1,720,991 research outputs found
Book Review. Caulkins Jonathan P., Hawken Angela, Kilmer Beau and Kleiman Mark A. R. Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know
No full textThe book Marijuana Legalization: What everyone needs to know discusses whether marijuana
should be legalized or not. The book deals with a topic which is relevant in the United States,
especially after California’s Proposition 19 nearly passed in 2010 and Colorado andWashington
voters approved to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in 2012. Further, recent publications
witness how much the general public, academics and policy makers are sensible to the issue
(Caulkins et al. 2012a; Kilmer et al. 2010; Room et al. 2008). The aim of the book is not to
advocate for legalization neither prohibition, but to provide “the material needed to develop
informed opinion [...] and to sweep away some of the myths and fallacious arguments that have
been offered on both sides of the debate
The retail value of the illicit drug market in Italy: a consumption-based approach
No full textThis study estimates the retail value of the illicit drug market in Italy from a
consumption-based approach. The illicit drugs considered in this analysis are heroin,
cocaine, cannabis (herbal and resin), amphetamines and ecstasy. Results show that the
value of the illicit drug market in Italy is much less than previously estimated and
quantified at € 3.3 bn. Heroin and cocaine retain the biggest markets in terms of
revenues, while cannabis is the most-consumed illicit drug. Synthetic illicit drugs
account for roughly 10% of the illicit drug market. Conclusions offer some suggestions
as to how uncertainties about estimates of the illicit drug market can be reduced
LAW ENFORCEMENT, VIOLENCE AND GLOBALIZATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRICE DECLINE IN EUROPEAN DRUG MARKETS
No full textPochi studi hanno analizzato I prezzi delle droghe in Europa nonostante I risultati forniti da questo tipo di analisi in altri paesi. In America, l’analisi sui prezzi delle droghe costituisce la base dell’attuale conoscenza su domanda e offerta del mercato delle droga e dell’effetto delle forze di polizia.
Questa tesi analizza il prezzo delle droghe illecite (eroina e cocaina) in Europa. In particolare questo studio ha due obiettivi 1) identificare quali fattori influenzano i prezzi delle droghe; 2) identificare quali fattori hanno portato al declino dei prezzi delle droghe negli ultimi venti anni. In linea con la precedente letteratura, questo studio ha impiegato un’analisi della variazione geografica e temporale dei prezzi, un “Risk and price model” ed una analisi panel.
I risultati mostrano che le forze di polizia e il livello di violenza hanno un effetto marginale sul prezzo delle droghe e non sono capaci di spiegare il loro declino negli anni. La globalizzazione sembra la principale spiegazione. La globalizzazione ha tagliato i costi nel traffico di droga, riducendo le inefficienze causate dalla sua illegalità (per esempio nel trasporto). Di conseguenza la globalizzazione può essere considerata la componente principale nello spiegare il declino dei prezzi delle droghe in Europa.There are few studies on drug prices in Europe, despite the insight this type of analysis has provided in other countries. In the USA, the examination of drug prices has improved the knowledge of the demand and supply in drug markets and the impact of law enforcement.
The dissertation aims to analyze the prices of illicit drugs (heroin and cocaine) in Europe. The study has two objectives: (1) identifying which factors affect drug prices; (2) analyzing which factors drove the price decline in the last twenty years. In line with the previous literature, the methods include the analysis of the trends of prices over time and across countries, a risk and price model, and a panel regression.
The results show that law enforcement and violence have marginal impact on drug prices and they are unable to explain the decline over time. In fact, globalization is the key explanatory factor. Globalization has likely cut the costs of the drug trade, reducing the inefficiencies caused by illegality (e.g. transportation). As a result, it may be regarded as the most important factor in the price decline in European drug markets
Interdicting International Drug Trafficking: a Network Approach for Coordinated and Targeted Interventions
Full text linkThere is a relative dearth of literature on both the effects of cross-border interdictions and the impact of different types of interventions on international drug trafficking. This study identifies the main trafficking routes for cocaine and heroin, along with comparing the disruptive effects induced by targeted and non-coordinated interventions. It adopts a social network approach to identify the routes along which cocaine and heroin are trafficked, and then simulates the impact of different interdiction strategies on these two trafficking networks. The findings indicate that targeting countries based on their respective positions in the networks, as opposed to on the basis of the quantity of drugs exchanged, is more likely to disrupt drug flows. More specifically, concentrating law enforcement resources on countries with several incoming or outgoing trafficking connections, or those countries that mediate between producer, transit and consumer countries, would appear to be particularly effective in this regard. Interventions focused on specific trafficking routes are also likely to be effective if these routes have high edge betweenness centrality scores. This study contributes to extant understanding on the vulnerability of cocaine and heroin international trafficking networks, and, moreover, demonstrates that empirically-driven strategies are potentially more effective at interdicting international trafficking than non-strategic and non-coordinated interventions
The Italian mafias in the world: A systematic assessment of the mobility of criminal groups
Full text linkThis study complements existing literature on the mobility of criminal groups (mainly based on country case studies) with the first systematic assessment of the worldwide activities of the four main types of Italian mafias (Cosa Nostra, Camorra, ’Ndrangheta and Apulian mafias) from 2000 to 2012. Drawing from publicly available reports, a specific multiple correspondence analysis identifies the most important associations among mafias, activities, and countries. The results show that the mafias concentrate in a few countries; drug trafficking is the most frequent activity, whereas money laundering appears less important than expected; a stable mafia presence is reported in a few developed countries (mainly Germany, Canada, Australia, and the United States). The mafias show significant differences: the ’Ndrangheta tends to establish structured groups abroad, whereas the other mafias mainly participate in illicit trades
Savona, Ernesto, Luca Giommoni, and Marina Mancuso. 2014. “Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Italy.” In Cognition and Crime. Offender Decision Making and Script Analyses, edited by Benoit Leclerc and Richard Wortley. New York: Routledge.
No full textThis chapter focuses on human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Italy. Two
Italian case studies are analyzed, applying the crime script approach. They have
been provided by state prosecutors of two Italian provinces (Campobasso and
Ancona) and are referred respectively to indoor and outdoor prostitution. Starting
from the literature on this topic, the different stages of this crime (recruitment,
transportation, exploitation and aftermath) are identified.
From the analysis of the two arrest warrants, information on the actions and
decisions of both traffickers and victims is linked to the stages of the crime. The
added value of this work is the application of a methodological tool (script) not
often used to examine human trafficking. This allows a concrete analysis of the
vulnerabilities associated with the crime-commission process and the search for
situational crime prevention measures that might target these vulnerabilities. Both
research and policy implications are drawn at the end of the chapter
The determinants of heroin flows in Europe: A latent space approach
Full text linkThis study utilises recent advances in statistical models for social networks to identify the factors shaping heroin trafficking in relation to European countries. First, it estimates the size of the heroin flows among a network of 61 countries, before subsequently using a latent space approach to model the presence of trafficking and the amount of heroin traded between any two given countries. Many networks, such as trade networks, are intrinsically weighted, and ignoring edge weights results in a loss of relevant information. Traditionally, the gravity model has been used to predict legal trade flows, assuming conditional independence among observations. More recently, latent space position models for social networks have been used to analyze legal trade among countries, and, mutatis mutandis, can be applied to the context of illegal trade to count both edge weights and conditional dependence among observations. These models allow for a better understanding of the generative processes and potential evolution of heroin trafficking routes. This study shows that geographical and social proximity provide fertile ground for the formation of heroin flows. Opportunities are also a driver of drug flows towards countries where regulation of corruption is weak
The Risks and Rewards of Organized Crime Investments in Real Estate
No full textDespite growing interest in organized crime’s infiltration of the legal economy, research to date has paid little attention to the investments of criminal organizations in real estate. Using data on confiscated assets in 8,092 Italian municipalities between 2000 and 2012, this paper aims to remedy this lack of knowledge. Applying a risk–reward approach, based on the rational choice perspective, the analysis highlights what drives Italian mafia groups’ investments in the real estate sector. The results obtained support the validity of the rational choice perspective by showing how criminal organizations weigh risks and rewards in their decisions to invest in real estate
A Quantitative Application of Enterprise and Social Embeddedness Theories to the Transnational Trafficking of Cocaine in Europe
No full textIllegal enterprise and social embeddedness theories have highlighted the importance of market forces and social factors, respectively, for analyzing organized crime and organized criminal activities. This paper empirically demonstrates the joint explanatory power of these respective theories in the case of the transnational trafficking of cocaine. It does so by conceptualizing transnational cocaine trafficking as a network of relationships among countries; a network whose structure reflects the actions of manifold organized criminal groups. The analysis utilizes exponential random graph models to analyze quantitative data on cocaine trafficking which are ordinarily difficult to capture in empirical research. The analysis presented focuses on a set of 36 European countries. The results yield insights into the nature of the relationship among economic incentives, social ties, geographic features and corruption, and how, in turn, this relationship influences the structure of the transnational cocaine network and the modi operandi of cocaine traffickers
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