Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:44 pm
Time: 9:44 pm
Results for criminal gangs
5 results foundAuthor: Martinez, Angelica Duran Title: Organized Crime, the State and Democracy: The Cases of Central America and the Caribbean Summary: Over a decade on from the end of the civil wars that devastated the region, large parts of Central America are once again afflicted by chronic violence. This time, however, the principal culprits are narco-traffickers and criminal networks, undermining state structures through corruption and clandestine links to political parties, judges and law enforcement officials. In the Caribbean, meanwhile, a flourishing drug trade has brought wealth, but at the cost of rising homicide rates and grave damage to democratic institutions. Based on a two-day conference of experts held in early 2007 in New York, this report explores new thinking on the ills afflicting the region - including the highly controversial mara gangs - and how the international community might help remedy the problems of crime and corruption without undermining the fragile states that are the essential building blocks of any long-term solution. Details: Madrid: FRIDE (Fundacion para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Dialogo Exterior), 2007. 16p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2007 Country: Central America URL: Shelf Number: 118677 Keywords: CorruptionCriminal GangsCriminal NetworksDrug Trafficking (Central America, Caribbean)NarcoticsOrganized Crime |
Author: Connery, David Title: The Commonwealth's Part in the fight Against Organised Crime: It's worth doing more Summary: Organised crime is a significant threat to Australia's society and economy, and Australian governments already devote much attention and resources to combating it. This attention includes a new initiative to enhance Commonwealth - state law enforcement cooperation: an anti-gangs squad. The new squad will bring a range of new information sources to help state police forces in practical and direct ways. It will be welcome and is likely to enhance the existing effort against organised crime. But there's another area where the Commonwealth could show leadership: by helping all Australian jurisdictions to build capability to counter organised crime. Capability is simply the mixture of people, equipment, processes and training that gives an organisation the potential to achieve its mission. But capability development, as it's known, is an active process that requires money and attention. After making the case for the Commonwealth to do more in the area of organised crime, and outlining the role and function of the Australian Government's anti-gangs squad initiative, this paper proposes two options for how the government could promote nationwide capability development in this area. The first is to expand the function and resources given to the Senior Officers Group on Organised Crime (SOG on OC) so that it has the funds and support to make a plan for new, nationally consistent capability. This option would cost around $18 million a year and require an expansion of the committee. The second option is to extend the remit of the Australia - New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee. This option would leverage the extensive (but not complete) overlap between the needs of countering terrorism and countering organised crime. Of the two options, expanding and funding the SOG on OC, using money from proceeds-of-crime or unexplained wealth confiscations, is suggested as a good first step because it involves the least amount of change. But it should be only an interim step. What should also occur at the same time is an extensive review of the interjurisdictional governance arrangements for domestically oriented security challenges in Australia. The review should aim to minimise the current duplications among committees and enhance the effectiveness of the Commonwealth-state partnerships in areas including crime fighting, counterterrorism, emergency management and cybersecurity. Details: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2013. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2014 at: https://www.aspi.org.au/publications/the-commonwealths-part-in-the-fight-against-organised-crime/SR61_Organised_crime.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: https://www.aspi.org.au/publications/the-commonwealths-part-in-the-fight-against-organised-crime/SR61_Organised_crime.pdf Shelf Number: 132379 Keywords: Counter-TerrorismCriminal GangsCybersecurityOrganized Crime (Australia)Partnerships |
Author: Bakrania, Shivit Title: Policy responses to criminal violence in Latin America and the Caribbean Summary: Mediation efforts between the 'maras' in El Salvador have led to a significant reduction in homicide rates. What other policy responses to gang and criminal violence, including but not limited to formal and informal mediation efforts, exist in Latin America and the Caribbean? What lessons can the donor community learn from them? Combatting the threat posed by transnational and domestic criminal organisations has become a critical concern of governments throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Ideas of how to reduce crime and organised violence in this region vary between those who advocate for state-security led approaches and those who argue for approaches that tackle the causes of crime and the factors that incentivise people to engage in risky behaviour (Basombrio & Dammert, 2013). Policy responses in Latin America and the Caribbean have been implemented at a range of levels, from local to regional, and have involved a range of different actors. The following lessons and recommendations were identified from the literature reviewed: - Several authors argue that state-security led approaches such as the mano dura (strong handed) approach in the northern triangle have been ineffective at reducing organised crime -Several authors recommend more comprehensive and preventative approaches -Several authors emphasise the importance of targeting preventative programmes -Initiatives should involve a broad range of stakeholders: The World Bank (2011) suggests an inclusive coalition of agencies and individuals across governments as well as civil society -Policies and programmes should be based upon facts and evidence: Basombrio & Dammert (2013) argue that policymakers in Latin America should examine lessons learned from previous successes and failures and take an evidence-based approach in order to implement effective, efficient, and just public policies in their countries. -Several authors suggest that criminal justice reform is needed in order to tackle organised violence effectively -The impacts of gang truces in Latin America and the Caribbean are as yet inconclusive A regional approach is needed: The World Bank (2011) argues that issues relating to organised crime, particularly in the areas of drug trafficking and firearms, transcend boundaries in Latin America and require a coordinated response. Details: GSDRC Research Helpdesk, 2013. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Helpdesk Research Report: Accessed March 3, 2015 at: http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/HDQ934.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/HDQ934.pdf Shelf Number: 134733 Keywords: Criminal GangsDrug Related ViolenceOrganized Crime (Latin America)Violence PreventionViolent Crime |
Author: Rostami, Amir Title: Criminal Organizing: Studies in the sociology of organized crime Summary: What organized crime is and how it can be prevented are two of the key questions in both organized crime research and criminal policy. However, despite many attempts, organized crime research, the criminal justice system and criminal policy have failed to provide a shared and recognized conceptual definition of organized crime, which has opened the door to political interpretations. Organized crime is presented as an objective reality—mostly based on anecdotal empirical evidence and generic descriptions—and has been understood, as being intrinsically different from social organization, and this has been a justification for treating organized crime conceptually separately.In this dissertation, the concept of organized crime is deconstructed and analyzed. Based on five studies and an introductory chapter, I argue that organized crime is an overarching concept based on an abstraction of different underlying concepts, such as gang, mafia, and network, which are in turn semi-overarching and overlapping abstractions of different crime phenomena, such as syndicates, street-gangs, and drug networks. This combination of a generic concept based on underlying concepts, which are themselves subject to similar conceptual difficulties, has given rise to a conceptual confusion surrounding the term and the concept of organized crime. The consequences of this conceptual confusion are not only an issue of semantics, but have implications for our understanding of the nature of criminal collaboration as well as both legal and policy consequences. By combining different observers, methods and empirical materials relating to dimensions of criminal collaboration, I illustrate the strong analogies that exist between forms of criminal collaboration and the theory of social organization.I argue in this dissertation that criminal organizing is not intrinsically different from social organizing. In fact, the dissertation illustrates the existence of strong analogies between patterns of criminal organizing and the elements of social organizations. But depending on time and context, some actions and forms of organizing are defined as criminal, and are then, intentionally or unintentionally, presumed to be intrinsically different from social organizing. Since the basis of my argument is that criminal organizing is not intrinsically different from social organizing, I advocate that the study of organized crime needs to return to the basic principles of social organization in order to understand the emergence of, and the underlying mechanism that gives rise to, the forms of criminal collaboration that we seek to explain. To this end, a new general analytical framework, “criminal organizing”, that brings the different forms of criminal organizations and their dimensions together under a single analytical tool, is proposed as an example of how organizational sociology can advance organized crime research and clarify the chaotic concept of organized crime. Details: Stockholm, SWE: Stockholm University, 2016. 103p. Source: Internet Resource: STOCKHOLM STUDIES IN SOCIOLOGY, CRIMINAL ORGANIZING, NEW SERIES 62: Accessed March 24, 2017 at: https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:921818/FULLTEXT01.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Sweden URL: https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:921818/FULLTEXT01.pdf Shelf Number: 144573 Keywords: Criminal GangsCriminal NetworksMafiaOrganized Crime |
Author: Rico, Daniel M. Title: The Dimension of International Organized Crime in Colombia: The Bacrim, Routes, and Shelters - La Dimension Internacional del Crimen Organizado en Colombia: Las Bacrim, sus Rutas y Refugios Summary: The dimensions and structures of organized crime in Colombia have been drastically transformed in the last ten years. The clearing part of the paramilitary structures and the advantages of a reintegration process that take several years and I do not include agreements on drug trafficking, it generated a criminal diaspora that incubated the new structures of criminal gangs - more known as Bacrim - initially dedicated to drug trafficking in several regions of Colombia. Since then, around the Bacrim have been generated multiple political, legal debates and to a lesser extent, scholars who argue their similarities and differences vis-a-vis paramilitarism, the challenges that represent the national security and the efficiency of policies public implemented for its containment. However, the understanding and analysis of international dimensions of this generation of criminal organizations have been modest and scarce. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, 2013. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 14, 2018 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Daniel%20Rico.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Colombia URL: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Daniel%20Rico.pdf Shelf Number: 151543 Keywords: Criminal GangsDrug TraffickingNational SecurityOrganized Crime |