Attitudes towards Italian Mafias Scale (AIMS): development and validation

In two studies we aimed at developing the Attitude towards Italian Mafias Scale (AIMS). In study 1 (N = 292) we used an Exploratory Factor Analysis to reduce the number of the items and explore their latent constructs. In study 2 (N = 393) we performed a Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the resulting 18-item questionnaire, whose latent structure was best identified by a general factor Mafia Attitude and three specific factors related to Behaviors, Cognitions and Emotions-Cognitions towards mafias. Moreover, we showed that the AIMS has (i) discriminant validity compared to a measure of attitudes towards crime, (ii) predictive validity of donation behavior to an association against mafias, (iii) internal consistency, and (iv) invariance for people of the five deep-rooted mafia regions of Southern Italy and those from the rest of Italy. Finally, we observed a difference between the participants from the five deep-rooted mafia regions (i.e., Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Sicily) and the rest of Italy, with the former having surprisingly more negative attitudes towards mafias compared to the latter. The AIMS might help to reliably survey people's sentiment towards Italian mafias and promote targeted and effective law-related education interventions.

The international regime of drug control may violate the human right to life and security

Critics of the international regime of drug control have often pointed to its criminogenic effects, maintaining that drug criminalization gives rise to a profitable illicit drugs market which in turn sustains organized crime networks. Here I will expand upon this critique to argue that the violent crime resulting from the drug criminalization regime may constitute a violation of the human right to life and security. To support this argument, I will discuss the extent to which policy makers and the citizens who empower them may stand morally responsible for unintended but foreseeable consequences of the policies they implement. I will note that a north-south imbalance is at play: while the Global North has been the driving force behind the criminalization regime, the violent criminality entailed by the regime of drug control has impacted the Global South most strongly.

COVID-19 and organized crime: an introduction to the special issue

This is an introduction to the articles submitted to the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on 'COVID-19 and Organized Crime'. The aim of the special issue is to draw together a range of empirical studies from around the world to explore the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for both organized criminals and law enforcement agencies. The pandemic required organized criminals to adapt their practice in light of government restrictions, but it also created new profitable opportunities. At the same time, however, COVID-19 posed significant challenges for law enforcement.

Same but different? A qualitative analysis of the influence of COVID-19 on law enforcement and organized crime in Germany

Criminological research on COVID-19 and its repercussions on crimes, criminals and law enforcement agencies is still in its infancy. This paper fills that void with regard to the influence of COVID-19 on organized crime and the work of law enforcement agencies' investigations of organized crime in Germany by presenting empirical findings from a nationwide qualitative interview study. Through the methodological combination of Grounded Theory and Situational Analysis, we find three central narratives (us vs. them, nationalization vs. internationalization, conservatism vs. innovation) that were provided by law enforcement personnel in terms of the way in which COVID-19 influenced both organized crime groups and their work in the investigation thereof. Following a reflexive approach, the implications of COVID-19 on the research process itself are also discussed.

Vulnerable and dominant: Bright and dark side personality traits and values of individuals in organized crime in Denmark

In this paper, we build on a robust literature on push and pull factors to focus on the personality traits and values of individuals involved in organized crime. We distinguish organized crime from other kinds of criminal activity and recruit a unique sample of non-incarcerated individuals verified by the Danish National Police to be involved in organized crime. We use comprehensive standardized psychological assessments of their big five personality traits, maladaptive dark traits and core values and drivers to compare them to an adult norm group. Danish individuals involved in organized crime are much less emotionally stable (d = 1.84), ambitious and self-confident (d = 1.50), agreeable (d = 0.87) and conscientious (d = 0.65) than the norm group. At the same time, they have substantially higher scores on all but one of the 11 dark traits (Cohen's d ranging from 0.39 to 3.10). They are characterized by a high need for security (d = 1.14) as well as material (d = 0.96) and financial success (d = 0.81). While these patterns fit results previously found in the criminological literature, a latent class analysis reveals two separate groups. A subset of one third of our sample had somewhat less depressed scores on the big five and more moderate scores on the dark traits, indicating more adaptive personality structures. We consider this novel finding in terms of potential exits from a milieu of organized crime.

Uncovering the degree of criminal organization: Swedish street gangs and the role of mobility and co-offending networks

In this study we investigate organized crime by studying the degree of criminal organization. We use population-level register data on criminal suspicions between 2011 and 2016 to analyze the territoriality of Swedish street gangs in terms of geographical mobility, their collaboration in crime through their co-offending network's clustering and community structure, and their crime versatility. Although Swedish street gangs exhibit varying degrees of geographical mobility and criminal collaboration, overall, they have limited reach along these dimensions, characterized by low clustering and limited crime specialization. Violence seems to become a necessary tool only when a gang reaches a certain degree of organization. By unbraiding criminal mobility and its association with other organizational elements such as criminal collaboration in different settings, we provide insights into the structure and dynamics of criminal organizations and contribute to a richer understanding and conceptualization of how crime is organized.

Druglords don't stay at home: COVID-19 pandemic and crime patterns in Mexico City

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on conventional crime and organized crime in Mexico City, Mexico.

METHODS

Mexico City's Attorney General's Office reported crime data, covering domestic violence, burglary, robbery, vehicle theft, assault-battery, homicides, kidnapping, and extortion. We use an event study for the intertemporal variation across the 16 districts (municipalities) in Mexico City for 2019 and 2020.

RESULTS

We find a sharp decrease on crimes related to domestic violence, burglary, and vehicle theft; a decrease during some weeks on crimes related to assault-battery and extortion, and no effects on crimes related to robbery, kidnapping, and homicides.

CONCLUSIONS

While our results show a decline in conventional crime during the COVID- 19 pandemic, organized crime remains steady. These findings have policy implications for catastrophic events around the world, as well as possible national security issues in Mexico.

Making sense of professional enablers' involvement in laundering organized crime proceeds and of their regulation

Money laundering has ascended the enforcement and criminological agenda in the course of this century, and has been accompanied by an increased focus on legal professionals as 'enablers' of crime. This article explores the dynamics of this enforcement, media and political agenda, and how the legal profession has responded in the UK and elsewhere, within the context of ignoring the difficulties of judging the effectiveness of anti money laundering. It concludes that legal responses are a function of their lobbying power, the determination of governments to clamp down on the toxic impacts of legal structures, and different legal cultures. However, it remains unclear what the effects on the levels and organization of serious crimes for gain are of controls on the professions.

Contested borders: organized crime, governance, and bordering practices in Colombia-Venezuela borderlands

Based on the conceptualizations of organized crime as both an enterprise and a form of governance, borderland as a spatial category, and borders as institutions, this paper looks at the politics of bordering practices by organized crime in the Colombian-Venezuelan borderlands. It posits that contrary to the common assumptions about transnational organized crime, criminal organizations not only blur or erode the border but rather enforce it to their own benefit. In doing so, these groups set norms to regulate socio-spatial practices, informal and illegal economies, and migration flows, creating overlapping social orders and, lastly, (re)shaping the borderland. Theoretically, the analysis brings together insights from political geography, border studies, and organized crime literature, while empirically, it draws on direct observation, criminal justice data, and in-depth interviews.

Evaluating the Control of Money Laundering and Its Underlying Offences: the Search for Meaningful Data

This article examines the political and criminological history of anti-money controls, including the involvement of Asian countries and the varied motivations and interests engaged. It goes on to review where empirical evidence has been used and can be used in fighting the financial components of underlying crimes, examining the denotation of the problem(s) we are supposed to be fighting-money laundering as an evil in itself and/or the underlying crimes which give rise to it; estimates of the size and harmfulness of the problems and identifies any improvements/emerging problems in the assessment of money laundering. It concludes with some reflections on assessing policy effectiveness and the need for greater engagement by criminologists and other social scientists in this process.

An altered state? Emergent changes to illicit drug markets and distribution networks in scotland

BACKGROUND

Many efforts have been undertaken to construct an overview of various aspects of illicit drug distribution in the United Kingdom. Yet given that national, regional, and local differences can be profound, this has proven difficult, to the extent that Scotland has been largely excluded from the conversation. In addition, the level of supply being examined, the drug type, and the actors involved only add to confusion and vast differences between some findings.

METHOD

The current study aims to provide a holistic account, as best as possible considering variations of illegal drug supply in illicit networks, by focusing in on a particular geographical context (Scotland) and addressing drug supply at all levels. It is informed by in-depth interviews with 42 offenders involved in drug distribution from retail to wholesale/middle market to importation levels.

RESULTS

Findings indicate Scotland's importation and distribution is evolving owing to increasingly adaptive risk mitigation by importers and distributors, and market diversification of both product and demand. While a hierarchical model still dominates the market, commuting or 'county lines' and increasing demand for drugs such as cannabis, but also anabolic steroids and psychoactive substances, means that home growing, online purchasing, and street-level dealership is common.

CONCLUSION

The findings have the capacity to further inform police and practitioners about the diverse and evolving nature of drug distribution in Scotland (with a particular focus on the west of the country), so that they may become more effective in improving the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities.

Organized Crime and Preventive Justice

By comparison with the prevention of terrorism, the prevention of acts of organized crime might be thought easier to conceptualize precisely and less controversial to legislate against and police. This impression is correct up to a point, because it is possible to arrive at some general characteristics of organized crime, and because legislation against it is not obviously bedeviled by the risk of violating civil or political rights, as in the case of terrorism. But there is a significant residue of legal, moral and political difficulty: legislation against organized crime is hard to make effective; the harm of organized crime is not uniform, and so some preventive legislation seems too sweeping and potentially unjust. More fundamentally, the scale and rewards of organized crime are often dependent on mass public participation in markets for proscribed goods, which may point to a hidden public consensus in favour of some of what is criminalized. For all of these reasons, I argue that existing preventive policing and legislation against organized crime may be harder to justify than their counterparts in counter-terrorism, at least in the UK.

On 'Organized Crime' in the illicit antiquities trade: moving beyond the definitional debate

The extent to which 'organized crime' is involved in illicit antiquities trafficking is unknown and frequently debated. This paper explores the significance and scale of the illicit antiquities trade as a unique transnational criminal phenomenon that is often said to be perpetrated by and exhibit traits of so-called 'organized crime.' The definitional debate behind the term 'organized crime' is considered as a potential problem impeding our understanding of its existence or extent in illicit antiquities trafficking, and a basic progression-based model is then suggested as a new tool to move beyond the definitional debate for future research that may help to elucidate the actors, processes and criminal dynamics taking place within the illicit antiquities trade from source to market. The paper concludes that researchers should focus not on the question of whether organized criminals- particularly in a traditionally conceived, mafia-type stereotypical sense- are involved in the illicit antiquities trade, but instead on the structure and progression of antiquities trafficking itself that embody both organized and criminal dynamics.

Understanding and fighting the medicine counterfeit market

Medicine counterfeiting is a serious worldwide issue, involving networks of manufacture and distribution that are an integral part of industrialized organized crime. Despite the potentially devastating health repercussions involved, legal sanctions are often inappropriate or simply not applied. The difficulty in agreeing on a definition of counterfeiting, the huge profits made by the counterfeiters and the complexity of the market are the other main reasons for the extent of the phenomenon. Above all, international cooperation is needed to thwart the spread of counterfeiting. Moreover effort is urgently required on the legal, enforcement and scientific levels. Pharmaceutical companies and agencies have developed measures to protect the medicines and allow fast and reliable analysis of the suspect products. Several means, essentially based on chromatography and spectroscopy, are now at the disposal of the analysts to enable the distinction between genuine and counterfeit products. However the determination of the components and the use of analytical data for forensic purposes still constitute a challenge. The aim of this review article is therefore to point out the intricacy of medicine counterfeiting so that a better understanding can provide solutions to fight more efficiently against it.