OC24 Podcast

This book is the outcome of an analysis and reflection on crime risks and financial criminal activity taking place in European professional football in recent decades. Its main goal is to discuss some relevant criminological issues in relation to the financing and ownership of professional football clubs and the transfer of players. As the title suggests, the book covers both the outrageous busine...

At this session, we will present articles published in a recent issue of the journal Anti-Trafficking Review, which focused on the theme ‘Traffickers’. The issue explored the characteristics, motivations, and modus operandi of those convicted or suspected of human trafficking, their relationships with victims, their treatment in the criminal justice system, and more. Dr Caitlin Wyndham will speak...

In this session, Oleksii Serdyuk and Anna Markovska will present their paper on the level of war-time organized criminal activity in Ukraine by using media reports and anecdotal evidence from Kharkiv and Odesa. After this intervention, André Duffles Teixeira Aranega will present his findings on the ‘crime-conflict nexus’ to demonstrate the interconnections between the dynamics of cross-border illi...

This session, moderated by Fatjona Mejdini, will be dedicated to understanding the threats posed by illicit flows to maritime and port security. More specifically, panelists will discuss how and why illicit trade manifests in port premises and along rivers. Starting from the international perspective, prof. Sergi will illustrate international cocaine flows, and present some of the findings of her...

Assassinations, or contract killings, have been largely used by criminal groups as a form of criminal governance: to exert territorial control and control of their illicit markets, targeted violence was commonly seen as the modus operandi by many groups. However, increasingly, the spill over of these gang turfs have affected victims from civil society. Individuals standing for political office, ac...

This roundtable will discuss the situation of organised crime in the UK and policy implications. FELIA ALLUM Professor of comparative organised crime and corruption, University of Bath, UK ELLA COCKBAIN Dr Ella Cockbain's research focuses primarily on human trafficking, child sexual abuse and labour market abuses. She is interested in rigorous, nuanced and context-sensitive approaches to understan...

The purpose of the Roundtable is to identify why there is no academic or thinktank discourse focused on organized crime in India, especially when the phenomenon of mafia-style criminality touches upon such issues as national security (ie., terrorism), economic performance, democratic politics and megacity policing. Organized crime should be a prime subject of research in Indian social sciences, ye...

This panel will discuss how difficult it is to analyse organised crime in France. A talk by Déborah Alimi, Jacques Follorou, Tommaso Giuriati and Fabrice Rizzoli

Worldwide, 50% of detected human trafficking victims are victims of sexual exploitation. To respond to this crime, among the main aspects to be strengthened are the protection and assistance of victims. This panel will discuss how to provide better services for the rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of sexual exploitation victims. The speakers will be an author of a non-fiction novel based...

The truth about modern slavery Apparently there are now more slaves than ever before in history. From men working in warehouses for barely any pay, to teenaged Vietnamese girls trafficked into small town nail bars, we're told that modern slavery is all around us, operating in plain sight. But is this really slavery, and is it even a new phenomenon? Why are politicians so keen to talk about traffic...

Niger Delta oil crime is one of the most serious natural resource crimes globally, with the systematic theft, sale and illegal refining of up to 20% of Nigeria’s oil output. Illegal bunkering and artisanal refining have increased exponentially over the past decade. This paper draws on qualitative interviews with Niger Deltan citizens, and government and community experts, to examine the impact on...

This panel looks ‘organized corruption’ in the Western Balkans – a symbiosis of organized crime, criminal methods and high-level corruption, which creates a crooked ecosystem that enriches and protects those with access to power. Together with experts from the region, the panel will examine how organized corruption manifests in the WB6, its impact and also discuss possible remedies. A talk by&nbsp...

This panel explores the latest findings regarding the structure of illicit crop economies in the Andean and Mexico region, and the impact of novel, non-punitive and traditional rural drug policy interventions on production and development outcomes. LeCour discusses the Mexican case where opium functions as a “political opiate”: one that allows marginalized regions to economically survive, while th...

The book (and the panel) explores the relationship between (organized) crime and music in its various forms and expressions. It includes a range of topics: from jazz and mob in Chicago, to narcocorridos in Mexico, to child trafficking in Medieval Italy, to the role of music in Serbian organized crime activities, and more. A talk by Dina Siegel, Frank Bovenkerk, Dr. Jeffrey McIllwain...

In this session, Donato Vozza from University of Roehampton London, will present his paper on an under-explored relationship: ‘Organized criminal groups and professional enablers: Breaking the partnership in crime in the area of taxation’, this presentation will introduce in the debate the notion of “organized tax crime”. After this intervention, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen will present the findings of...

The discussion will be about the role of urban growth, poor governance, political patronage, poverty and illiteracy, and the mushrooming of the gangs in the country. A talk by Beatrix Chepkoech, Ms Joyce Kimani, Mohammed Mwinyi, Esther Njeri and Willie Oeba Midrift Human Rights Network, GI-TOC, Youth Bila Noma.

Transnational organised crime at sea is a growing international concern. These ‘blue crimes’, including piracy, smuggling, and environmental crimes such as illegal fishing, challenge maritime security law enforcement practitioners and ask new questions of academics and researchers. By their very nature, such crimes cross boundaries. They implicate different geographical spaces, including both land...

The objective of this Session is to reflect on the political economy of violence in Mexico and Central America. Although it is undeniable that organized crime is part of the issue, the argument that criminal groups are the sole actor behind violence in the region is not satisfactory. We want to "bring politics back in" and to offer a more complex picture of a phenomenon that cannot be understood t...

The phenomenon of illicit mining and trading of minerals poses a challenge to the survival of contemporary Democratic Republic of Congo. Besides the environmental impacts associated with the practice, the phenomenon, induces violent conflicts in the Eastern Congo DR, and cost the country an estimated economic loss of around US$60 million per year. In Kenya, sand mining is a crime and must be stopp...

The first-ever Global Organized Crime Index provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the pervasiveness of criminal markets, the dynamics of criminal actors and of countries’ effectiveness in establishing the defence mechanisms and responses needed to ensure operational resilience to organized crime. A result of a multi-year endeavour involving over 350 experts worldwide, including the...

In this session, Willis Okumu will deliver a presentation on the trafficking of sandalwood in Kenya, which examines the networks of state and non-state actors that facilitate the illicit trade of the East-African sandalwood tree–resulting in significant environmental harm and deforestation within community forests in Northern Kenya. Juneseo Hwang will then present on the topic of waste crime, exam...

Mediation is an alternative mechanism for dispute settlement, commonly used when enforcement is ineffective. It has been increasingly seen as an effective means to prevent, manage and resolve disputes in both conflict and non-conflicted environments, including, for example, in the prevention of inter and intra-gang violence. However, with the growing complexity of contemporary conflicts, many ques...

Latin America has always been characterized by drug trafficking. Even though drug trafficking is still the most important manifestation of organized crime in the region, criminal organizations have expanded their business and moved overseas. This panel will discuss, on the one hand, how drug trafficking, particularly cocaine trafficking, has been changing adding new markets and routes to the tradi...

In this session, Mathew Charles will present the findings of a study that explores organized crime and youth involvement in Colombia’s northern Cauca region—identifying criminal recruitment strategies and three major levels of trafficking routes along community, city, and country lines in Colombia. Leo Lin will then discuss the findings of a comparative case study that examines the trafficking of...

On 6 July 2021, Dutch journalist and national celebrity Peter R. de Vries was assassinated in broad daylight in the middle of Amsterdam. This killing has fueled the debate both nationally and internationally whether the Netherlands has become ‘a narco state’. Although this question can not be answered with a simple “yes or “no”, various studies have confirmed the magnitude of the drug industry in...