Collaborating with organized crime in the search for disappeared persons? Formalizing a humanitarian alternative for Mexico

Author(s):  
Issa Cristina Hernández Herrera

Abstract The search for the more than 90,000 disappeared persons in Mexico has highlighted the need to establish relations of collaboration with organized crime groups in order to access not only relevant information to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the missing, but also territories under the control of organized crime groups for carrying out field searches. Given the ineffectiveness of formal, prosecutorial approaches and the considerable success of grassroots, victim-led search strategies, this paper argues for the need for a broader humanitarian approach to the search for the missing that is victim-centred and complementary to accountability mechanisms. The article advances a proposal to formalize this approach through the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) involvement in search activities, given the ICRC's unique organizational nature, expertise and humanitarian mandate.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-144
Author(s):  
Atanas Brandev

AbstractUsed by undercover agents in detecting and documenting crimes committed by the so-called. ‘Organized crime groups’ is a relatively poorly used but extremely effective method. The latter is a combination of criminal procedure and special laws and regulations. The full use of undercover agents requires further enhancement of the legal safeguards for the protection of the employees in question, as well as a clear distinction between acts performed by the employees in question, whether or not in connection with their undercover activities, with or without the implementation of different composition of crime. Attention should be paid to the mechanisms for the selection and joint training of the latter, including through the exchange of experience of EU partner services.


Author(s):  
Bashkim Selmani ◽  
Bekim Maksuti

The profound changes within the Albanian society, including Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, before and after they proclaimed independence (in exception of Albania), with the establishment of the parliamentary system resulted in mass spread social negative consequences such as crime, drugs, prostitution, child beggars on the street etc. As a result of these occurred circumstances emerged a substantial need for changes within the legal system in order to meet and achieve the European standards or behaviors and the need for adoption of many laws imported from abroad, but without actually reading the factual situation of the psycho-economic position of the citizens and the consequences of the peoples’ occupations without proper compensation, as a remedy for the victims of war or peace in these countries. The sad truth is that the perpetrators not only weren’t sanctioned, but these regions remained an untouched haven for further development of criminal activities, be it from the public state officials through property privatization or in the private field. The organized crime groups, almost in all cases, are perceived by the human mind as “Mafia” and it is a fact that this cannot be denied easily. The widely spread term “Mafia” is mostly known around the world to define criminal organizations.The Balkan Peninsula is highly involved in these illegal groups of organized crime whose practice of criminal activities is largely extended through the Balkan countries such as Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, etc. Many factors contributed to these strategic countries to be part of these types of activities. In general, some of the countries have been affected more specifically, but in all of the abovementioned countries organized crime has affected all areas of life, leaving a black mark in the history of these states.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 2091-2100
Author(s):  
Venelin Terziev ◽  
Hristo Bonev

This article outlines the three main prostitution organization types as well as hierarchical structures in criminal organizations dealing with human trafficking, prostitution and sexual exploitation. Several major categories of personages are directly involved in organized crime groups. The main indicators for assessing the prostitution prevention are defined and the principles for system management and management are justified. The three factors of prostitution management - psychological, social and financial - are outlined. An evaluation of the prostitution market has been carried out and the functions of the domestic and external markets for paid sex are described. The data provided gives us a reason to assume that the consumption of sexual services is increasing.


Author(s):  
Daan P. van Uhm ◽  
Ana G. Grigore

AbstractThis article explores the relationship between the Emberá–Wounaan and Akha Indigenous people and organized crime groups vying for control over natural resources in the Darién Gap of East Panama and West Colombia and the Golden Triangle (the area where the borders of Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand meet), respectively. From a southern green criminological perspective, we consider how organized crime groups trading in natural resources value Indigenous knowledge. We also examine the continued victimization of Indigenous people in relation to environmental harm and the tension between Indigenous peoples’ ecocentric values and the economic incentives presented to them for exploiting nature. By looking at the history of the coloniality and the socioeconomic context of these Indigenous communities, this article generates a discussion about the social framing of the Indigenous people as both victims and offenders in the illegal trade in natural resources, particularly considering the types of relationships established with dominant criminal groups present in their ancestral lands.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aunshul Rege ◽  
Anita Lavorgna

Despite the devastating short- and long-term consequences of resource-related environmental crimes, rampant illegal soil and sand mining continues worldwide. In countries such as India and Italy, organized crime groups have emerged as prominent illegal suppliers of soil and sand. The proposed study focuses on an understudied research area at the intersection between organized crime and environmental crimes, and offers a trans-comparative study of illegal soil and sand mining conducted by Indian and Italian organized crime groups with two main objectives. First, a comparative analysis of the organizational mechanisms, operational practices, threat management, and supporting cultural, regulatory, and policing factors is conducted. Second, a discussion of how these groups reflect mainstream models and theories of organized crime is offered.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Crocker ◽  
Michael Skidmore ◽  
Sarah Webb ◽  
Sarah Garner ◽  
Martin Gill ◽  
...  

Abstract This article explores the role of organized crime groups in persistent theft and shop theft. It is based on an analysis of police data using exploratory analytical techniques assessing the extent of connectivity between acquisitive offenders. The research also draws on qualitative data collected from interviews. The findings suggest that shop theft was predominantly committed by UK nationals; although foreign nationals were proportionately more likely to be involved in organized crime, there is some evidence that they may themselves be being exploited. The findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are made.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerjes Aguirre Ochoa ◽  
Casimiro Leco Tomas

The so-called self-defense forces in Mexico must be seen as a form of vigilantism generated by an incipient process of democratization that has not produced the institutional quality necessary to contain the activity of organized crime groups driven, essentially, by the high demand for drugs in the United States. Our qualitative analysis of Mexico’s Tierra Caliente (‘Hotlands’) revealed profound processes of institutional deterioration in politics and the economy that have created conditions ripe for vigilantism. In the absence of substantial improvements in the quality of Mexico’s democracy, especially at the levels of state and municipal government, the emergence of other forms of vigilantism and ongoing violence are foreseeable.


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