By Santiago M. Perez-Vincent, Ernesto Schargrodsk, and Mauricio García Mejía

This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown on criminal activity in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. We find a large, significant, robust, and immediate decline in crime following quarantine restrictions. We observe the effect on property crime reported to official agencies, police arrests, and crime reported in victimization surveys, but not in homicides. The decrease in criminal activity was greater in business and transportation areas, but still large in commercial and residential areas (including informal settlements). After the sharp and immediate fall, crime recovered but, as of November 2020, it did not reach its initial levels. The arrest data additionally allow us to measure the distance from the detainees address to the crime location. Crime became more local as mobility was restricted.

Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2021. 63p.

By Rosanna Smart, Andrew R. Morral, and Terry L. Schell

The effects of firearm policies, though frequently debated, have historically received less-rigorous scientific evaluation than have the effects of other policies affecting public safety, health, and recreation. Despite improvements in recent years, there is still limited evidence of how some gun policies that are frequently proposed or enacted in the United States are likely to affect important outcomes (such as firearm homicides, property crime, and the right to bear arms). In areas without strong scientific evidence, policymakers and the public rely heavily on what policy advocates or social scientists believe the effects are most likely to be. In this report, part of the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND researchers describe the combined results from two fieldings (2016 and 2020) of a survey of gun policy experts. Respondents were asked to estimate the likely effects of 19 gun policies on ten outcomes. The researchers use these and other responses to establish the diversity of beliefs among gun policy experts, assess where experts are in more or less agreement on the effects of gun laws, and evaluate whether differences in the policies favored by experts result from differences in experts' assumptions about the policies' effects or differences in experts' policy objectives. The analysis suggests that experts on different sides of the gun policy debate share some objectives but disagree on which policies will achieve those objectives. Therefore, collecting stronger evidence about the true effects of policies is, the researchers believe, a necessary step toward building greater consensus on which policies to pursue.

Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2021. 138p.

Under the Convention, Parties undertake to co-operate between them and encourages similar co-operation between public authorities and independent sports organisations to prevent violence and control the problem of violence and misbehaviour by spectators at sports events. To this end, it sets out a number of measures, namely: close co-operation between police forces involved; prosecution of offenders and application of appropriate penalties; strict control of ticket sales; restrictions on the sale of alcoholic drinks; appropriate design and physical fabric of stadia to prevent violence and allow effective crowd control and crowd safety. A Standing Committee established by the Convention is empowered to make recommendations to the Parties concerning measures to be taken.

European Treaty Services No.120. Strasbourg. 1985. 7p.

Edited by Anastassia Tsoukala, Geoff Pearson, Peter T.M. Coenen

This book brings together a number of perspectives on how different European states have responded to the phenomenon of football crowd disorder and violence, or “hooliganism”. It applies a comparative legal approach, with a particular focus on civil and human rights, to analyze domestic legislation, policing and judicial responses to the problem of “football hooliganism” in Europe. Academics and legal professionals from eight different European countries introduce and analyze the different approaches and draw together common themes and problems from their various jurisdictions. They offer insights into the interactions between (domestic) politicians, law enforcers and sports authorities.

The Hague: Asser Press, 2016. 181p.

By Steve Fosdick and Peter Marsh

This book provides a highly readable introduction to the phenomenon of football hooliganism, ideal for students taking courses around this subject as well as those having a professional interest in the subject, such as the police and those responsible for stadium safety and management. For anybody else wanting to learn more about one of society's most intractable problems, this book is the place to start. Unlike<span class='showMoreLessContentElement' style='display: none;'> other books on this subject it is not wedded to a single theoretical perspective but is concerned rather to provide a critical overview of football hooliganism, discussing the various approaches to the subject. Three fallacies provide themes which run through the book: the notion that football hooliganism is new; that it is a uniquely football problem; and that it is predominantly an English phenomenon. The book examines the history of football-related violence, the problems in defining the nature of football hooliganism, the data available on the extent of football hooliganism, provides a detailed review of the various theories about who hooligans are and why they behave as they do, and an analysis of policing and social policy in relation to tackling football hooliganism.

London; Willan, 2005. 232p.

By Patrick Murphy, John Williams and Eric Dunning,

nternational football fixtures, such as the World Cup finals in Italy in 1990, draw together not only rival teams but rival fans. The police and the media are increasingly geared up to tackle international fixtures as occasions for the outbreak of crowd disorder. It can sometimes seem that the behaviour of the fans is more important than the game itself. Football on Trial examines some of the causes of football hooliganism as a European and world phenomenon. It casts an eye forward to the 1994 World Cup in Los Angeles and asks why soccer hooliganism has not been a problem in the USA. It also examines the connections between player violence and spectator violence, and considers the role of the media in producing soccer crowd disorder. The authors have built a world class reputation as authors of Hooligans Abroad and The Roots of Football Hooliganism , a reputation that this accessible and penetrating work can only add to.

London; New York: Routledge, 1990. 255p

Chairman: Mr Justice Popplewell

At about 7.30 pm on 29 M ay 1985, English fans charged into Block Z of the terrace at the Heysel Stadium , Brussels, shortly before the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus was due to take place. There was a panic am ong the spectators in Block Z; as a result 38 people died and some 400 people were injured.

London: HMSO, 1980. 91p.

By Great Britain. Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Working Party on Crowd Behaviour at Football Matches; J. Lang

In May 1968 the Football authorities, at your instigation, organised a WorkingParty, under my Chairmanship, to examine the problems associated with football crowd behaviour, in the hope that it would be possible to offer advice and guid-ance to football clubs and other interested parties which might lead to someimprovement. The Working Party was dealing with a subject which has been discussed almostad nauseam during recent years. Not unexpectedly the Working Party has notfound a single simple solution for a problem which is often due to a combinationof factors, which is liable to arise on any occasion when large crowds assemble,especially if the circumstances are exciting, and which is a form of social malaisenot at all unusual in the state of relaxed discipline which is a feature of modernsociety. Probably the three most important of the findings of the Working Party are: (1) Maximum co-operation between a football club and the police. (2) Absolute acceptance of the decision of the referee by everybody. (3) The provision of seats in place of standing accommodation for spectators.

London: HMSO, 1969. 18p.

Edited by Richard Giulianotti, Norman Bonney and Mike Hepworth

As the 1994 World Cup competition in the USA again demonstrates, football is one of the most popular participant and spectator sports around the world. The fortunes of teams can have great significance for the communities they represent at both local and national levels. Social and cultural analysts have only recently started to investigate the wide variety of customs, values and social patterns that surround the game in different societies. This volume contributes to the widening focus of research by presenting new data and explanations of football-related violence. Episodes of violence associated with football are relatively infrequent, but the occasional violent events which attract great media attention have their roots in the rituals of the matches, the loyalties and identities of players and crowds and the wider cultures and politics of the host societies. This book provides a unique cross-national examination of patterns of order and conflict surrounding football matches from this perspective with examples provided by expert contributors from Scotland, England, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Argentina and the USA.

London; New York: Routledge, 1994. 273p.

By Peter T. Leeson† Daniel J. Smith‡ Nicholas A. Snow

This paper analyzes hooligans: rival football fans bent on brawling. It develops a simple theory of hooligans as rational agents. We model hooligans as persons who derive utility from conflict. Legal penalties for conflicting with non-hooligans drive hooligans to form a kind of “fight club” where they fight only one another. This club makes it possible for hooligans to realize gains from trade. But it attracts ultra-violent persons we call “sadists.” If the proportion of fight-club members who are sadists grows sufficiently high, the fight club self-destructs. Rules that regulate the form club conflict can take, but don’t eliminate conflict, can prevent the club from self-destructing even when populated exclusively by sadists. This creates strong pressure for private rules that regulate conflict to emerge within the club. To illustrate our theory we examine the private rules that developed for this purpose among English football hooligans.

Unpublished paper, 2012. 29p.

By John White

Association football is the most popular and significant of "supporter sports". Its spectator misbehaviour is portrayed and conceived as an exclusively modern and British phenomenon and as a violent disease prevalent in the professional game, when it is none of these things. Nevertheless, it is an important socio-legal issue. The mass media have played a substantial role in fostering such misconceptions, and hold a vested interest in creating and perpetuating "football hooliganism" as a "social problem" or "moral panic". The social controllers, in their use of the criminal law and penal control, also out of vested interests, have reacted to the behaviour in an unnecessarily repressive and harmful way, while it is suggested that a more fruitful approach might have been through the development of innovations based on some model of self-help or at least through the invocation of the civil law. This conclusion is reached following investigation and analysis over several years of how football fans actually behave at match outings, of their interactions with law enforcement agents, and of the views of the participants themselves, all of which are described.

Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, 1984. 473p.

By Earl Collison

Football has existed as a popular sport in Britain and the world for several centuries. The game has evolved from a violent rural participant sport into a global entertainment with thousands of amateur and professional teams vying for national and international honours. Since 1960 a 'new' phenomenon 'football hooliganism' has become a 'moral panic' amongst the media and the public. Crowd violence at football matches has become a major social concern. Various explanations have been presented to explain football hooliganism, but none of these explanations have been completely satisfactory. Football crowd violence is not a new phenomenon, it has existed in a evolving relationship with football since the sport's inception. The modern problem is a media created moral panic over a long established human condition namely collective crowd behaviour. Although many explanations have been offered to explain and solve football hooliganism, none has attempted a detailed investigation of football crowd violence through theories of collective behaviour. Collective behaviour offers a viable alternative explanation for the causes of football crowd violence. Using Neil Smelser's value-added theory and building block approach, football crowds are analysed to determine the factors that contribute to football hooliganism including: social stress in Scottish society including religious intolerance and class influences, the football crowd structure, the media, the police, and factors leading to violence. The results offer an explanation of the specific structure required to create violence which in turn indicates how violence can be controlled. Football is unique in that the crowd is triangular in nature since it consists of two opposing support groups and the police. Each Saturday these three groups are in confrontation with each other on the terraces while two teams play football, but only in rare instances does actual violence occur. As a result of the analysis of football crowds through the value-added theory of collective behaviour, conclusions are drawn which indicate that steps can be taken in the wider society and by the police to reduce the possibility of football crowd violence. The focusing of support group attention on the opposition support is vital to crowd violence. The police are generally able to restrict crowd violence by disrupting this focusing process. Although collective violence can never be totally controlled, the non¬ violent ritualised behaviour on the terraces can be maintained while at the same time reducing the possibility of collective crowd action. This can be achieved by altering police activities, reducing social stress in the community, and altering preconceived ideas of individual who attend matches.

Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, 1988. 354p.

By Giovanni Carnibella, Anne Fox, Kate Fox Joe McCann, James Marsh, Peter Marsh

The report contains an up-to-date review of research and theoretical approaches to football violence in Europe. The historical development of the problems in various countries is outlined. Specific attention is given to the role of the media, the emergence of overt racism at football matches and the alleged influence of alcohol consumption on violent behaviour. The content of each section of the report is summarised below. ES.2 History The game of football has been associated with violence since its beginnings in 13th century England. Medieval football matches involved hundreds of players, and were essentially pitched battles between the young men of rival villages and towns - often used as opportunities to settle old feuds, personal arguments and land disputes. Forms of ‘folk-football’ existed in other European countries (such as the German Knappen and Florentine calcio in costume), but the roots of modern football are in these violent English rituals. The much more disciplined game introduced to continental Europe in 1900s was the reformed pastime of the British aristocracy. Other European countries adopted this form of the game, associated with Victorian values of fair-play and retrained enthusiasm. Only two periods in British history have been relatively free of football-related violence: the inter-war years and the decade following the Second World War. The behaviour now known as ‘football hooliganism’ originated in England in the early 1960s, and has been linked with the televising of matches (and of pitch-invasions, riots etc.) and with the ‘reclaiming’ of the game by the working classes. In other European countries, similar patterns of behaviour emerged about 10 years later, in the early 1970s. Some researchers argue that a similar ‘proletarianisation’ of the game was involved, but there is little consensus on this issue, and much disagreement on the extent to which continental youth were influenced by British hooligans

Oxford, UK: Social Issues Research Centre, 1996. 168p.

By Saša Đorđević and Ruggero Scaturro

Legendary Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi called football ‘the most important of the unimportant things in life’.1 This is certainly true in the six countries known as the Western Balkan 6 (WB6) – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Teams in the region have a loyal following, national teams are proudly supported, while star footballers who play abroad are feted at home and in the major European football leagues.2 However, the WB6 also have a reputation for football hooliganism, as when fans chant racist and nationalist slogans, and fight with the followers of rival teams. This problem is by no means unique to the WB6; football hooliganism was labelled the ‘English disease’ in the 1980s, long before it became a problem in the Western Balkans. However, football hooliganism in the WB6 is a potentially explosive cocktail because of its links to politics, ethnic and religious extremism, and organized crime. Football hooliganism has received considerable attention from sociologists and anthropologists, who analyze its cultural aspects,3 and the police, who look at how to prevent and control it.4 However, few studies have considered the relationship between football hooliganism and organized crime. Unlike studies that focus on football hooliganism in particular countries like Croatia or Serbia, where there is extensive research into the links between football and violence,5 this report fills a gap by analyzing the issue from a broader, regional perspective. The report begins by mapping the major football supporters’ clubs in each of the Western Balkan countries. It provides a brief overview of fan groups, including their organizational structure, communication modes and use of national, ethnic and religious symbols. It then identifies which of these groups can be considered ‘ultras’ (i.e. a type of football fan association, see definition box below). Further analysis singles out which of these ultras groups demonstrate attributes of football hooliganism, and how this hooliganism is linked to organized crime and politics. Sorting ultras groups in this way helps to differentiate between those that simply support their clubs, albeit in a fanatical way, and others that engage in organized crime and violence. This report is careful to make a distinction between ultras and football hooligans. Ultras are understood to be groups of hard core football fans affiliated to a particular team; football hooligans engage in violence within the football milieu and some of these hooligans are involved in organized crime.

Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2022. 53p.

By Ramón Fredrik Johan Spaaij

Football hooliganism periodically generates widespread political and public anxiety. In spite of the efforts made and resources invested over the past decades, football hooliganism is still perceived by politicians, policymakers and media as a disturbing social problem. This highly readable book provides the first systematic and empirically grounded comparison of football hooliganism in different national and local contexts. Focused around the six Western European football clubs on which the author did his research, the book shows how different clubs experience and understand football hooliganism in different ways. The development and effects of anti-hooligan policies are also assessed. The emphasis throughout is on the importance of context, social interaction and collective identity for understanding football hooliganism. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in football culture, hooliganism and collective violence.

Vossiuspers UvA – Amsterdam University Press, 2006. 500p.

By The Soufan Center

The Atomwaffen Division (AWD) is a dangerous neo-Nazi extremist network with a rapidly growing international footprint. While AWD has roots in the United States and became notorious as a violent entity following its actions during the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, VA in 2017, the group has since established links and affiliates across Europe, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic States, making its reach and potential to influence and plan violence global in nature.

Washington, DC: The Soufan Center, 2020. 33p.

By Human Rights Watch

This report, based on interviews with survivors and experts, and a survey, documents the spread and impact in South Korea of what are referred to there as “digital sex crimes.” Digital sex crimes are crimes involving non-consensual intimate images. These crimes are a form of gender-based violence, using digital images that are captured non-consensually and sometimes shared, captured with consent but shared non-consensually, or sometimes faked. These images are almost always of women and girls. This report explores how technological innovation can facilitate gender-based violence in the absence of adequate rights-based protections by government and companies.

New York: HRW, 2021. 103p.

By E.C. Wilkinson

This thesis looks at the representation of violence in Dutch newspapers during the rise of the mass media in the Netherlands, from 1880 to 1930. Newspaper circulations shot up and newspapers increasingly targeted women readers and the working class. The thesis examines how these changes affected press coverage of sexual and family violence, crimes that involved women either as the victim or the perpetrator. A key question was whether public condemnation of male violence against women increased during this period, as has been argued by some historians.I find that newspaper reporting on partner violence and sexual violence increased after 1880, and the reports became more sympathetic to the women involved. I argue that this was in part because such human-interest stories were thought to appeal to the new target segment of women readers. However, journalists never treated such violence as a social problem and they often romanticized or trivialized assaults by men. Moreover, crime news was mediated by the sources and shaped by distinctive features of the Dutch criminal justice system.

Leiden, Netherlands: Leiden University, 2020. 293p.

By Steven Windisch

After noting a research gap in the study of the long-term development of extremist behavior, the current study relied on life-history interviews with 91 former white supremacists residing in North America, focusing on the developmental conditions associated with the onset of extremist views and behavior. The interviews focused on individual experiences, particularly how childhood risk factors (e.g., abuse and mental illness) and racist family socialization strategies contributed to emotional and cognitive susceptibilities toward extremist recruitment. Results indicate that early childhood trauma could be structured around two overlapping dimensions that include childhood maltreatment and family adversity. For these participants, the mood swings, inconsistencies, and unpredictable behavior by caregivers cultivated a high level of emotional distress during their formative years of development. Across the sample, participants were exposed to racist family socialization practices that aligned them, at least partially with far-right extremists; however, only a small portion of the sample were raised with immediate relatives who were involved in a white supremacist organization. Still, discourse and behavior had racial meaning by drawing on a sense of shared belonging within their racial/ethnic subgroups. These and other reported findings indicate how extremists have been influenced by a variety of internal and external factors that increase their attraction to a political ideology and extremist movement as part of a cascading process that seeks resolution through displays of individual and group power and ascendancy.

Omaha: University of Nebraska Omaha, 2019. 237p.

By Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen and Håvard Haugstvedt

In this working paper, we argue that the conception of a wicked public policy problem offers a useful lens on the challenges faced by local government practitioners engaged with preventing violent extremism. Wicked problems are characterized by uncertainty, complexity, and contestation as to origin, definition and policy solutions. Based on extant wicked problem research, we propose a conceptual model of what we term “wicked problem governance capacity” – capacity to deal with wicked problems – and a research agenda for better understanding and assessing such policy capacity. We argue that empirical studies of Denmark and Norway, which have been among the frontrunners in local prevent work, offer an opportunity to refine wicked problem theory by grounding it more firmly in the experienced reality of practitioners.

Oslo: Center for Research on Extremism, The Extreme Right, Hate Crime and Political Violence, University of Oslo , 2022 26p.