The nature of organized crime leadership: criminal leaders in meeting and wiretap networks Abstract Criminal leaders enhance their social capital by strategically brokering information among associates. To balance security and efficiency, leaders may favor meetings instead of telephones, potentially affecting analyses relying solely on wiretap data. Yet, few studies explored criminal leaders’ use of meetings in the management of criminal groups. We analyze criminal leaders’ participation in meetings and telephone calls in four distinct investigations. For each case, we extracted meetings and wiretap networks, analyzed leaders’ network positioning and identified leadership roles through logistic regressions relying on network centrality. Results show that leaders minimize telephone use (20% missing in wiretap net-works), and act as brokers, particularly in meeting networks (betweenness 18 times higher than non-leaders). Regressions on meeting networks identify leaders more effectively than wiretap networks, with betweenness centrality as the strongest predictor of leadership. Leaders’ centrality in meetings shows their strategic brokering position and the social embeddedness of criminal groups. While meeting participation is a sign of power, it is also a social obligation that leaders can hardly minimize. This makes them more visible, with possible benefits to investigations and intelligence.

Money laundering in rural areas with illicit crops: empirical evidence for Colombia Abstract This research presents the first evidence on the existence of money laundering in rural areas dedicated to the production of illicit crops. This paper uses, as money laundering (ML) measure, Financial Intelligence Reports (FIR). FIR is a more accurate ML measure than Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) since it implies more rigorous and detail analysis. The present research uses a new panel of municipal data for the period 2000–2013 which has information that measure: ML dynamics, economic activity, violence, conflicts, institutional presence and interdiction. Using a fixed-effects model by municipality and year, this study found a positive relationship between ML, measured as the value of FIR, and illicit crops. The results are maintained throughout specifications and robustness exercises. This paper found that a 1% increase in cultivated area in the municipality implies 3.04% increase in the FIR value. If one representative municipality of the sample is taken, an increase of 1% in cultivated area would be translated into 641 million COP (342.705 USD) in money laundering reported in FIR. Thus, the existence of money laundering in rural areas dedicated to illicit crops is concluded.

The Prevent paradox: destroying liberalism in order to protect it Abstract Counter-extremism is the most dynamic part of UK counterterrorism policy. This article examines Prevent, the flagship counter-extremism programme, through a state-theoretical lens. It addresses questions of state institutionality, state power, and state-society relations. It argues that counter-extremism aims to avert the possibility of a political future by repressing the formation of non-liberal political subjectivities. To achieve this, Prevent divides society along political lines; aligns welfare institutions with the security apparatus; mobilises society in a security endeavour; exercises an authoritarian ‘pastoral’ power; replaces trust with generalised suspicion; and construes subjectivities without capacity for historical agency. Therefore, Prevent is a political paradox: an anti-liberal project aiming to secure and perpetuate liberalism.

Regulating white-collar crime in Ireland: an analysis using the lens of governmentality Abstract A new way of governing corporate wrongdoing has emerged to address Ireland’s changed social, political and economic context. Traditional methods of laying blame, forged in the agrarian Irish State, are no longer capable of dealing with the contemporary challenges of an advanced industrial economy which is more willing to recognise the risks posed by increased corporate activity. The conventional crime monopoly became fragmented as specialist regulatory enforcement agencies were established to enforce the law. Moreover, contemporary enforcement became much more sophisticated, moving away from the “command and control” model to a “responsive” model of enforcement. Also, paradoxically, this model is explicitly cooperative and employs sanctions as a last resort but, also can actually be more instrumental and punitive in addressing corporate wrongdoing. More recently, however, since the financial crisis, the architecture seems to have shifted again. Corporate and financial crimes become politicised and new laws were passed to make it easier to hold wrongdoers to account. In addition to resolving problems in enforcing the law, they also had ostentatiously political purposes. They reflect the political desire to “tool up” executive power and “act out” for public approval, to “govern through” white-collar crime.

Mass shootings and their asymmetric effect on societal armament Abstract Mixed evidence has been found for a positive relationship between mass shootings and civilian armament. This study suggests that the causal effect of mass shootings on subsequent societal gun acquisition is non-linear and asymmetric. Different shootings spur pathways that in turn, have variant impacts on civilian armament. Through utilization of directed acyclic graph (DAG) software, several causal models featuring pathways and mechanisms are presented. All three pathways feature a latent variable of fear, and are endogenous to a historical period marked by a discourse of fear that became embedded in U.S. political discourse after the 9/11 attacks. Along with an overview of potential confounding factors, analysis of data on background checks from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (1999–2016) lends support to the argument.

Social cohesion and violence in South Africa: constructing a puzzle with missing pieces Abstract Using social disorganisation theory as a framework for analysis, this article analyses the relationship between social cohesion and violence in post-apartheid South Africa. On the basis of published research, it considers the association between social cohesion and violence in the context of the family home and community, with a focus on violence against children, violence against women, youth violence, and collective violence. Available evidence is piecemeal in South Africa and elsewhere, but it does suggest that a lack of cohesion within families, particularly in economically depressed communities, is a major determinant of the perpetration of most forms of interpersonal violence. Available studies have also implied that neighbourhood factors related to social cohesion have a significant bearing on the level and intensity of violence in poorer neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, the literature on vigilantism, violent protests and xenophobia in poor communities in South Africa has suggested that such violence may have been facilitated by perverse forms of social cohesion that emerged out of common grievances about community well-being, particularly in relation to inadequate delivery of government services and resources.

Do companies pay the price for environmental crimes? Consequences of criminal penalties on corporate offenders Abstract This paper is concerned with the negative collateral consequences monetary sanctions may have on companies that are prosecuted for violating federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Companies often claim fines for law violations will force them to lay off employees and possibly go bankrupt. Using the treadmill of crime theoretical lens, we employ a multivariate analysis on a unique data set of 169 companies to determine if their federal prosecutions are associated with negative collateral consequences. We find that some companies, upon being fined, are more likely to experience negative collateral consequences than others.

Mexican cartel expansion: a quantitative examination of factors associated with territorial claims Abstract Since the war on Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) began, shortly after Felipe Calderón took office as president in 2006, violence has become the norm in many parts of Mexico. Numerous cartel leaders have been killed or captured during this time, and new leaders have filled the power vacuum. Throughout this process, warring cartel factions have staged intense battles over territory. In this context, DTOs have expanded their territories and their reach. Yet there remains a gap in the collective knowledge on why certain territories are selected over others. While there is a burgeoning literature on the mobility of organized crime groups, it remains new and open to various paths of exploration and analysis. This research builds on the mobility literature, examining the territorial selection of Mexican DTOs. Using a cross-sectional design, the authors examine territorial selection via the issuance of narco-messages. Various factors in the selection of territory are explored.

Mulheres e Crime: Perspetivas Sobre Intervenção, Violência e Reclusão, V.N. Famalicão, Húmus

Variability of death penalty attitude in China: an empirical test of the Marshall hypotheses Abstract Though empirical studies of the Marshall hypotheses are rich, few examined the hypotheses in non-US nations. Based on a sample of 1077 students and a quasi-experimental design, this study tests the Marshall hypotheses in China. Except the control group, three intervention essays (on ‘international trend’, ‘wrongful conviction’, and ‘deterrence’) were provided to three experimental groups and students’ opinions were surveyed afterwards on capital punishment overall and six specific capital offenses. The results showed that the majority of Chinese students favored capital punishment and the wrongful conviction essay helped significantly reduce students’ support in the overall death penalty opinion, consistent with the Marshall hypotheses. Nevertheless, the international trend and deterrence essays boosted students’ support when opinions on specific capital offenses were surveyed, producing a counter-effect. Consistent with the hypotheses, students with a retribution belief were more likely to favor capital punishment and less likely to be swayed by essay interventions.