U.S. officials (36) or served by legal advocacy agencies in four U.S. sites (35). Across these cases information was coded for 132 child labor trafficking victims and 145 child labor trafficking perpetrators. Case data was supplemented with in-depth interviews with legal advocates, victim service providers, child welfare, law enforcement and other government officials, as well as adult child labor trafficking survivors, this study fills important gaps in our knowledge

Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2024. 93p.

By Laura E. McMinn, Juliane A. Kloess, and Zoe Stephenson

Young people with special educational needs (SEN), such as intellectual disability and/or autism, are particularly vulnerable to child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). This mixed-methods systematic literature review consolidates findings in respect to how young people with SEN are currently being taught about CSEA in the UK, incorporating empirical and practice-based findings to counteract publication bias. Key databases were searched, and relevant organizations were contacted regarding studies published between 2015 and 2022 (inclusive). Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 10 adopted a qualitative methodology, and three a mixed-methods approach. The thematic synthesis of the qualitative studies identified the following themes: (a) beliefs and stereotypes about CSEA, vulnerability. and risk have led to young people with SEN being misinformed and misunderstood, and (b) anxiety about the topic of sex and abuse creates polarized views regarding CSEA education in adult guardians of young people with SEN. Themes are discussed in the context of societal biases in respect to vulnerability and risk, and these biases are considered to have a negative effect on how young people with SEN are supported. The findings of this review encourage providers of CSEA awareness education to be mindful of not endorsing harmful stereotypes, and to involve parent–carers as much as possible. This review additionally encourages services and organizations to increase focus on practitioner reflexivity and regular training to counteract potential biases in respect to gender, vulnerability, and risk.

Trauma, Violence, & AbuseVolume 25, Issue 3, July 2024, Pages 2503-2520

By Audrey N. Beck, Sheldon Zhang, Kyle Vincent, Kantar Ghana

This study estimates likely child trafficking and exploitative child labor in three fishing districts around Lake Volta in Ghana. Both international and Ghanaian definitions were applied to determine these populations. Targeting children in fishing villages along the coast of Lake Volta, this study used a household-based probability sampling to reach N=1,286 children. Household parent/caregivers (N=489) were also sampled to understand community perceptions of trafficking and child labor in these areas. Among children interviewed, we find that about 38% were likely victims of human trafficking and an additional 45% were engaged in likely exploitative child labor (i.e., excessive hours, harsh conditions). Additionally, we find that children identified as likely trafficked victims are more frequently exposed to dangerous working conditions, physical and psychological harm. Among children, we find: • Approximately 37.7% (CI=34.3,41.1) of children were identified as likely trafficked victims. • The majority of these children were boys (~60%). • These children were about 13 years old on average. • An additional 45.1% (CI=41.6,48.7) were engaged in likely exploitative child labor conditions only, and 17.2% (CI=14.6,20.2) were doing other child work/ help. • About half of all children engage in fishing tasks out on the lake, such as bailing/scooping water, paddling the boat, diving for nets, etc. • Some of these tasks are particularly dangerous, with 15% reporting going underwater to retrieve nets. • About 20% of children said they were not attending school, citing the need to work as one of the most common reasons for skipping school. Likely trafficked children • Many were working in dangerous conditions (28.6%) or working excessive hours, including: ~22.5 per week on average, 34.4% working six days a week, and 13.7% reporting working seven days a week. • More than half worked while it was dark. • 58% of likely trafficked children report extreme fatigue, 55% report severe stomach aches, and 51% report severe back and joint pain. About 40% expressed feeling sad, hopeless, or having little interest in things. • Emotional violence, such as being belittled and insulted, was significantly higher among likely trafficked children (25.3%) than those in likely exploitative child labor (12.3%). A similar pattern emerges for physical violence and threats of violence, with 36.7% of likely trafficked children experiencing such conditions. • Likely trafficked children experienced the highest levels of restrictions on their freedom, perceived exit or work refusal costs, and emotional and physical abuse at work. Among parent/guardians, we find: • Nearly 20% know of a child brought to their village to work, while about 34% know of a child not enrolled in school (most commonly to support their family economically). • About a fifth have witnessed children engaged in dangerous fishing tasks, with about 10% noting they have seen boys being treated badly in fishing. • However, most parent/caregivers believed children enjoyed working in fishing, most commonly because it allowed them to earn money for themselves or their family. • Knowledge of labor laws is lacking, with only 9% reporting their employers are knowledgeable about most labor laws. Using rigorous probability-based methods, this study finds child labor in the fishing industry to be pervasive in the villages along Lake Volta, dangerous and abusive working conditions to be common, and the number of potential child trafficking victims to be alarming. In addition to probability household sampling, we also used population-based calibrations to weight our results. These results point to the need for increased efforts to enforce child protection laws, eliminate abusive working conditions for children, and improve access to child welfare and education services. More importantly, periodic assessment through repeated measures should be built into all anti-child trafficking or anti-human trafficking efforts to evaluate program outcomes and monitor progress.

Washington, DC: International Justice Mission, 2023. 31p.

By Kirsten Singleton, Katrina B. Stone, and Julie Stricker

Past studies have demonstrated the presence of child work, child labor, and child trafficking within Lake Volta’s fishing industry—highlighting that many children live outside the legal safeguards Ghana has established to protect child welfare—and have also documented the hazards and hardships faced by these children. However, prior to this mixed methods baseline study, the extent of child trafficking into forced labor on Lake Volta could only be inferred. The purpose of this baseline study was to document the scope and nature of child trafficking in Lake Volta’s fishing industry. Methodology IJM conducted two primary data collection efforts: 1) an operational assessment in the southern region of Lake Volta in 2013; and 2) a qualitative research study in destination and source communities in 2015. 1. Operational assessment in the southern region of Lake Volta: In 2013, IJM conducted an operational assessment on Lake Volta to determine the scale of child trafficking into forced labor. This assessment was conducted in IJM’s intended project area (the southern portion of the lake, which ranges from south of the Abotasi fishing village and east of the Akosombo Dam). Over the course of 17 days during June and July, data collectors conducted interviews with children and/or adults in a total of 982 occupied boats (canoes) classifying the trafficking status of all children interviewed or observed. 2. Qualitative study in destination and source communities: In 2015, IJM hired a local Ghanaian research firm to conduct in-depth qualitative research in the top three destination and top three source communities identified by the southern operational assessment. In total, the study team conducted 32 focus group discussions with targeted community members involved in Lake Volta’s fishing industry—including young adults who had worked in the fishing industry as children; men in the fishing industry; women in destination communities who host children; and parents/guardians who send children to Lake Volta—and interviewed 51 key informants. To further triangulate information, the study team documented five accounts with survivors of trafficking and profiled six fishing villages in which focus group discussions were conducted. Results - Findings from the distinct yet complementary studies in 2013 and 2015 reveal that the majority of children working in Lake Volta’s fishing industry are 10 years old or younger. This shows that the majority of children are too young to legally conduct the hazardous tasks inherent in many aspects of the fishing industry. Although the 2013 operational assessment overwhelmingly found boys working on Lake Volta (99.3% of children on the southern region of the lake were boys), the 2015 study found that girls also work in—and are trafficked into—the fishing industry. The findings demonstrate that girls have different roles in the fishing industry, completing most tasks somewhere onshore or further inland instead of on the lake where the 2013 assessment occurred. The 2015 study also revealed that both boys and girls have physically demanding, and sometimes hazardous, roles in Lake Volta’s fishing industry. The 2013 operational assessment found that more than half (57.6%, 444/771) of children working on southern Lake Volta’s waters were trafficked into forced labor. In 2015, each of the fishing communities sampled during the qualitative study confirmed the presence of child trafficking. Across destination communities, most respondents estimated that 60% or more of the children working in the fishing industry were born in other communities. In source communities, most respondents estimated that between 20-50% of children leave the community specifically to work in Lake Volta’s fishing industry. Data collection in 2013 and 2015 found that children trafficked into the fishing industry had contractual agreements for their exploitation, which were frequently between the trafficker and the child’s parent/guardian. The 2015 study found that while many perpetrators may be low-income fishermen themselves, they do not use trafficked children merely to survive. In fact, exploiting trafficked children enabled them to send their biological children to school and provide better accommodations and clothing for their own family. One male survivor accounted that, “We were more or less like house slaves, because their own children did nothing.” Thus, several factors distinguished trafficked from non-trafficked children, including: access to education, working conditions—such as working longer hours and being assigned more intense, hazardous, or difficult tasks—and improper clothing and shelter. Physical violence committed against children was widespread in Lake Volta’s fishing industry, with parents/guardians in source communities reporting that children were “beaten like goats.” While trafficked children overwhelmingly experienced violence, this was not unique to trafficked children due to the cultural acceptance of physical discipline in Ghana. Qualitative data in 2015 revealed that traffickers controlled children through violence and limiting access to food; and sometimes kept older boys in their employment through sexual rewards and marriage. The latter control tactics rendered girls in the fishing industry vulnerable to multiple forms of victimization. These means of control combined with the working and living conditions affected trafficked children, with key informants citing that survivors displayed signs of trauma and underdeveloped social skills. Further, although everyone acknowledged that there are government programs in place and NGOs that serve trafficking survivors, the service needs of trafficked children far exceeded the availability and accessibility of services. Recommendations The study’s results revealed the need for a holistic, multidisciplinary anti-trafficking intervention which includes: 1) prioritizing the arrest, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of child trafficking into forced labor and the related psycho-social support of trafficked children; and 2) reducing vulnerability through increased access to education and through economic empowerment. The information in this report can help inform strategies for the identification and investigation of cases of child trafficking, including: methods to reach hidden populations and routine monitoring of trafficking hotspots. Once identified, trafficked children must be provided with appropriate services by the Ghanaian government as well as other community and non-governmental stakeholders. Findings demonstrate the need for strong trauma-informed recovery services for survivors and reintegration support.

Washington, DC: International Justice Mission, 2021. 98p.

By Bronwyn Arnold

Child sexual abuse is presumed to be inherently harmful. During sentencing, the victim’s harm is relevant as a purpose for punishment and for determining the penalty, and the sentencing remarks communicate the reasons underpinning the offender’s punishment. This article explores a sample of sentencing remarks of sexually abused child sexual offenders made in three Australian jurisdictions between 2005 and 2018. It finds that the presumption of harm is routinely extended to the immediate victims, but rarely extended to victim-offenders. In some cases, judges used language which minimized the victim-offenders’ experiences. The article argues that the presumption of harm should be extended to victim-offenders and their harm acknowledged, to promote sentencing’s communicative function and help to facilitate its rehabilitative purpose.

The British Journal of Criminology,

By International Justice Mission

This study examines the prevalence of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in 20 priority cities in the Dominican Republic based on an undercover survey that used quantitative and qualitative methods. Investigators with police training conducted the survey in establishments and public spaces where sexual services are consistently sold. This report presents the current prevalence of CSEC in 2022 and compares it to the results obtained in a 2014 baseline study conducted by IJM (IJM, 2015). IJM used the same methodology in the baseline and endline studies. This report documents a statistically significant reduction in the prevalence of CSEC, which declined from 10.0% in 2014 to 2.2% in 2022. In other words, over the course of eight years, CSEC has become 78.0% less prevalent. Other qualitative data confirm this reduction and suggest it may be due to increased efforts by government authorities. This report also identifies and presents the way in which CSEC currently functions in the Dominican Republic. Although there are various qualitative studies on the efforts of authorities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),1 IJM’s 2014 baseline study and the current study are the only reports that use a systematized methodology to document the current prevalence of CSEC in the Dominican Republic. This study therefore offers authorities important information about the current reality of CSEC. This study is part of a concerted effort by IJM to measure the following indicators of protection: prevalence of the crime; people’s reliance on the public justice system (PJS) for protection; performance of the PJS in reported cases; and key stakeholder confidence in the PJS's response. This series of measurements provides evidence of the extent to which the Dominican public justice system has transformed its response to CSEC and sex trafficking throughout the course of IJM’s intervention.

Washington, DC: IJM, 2022. 64p.

By The International Justice Mission

This study analyzes the response of the Dominican public justice system (PJS) to commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and sex trafficking from 2010 to 2022. It is the first nationwide study of its kind to use a robust methodology and provide concrete data about the performance of the PJS in response to CSEC and sex trafficking, key authorities’ confidence in the response of the PJS, and survivors’ reliance on the PJS for protection. Prior studies have found that CSEC and sex trafficking are widespread in the Dominican Republic and that the effectiveness of the PJS’s response has been inconsistent, with enduring gaps in the area of victim services. These prior studies were qualitative, drawing on the opinions of key government and civil society stakeholders (International Justice Mission [IJM], 2017; Participación Ciudadana, 2022). Ethnographic research on prevalence published by International Justice Mission (IJM) in 2015 found that 10% of people in the Dominican sex industry were minors being sexually exploited. Qualitative studies conducted by IJM and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have identified comprehensive services for victims as one of the largest gaps in the PJS’s response (IJM, 2017; Universidad Iberoamericana [UNIBE], 2022). Each year the government issues a report with an overview of the human trafficking cases it has prosecuted (Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MIREX], 2021). However, this report does not describe the quality or speed of the government's response, nor does it measure the progress of cases towards justice or a complete recovery for victims. In short, there is a lack of quality data on the PJS’s response to CSEC and sex trafficking, which hinders efforts to strengthen the PJS and make evidence-based decisions. This study fills this gap, providing data from a review of prosecutor and police case files, as well as interviews with CSEC survivors, government officials who interact with CSEC or sex trafficking victims in critical moments, and officials who hold leadership positions on CSEC and sex trafficking issues. This study's contribution to research on sex trafficking and CSEC in the Dominican Republic is novel for two reasons. First, it includes the voices of CSEC and sex trafficking survivors and upholds them as essential to informing the government's response. Second, it presents quantitative data based on official documents from the institutions that comprise the PJS. This research forms part of a concerted effort to measure the following indicators of protection: prevalence of the crime; people’s reliance on the public justice system for protection; performance of the PJS in reported cases; and key stakeholder confidence in the PJS’s response. This series of measurements provides evidence of the extent to which the Dominican public justice system has transformed its response to CSEC and sex trafficking throughout the course of IJM’s intervention. When laws are enforced fairly and effectively, potential perpetrators are deterred by the higher risk of punishment, which in turn lowers crime rates. Improved performance means the PJS response is swifter and more frequent, cases progress in criminal proceedings, and proceedings meet quality standards. This enhanced performance then increases people’s reliance on and confidence in the justice system, creating a virtuous cycle of confidence and effectiveness that drives a sustained decline in the prevalence of abuse.

IJM: 2022. 123p.

By The U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The prevalence of human trafficking, forced labor, and child sexual exploitation throughout the world is an urgent humanitarian issue with direct and far-reaching consequences on the United States. Within the United States, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation are grossly prevalent and affect diverse communities. These crimes threaten our physical and virtual borders, our immigration and customs systems, our prosperity, our national security, and are a direct attack on Americans’ personal safety and our country’s public safety. Accordingly, the United States has declared it a national priority to end human trafficking, the importation of goods produced with forced labor, and child sexual exploitation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is on the frontlines of this fight, protecting the country and collaborating with our partners to stop these crimes. To leverage all of our authorities in this fight, DHS developed a first-of-its-kind Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, the Importation of Goods Produced with Forced Labor, and Child Sexual Exploitation. It represents our vision to end this urgent humanitarian issue, articulates the Department’s long-term approach for combating these crimes, and serves as a framework to prioritize our resources and monitor progress. The strategy outlines five key goals: ONE—Prevention. Reduce the threat by providing information and resources to specific vulnerable populations, schools, and community groups. TWO—Protection. Disrupt illicit activity by identifying and assisting victims toward stability and recovery. THREE—Prosecution. Leverage DHS law enforcement and national security authorities to investigate, take enforcement action, and refer cases for prosecution. FOUR—Partnership. Build strong partnerships throughout the homeland security enterprise as force multipliers across the Nation. FIVE—Enabling DHS. Harmonize and organize DHS programs to allow for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in addressing these threats. Across these five goals there are nine objectives, each with a series of Priority Actions, which will guide the Department in its efforts to combat human trafficking, the importation of goods produced with forced labor, and child sexual exploitation. When implemented, this strategy will strengthen public safety and the security of the border, travel, immigration, and customs systems. It will also assist communities in becoming more resilient against these scourges. DHS is committed to keep fighting against this evil. In collaboration with our homeland security enterprise partners, we will bring trafficking and exploitation to an end and protect communities from further exploitation.

Washington, DC: DHS, 2020. 56p.

By Tom Gotsis

This paper presents data on the increasing prevalence of sexually explicit deepfakes and discusses their harmful impacts. It then examines the relevant Commonwealth and New South Wales (NSW) offences, which were introduced by the Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 (Cth) and the Crimes Amendment (Intimate Images) Act 2017 (NSW).

The paper identifies three gaps in NSW’s offences. These gaps are not covered by the Commonwealth offences because those offences apply only when the internet has been used to transmit sexually explicit material. The paper also considers Victoria’s counterpart provisions, which do apply to sexually explicit deepfakes.

Key points

Most of the victims depicted in sexually explicit deepfakes are women.

In 2022, Victoria introduced offences that prohibit producing, distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images of adults.

In 2024 Commonwealth offences were introduced to prohibit a person from using a carriage service, such as the internet, to transmit sexually explicit deepfakes of adults.

NSW does not have offences that expressly prohibit the production and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes of adults.

The limitations and uncertainties relating to NSW’s intimate image offences could be remedied if they were amended along the lines of the new Commonwealth and Victorian offences

Parliamentary Research Service (NSW), 2025. 25p.

By Sara Kowal, Scott Walker, Zaman Ashraf, Mai Sato

Since 2010, persons convicted of rape offences were executed in at least 9 countries, including India and Pakistan. Moreover, public protests against the rape epidemic, which led governments to introduce capital rape laws, illustrates the need to shine a spotlight in South Asia.

This report examines the use of the death penalty for rape in four South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The report provides an overview of capital rape laws in these jurisdictions, discusses the everyday ramifications of such laws, and explores existing and potential avenues by which advocates may campaign for reform.

Selangor, Malaysia Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network; Clayton, Victoria: Eleos Justice Faculty of Law, Monash University, 2022. 88p.

By Office of the eSafety Commissioner (Australia)

Coercive control is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship through manipulation, pressure and fear. It’s not one behaviour or incident, but a pattern of controlling behaviour.

This summary report explores attitudes and expectations that could normalise the use of tech-based coercive control in relationships.

People who use coercive control in a relationship are more likely to use physical violence against their partner and any children involved, and there is a greater risk of physical harm, including intimate partner homicide.

When someone uses digital technology as part of that abusive behaviour, it’s known as ‘technology-facilitated coercive control’ or ‘tech-based coercive control’. This can include behaviours such as monitoring and surveillance, cyberstalking with tracking, impersonation, hacking, harassment and abuse. It is often subtle and targeted and this can make it difficult to identify.

The research aims to understand the prevalence of certain harmful expectations and attitudes relating to tech-based surveillance and micro-management (often elements of tech-based coercive control) in intimate relationships.

The findings highlight the need for nuanced and targeted education and communication activities to:

increase awareness of tech-based coercive control

reshape how people think about digital privacy and respect in digital environments when in an intimate relationship

reinforce that consent is an active and ongoing process.

Key findings

Men, younger adults and linguistically diverse adults were more likely to agree with behaviours that could foster an unhealthy dependency or controlling dynamic within intimate relationships.

Men and linguistically diverse adults were more likely to agree that insisting on checking how an intimate partner looks in a photo, wanting them to be constantly available to respond to the partner’s texts and calls, and constantly texting them were all usually a sign of care from a partner within an intimate relationship.

Men, linguistically diverse adults and married adults were more likely to agree that, within an intimate relationship, it was reasonable for a partner to expect to have their partner’s personal passwords and to track them whenever they wanted.

Canberra: Australian Government, 2025. 23p.

By Ionel Zamfir

This comparative analysis of national legislation on rape in European Union Member States provides an overview of legal provisions on the crime of rape, with a focus on the notion of consent. According to the Council of Europe Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence, to which the EU became a party in 2023, lack of consent from victims of rape should be made a constitutive element of the crime. This norm, together with increased social awareness of sexual violence, has inspired a wave of legal reforms in many EU Member States.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service , 2025. 39p.

Edited by France Desmarais

Every day, cultural objects disappear. Stolen from their place of conservation – whether pilfered from a museum or, as is most often the case, ripped out of an archeological site – they embark on the road often travelled by illicit antiquities. A road we are still trying to map with more precision. The desire to better understand that journey, to figure out what the routes are, to know who the culprits could be, and of course to discover where these coveted objects end up, spurred the creation of the first – and only – International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in December 2012, thanks to a grant from the European Commission. ICOM has, for long, been at the forefront of the fight against illegal trade. The protection of the world’s cultural heritage has featured in the organization’s mission statement since 1947, a year into its creation 70 years ago. Ever since, as the voice of the world museum community, ICOM has played a foremost part in advocating advancement in the protection of cultural heritage practice in general, and in countering illegal trade in particular (UNESCO 1972). From the Code of Ethics for Museums, now referred to as the international deontological standard for museum professionals, to the well-known Red Lists of Cultural Objects at Risk, directly associated with helping law enforcement recognize and seize important quantities of antiquities, the aim has always been to develop innovative practical tools designed to help protect cultural property. In need of figures In 2011, the idea of creating an observatory stemmed from the dire need to obtain more information on the whereabouts of stolen objects and more reliable facts and figures on illicit traffic in art and heritage. It is surprising, to say the least, that illicit traffic in cultural objects should have been officially recognized for decades – if not a century – but that no organization gathered official global statistics to illustrate the extent of the problem. Many numbers are brought forward by different expert organizations to quantify the trade, in mass or in financial value. Some of those numbers are astronomical. Yet, none can be confirmed by official empirical data. While the INTERPOL Expert Group on Stolen Cultural Property concluded, in June 2015, that data gathering and systematic research are of high relevance for combatting the illicit traffic in cultural items, it remains impossible, to this day, to precisely rank illicit traffic in cultural objects so as to measure it to other types of transnational crimes. Although some improvement has been observed in the collection and analysis of the numbers related to theft and seizures, it is unfortunately still impossible to answer questions regarding the number of objects that disappear or are sold illegally each year. In the big data era, and in a moment in time when massive looting has spread to large parts of the world, even as political leaders and the general public seem more than ever concerned about the fate of cultural heritage in danger, this impossibility to quantify seems paradoxical. The reality is that, despite the palpable increase in global awareness concerning the importance of protecting cultural objects, the actual means to support their protection are somewhat lagging behind. If, as a long-standing actor in he global fight against illicit traffic, ICOM wants to keep developing useful tools and proposing appropriate response mechanisms to effectively counter the illegal trade, it needs to know and understand the phenomenon as yet. Identifying the trade routes, the agents involved and the types of objects targeted is the only way to comprehend the significance of the illegal art and antiquities market. This can only be tackled through transdisciplinary research initiatives, such as that initiated with the Observatory project, as relevant organizations are encouraged to do under the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Indeed, Article 17 of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property mentions the possibility for relevant organizations to conduct studies on matters related to the illicit movement of cultural property. Looting and illicit traffic represent one of the global challenges yet to be faced, for which a research and data gathering body such as the International Observatory in Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods is needed. What we do know for a fact is that museums are particularly concerned by theft in art and heritage, as primary places of conservation from which objects can be stolen, but also as collecting institutions that could, unwillingly, end up buying looted cultural property. Indeed, objects are not only stolen from museums, but they can also land, with the help of sometimes ill-informed accomplices, in the hands of private collectors. Later, through a donation for example, they might find themselves in museums. It is specifically because stolen art and antiquities risk falling into museum collections that it is the duty of the world museum community to come together and counter illicit traffic in art and heritage. The inaugural gesture is to apply strict ethical practice concerning provenance of acquisitions. But it does not suffice. It must be supported by strong national programmes

Paris: ICOM International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods , 2015. 215p.

By Gianluca Boo and Gergely Hideg

Overview The year 2021 saw a concerning increase in global violent death rates after the relative calm of the Covid-19 pandemic era. While violent deaths in 2020 reached a historic low since 2004, 2021 marked a global increase of six per cent, halting the previous trend of improvement. Intentional homicides remained stable, comprising two-thirds of all violent deaths, while conflict-related deaths surged, especially in Afghanistan and Myanmar, due to political upheavals. Firearms played a significant role— accounting for about 45 percent of global violent deaths— albeit less than in previous years. Men disproportionately bore the brunt of violence, with death rates more than five times higher than those of women. Geographic patterns also revealed stark disparities. Asia and Africa exhibited the highest violent death rates, and regions such as Europe and Oceania experienced the lowest levels. Forecasts for the 2030 horizon suggest a need for concerted efforts to prevent violence, as the ‘business-as-usual’ analysis —assuming that current trends remain—projects a continued increase in deadly violence. Key findings The year 2021 saw a concerning six per cent rise in global deadly violence compared to 2020. Of the approximately 580,000 violent deaths, about 45 per cent were inflicted by firearms. Violence overwhelmingly and disproportionately affected men, with a rate of 12.27 victims per 100,000 population among men and boys versus 2.33 for women and girls. Compared to the 2015 benchmark of Agenda 2030, the number of intentional homicides has decreased by only 2.6 per cent. Just over a quarter of the world’s countries and territories are currently on track to meet SDG Target 16.1. Current trends suggest the world will miss this target by 2030. The year 2020 marked a high point in progress towards reducing violent deaths. From a rate of 7.0 violent deaths per 100,000 population that year, rates have since exhibited an upward trend, reaching 7.3 in 2021 and on track to reach 7.6 by 2030.

Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2024. 20p.

By Lisa Tompson, Apriel Jolliffe Simpson, Richard Wortley, Bridget O’Keeffe & Devon Polaschek

Policy efforts based on evidence about risk for re-victimisation both protect some of the most vulnerable people in society and have a good chance of reducing crime levels overall (Farrell and Pease, 1993; Grove et al., 2012; Pease et al., 2018). While research has established that the phenomenon of re-victimisation is ubiquitous, less is known about what makes some people more vulnerable to re-victimisation than others (Hamilton and Browne, 1998; Nazaretian and Fitch, 2021). Enhanced understanding of who these people are is thus crucial for developing contemporary victim-centred crime prevention policy. Victimology theories suggest that people at high risk of victimisation are typified by multiple overlapping and intersecting personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, class, disability status, sexual identity), rather than forming homogeneous higher-order groups (e.g., delineated by a single personal characteristic; Shoham et al, 2010; Walklate, 2012). Accordingly, in this study we examined socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, disability status, sexual identity) of people who were re-victimised, with an emphasis on intersectionality1. That is, we focused on identifying where the co-occurrence of socio-demographic characteristics intensified risk of re-victimisation. We use re-victimisation as an umbrella term to cover: • Poly-victimisation (i.e., >1 victimisation for different types of crime), and • Repeat-victimisation (i.e., >1 victimisation for different types of crime) for 11 different crime types. We therefore analysed 12 different types of re-victimisation over five waves of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS) in the privacy- and security-protected environment of Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) with Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations. This method enabled us to position groups (i.e., combinations of characteristics) as the unit of analysis and identify where intersecting characteristics were associated with high rates of re-victimisation and isolate when particular individual characteristics were especially noteworthy. This research makes four important contributions to the evidence base on victimisation. First, while re-victimisation experiences have been studied for a range of crime types internationally (see Farrell et al., 2005), this is the first research to do so for Aotearoa New Zealand. Second, it adds to the scant evidence base on poly-victimisation. Third, it corroborates the empirical findings from other countries that risk of re-victimisation increases cumulatively (Johnson et al., 1997), hence the need for policies and practices that get upstream of the problem and prevent re-victimisation at the earliest opportunity. Fourth, this research advances knowledge on how socio-demographic characteristics intersect to elevate risk of re-victimisation. The findings are relevant for policymakers developing victimisation prevention programmes across various organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Te Puna Haumaru New Zealand Institute for Security and Crime Science, The University of Waikato , 2025. 105p.

By Brandon Tregle, Michael R. Smith, Chantal Fahmy & Rob Tillyer

Hot spots policing is an effective, evidence-based strategy that reduces violent crime within small geographic units, or “hot spots,” in urban areas. A strong body of research demonstrates that these hot spots disproportionately contribute to cities’ overall crime rates. However, the existing literature has yet to answer a critical question: Can the localized crime reductions achieved through hot spots policing make a significant enough contribution to lower overall crime rates across an entire city? To address this gap, we examined seven years of violent crime data from three major Texas cities. One city underwent a two-year targeted hot spots policing intervention, while the other two cities served as counter-factual, similarly situated jurisdictions. We used interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) to examine longitudinal crime patterns in all three cities. The findings indicate that, compared to the control cities, the treatment city experienced a significant and substantial reduction in overall violent crime at the point of intervention. This decrease suggests that the hot spots intervention directly contributed to city-wide crime reduction, extending its impact beyond the designated hot spots.

Crime Sci 14, 3 (2025).

Edited by Mareile KaufmannHeidi Mork Lomell

The De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Criminology examines how digital devices spread and cut across all fields of crime and control. Providing a glossary of key theoretical, methodological and criminological concepts, the book defines and further establishes a vibrant, rapidly developing field. Focusing on central criminological phenomena, it provides a framework that will enable readers to bring their own research themes into digital environments.

UBerlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 2025. 525p.

By William Walter Scott III

The 1967 Detroit Rebellion was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the “Long hot summer of 1967.” Hurt, Baby, Hurt takes a personal look at the Rebellion from the perspective of William Walter Scott, III. The Rebellion began when police raided an unlicensed drinking club owned by Scott’s father and continued for five days, resulting in forty-three deaths and even more injuries, fires, and arrests. Scott, who was just 19 at the time and working as a doorman at his father’s club, is widely recognized as the man who started the Rebellion by throwing a bottle at one of the police officers. This memoir recounts Scott’s life from his birth up through the Rebellion. It tells the story of how the Rebellion started and provides an on-the-ground account of the Rebellion and its immediate aftermath, including the police detainment of the people involved. Now with a new foreword by Austin McCoy that considers the lasting impact of the rebellion, Hurt, Baby, Hurt offers valuable insight into an important part of Detroit history.\

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2025. 143p.

By David Hammond, Daniel Hong, Samantha Rundle, Maryam Iraniparast, Beau Kilmer, Elle Wadsworth

Canada legalized ‘recreational’ or ‘non-medical’ cannabis in 2018 with a primary objective of displacing illicit cannabis and transitioning consumers to a ‘quality controlled’ legal retail market. To date, there is limited research on legal market capture in jurisdictions with non-medical cannabis markets. Methods: The current analysis used ‘demand-side’ methods to estimate the size of the Canadian cannabis market using data from two sources. First, data from the Canadian Community Health Survey were used to estimate the number of Canadians who use cannabis. Second, data on cannabis expenditures from legal versus illegal sources were analyzed from 5656 past 12-month consumers aged 16–100 who completed national surveys conducted in 2022 as part of the International Cannabis Policy Study. Results: Total estimated expenditures from legal sources were within two percentage points of the ‘actual’ retail sales data from Government of Canada’s tracking system. In the 12-month period ending in September 2022, total cannabis expenditures in Canada were estimated at $6.72 billion dollars, including $5.23 billion from legal sources and $1.49 billion from illegal sources for an estimated legal market capture of 78 %. In 2022, dried flower accounted for 55 % of total legal expenditures and an additional 2 % was spent on plants and seeds. Concentrates accounted for 12 % of legal expenditures, followed by oral liquids (11 %), vaping liquids (10 %), and edibles (8 %, excluding drinks). Conclusions: The findings provide evidence of substantial transition in expenditures from the illegal to the legal market in the five years since legalization of non-medical cannabis in Canada.

International Journal of Drug Policy, 2025. 10p.

By Jin A, Darzi AJ, Dargham A, Liddar N, Bozorgi S, Sohrevardi S, Zhang M, Torabiardakani K, Couban RJ, Khalili M, Busse JW, Sadeghirad B.

Background: Increasing legalization of recreational cannabis and availability of cannabinoid products has resulted in expanded use, which is associated with adverse effects including concerns over increased risk of motor vehicle collision (MVC). We aimed to explore the association between cannabis consumption and MVC.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane library, SCOPUS, PsycInfo, Web of Science, TRID from inception to November 2024. We included studies assessing the association between cannabis consumption on MVC fatalities, any injuries, and culpability/unsafe driving actions. Pairs of reviewers independently screened search results, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. We used a DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model for all meta-analyses and the GRADE approach to assess the certainty of evidence.

Results: We included 31 studies with 328,388 individuals. Low certainty evidence suggests that cannabis consumption may be associated with an increased risk of MVC fatality (8 studies, OR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.98) with an absolute risk increase (ARI) of 14 more deaths per 100,000 MVC's. Low certainty evidence from 9 case-control studies suggests cannabis consumption may be associated with an increased risk of injury due to MVC (OR 2.00, [95% CI: 1.31-3.07]; absolute risk increase of 6.8%). We are uncertain about the association of cannabis consumption with MVC culpability/unsafe driving action as the evidence was only very low certainty.

Conclusions: Low certainty evidence suggests that cannabis consumption may increase risk of MVC fatality and risk of injury from MVC. The association between cannabis use and risk of unsafe driving is uncertain.

Int J Drug Policy. 2025 Aug;142:104832. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104832. Epub 2025 May 13. PMID: 40367728.