'Bold, addictive and brilliant.' Stylist, best fiction 2021 A Times Bestseller A Times & Sunday Times Best Crime Books of 2021 A Waterstones Best Crime & Thriller of 2021 Be twice as good as men and four times as good as white men. Jia Khan has always lived like this. Successful London lawyer Jia Khan is a long way from the Northern streets she knew as a child, where her father, Akbar Khan, led the Pakistani community and ran the local organised crime syndicate. Often his Jirga rule - the old way - was violent and bloody, but it was always justice of a kind. Now, with her father murdered, Jia must return to take his place. Justice needs to be restored, and Jia is about to discover that justice always comes at a cost. 'A fascinating glimpse into a world rarely portrayed in fiction.' Guardian, best crime and thrillers 'A once-in-a-generation crime thriller.' A.A.Dhand, author of Streets of Darkness

Leading scholars and policy analysts from around the Americas come together to untangle the factors that have fuelled the implementation of mano dura politics, their rising popularity, and impacts across nine widely heterogeneous countries in Latin America. Beginning with a discussion on the concept of mano dura, the editors move to survey various theoretical approaches to punitivism, and later review of the empirical research evaluating different drivers behind the adoption of tough on crime policies. Since hard-line initiatives often have consequences beyond the general goal of reducing violence, they then analyze the impacts of these policing strategies on crime rates and different democratic institutions. Country chapters on Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina follow a common thematic structure to answer the following questions: What are some of the trends in gangs, organized crime, and violence? How have governments responded to combat crime and violence? What factors have fuelled the implementation of mano dura policies? Why are mano dura policies popular? What have the consequences of these policies been? Mano Dura Policies in Latin America is essential reading to students of Latin American studies, political science, public policy, and criminal justice. It will also interest scholars working on drug trafficking, organized crime, and violence in Latin America.

Product counterfeits and other brand infringements represent a growing and substantial risk to firms, consumers, and society. While policing such illicit activity is important, there is much that firms can do to protect themselves and their customers. Grounded in field research and practice, this book presents a total business solution approach to brand protection that enables firms to prevent infringement from occurring and respond efficiently when it does. This total business solution provides a framework for building and advancing brand protection programs that are strategic, comprehensive, and evidence based. Coupling perspectives and illustrations from several academic disciplines and industries, this book serves as a road map or blueprint for companies to develop and implement a proactive strategy to protect their brands. It serves as a guide to help firms continuously learn, innovate, and efficiently allocate resources in a way that maximizes brand protection performance. Graduate and executive education programs and scholars in business, law and criminal justice will benefit from adopting Brand Protection and the Global Risk of Product Counterfeits as course reading, research or a valued addition to their personal library. Brand protection practitioners in firms large and small, working in brand protection, security, supply chain, legal, quality assurance, packaging, C-suite, marketing, sales, and related areas will find this book essential in helping them develop a roadmap for establishing a robust brand protection program and take their existing brand protection to the next level of effectiveness and efficiency.

The death of Michael Brown at the hands of a white Ferguson police officer has uncovered an apparent legitimacy crisis at the heart of American policing. Some have claimed that de-policing may have led officers to become less proactive. How exactly has the policing of gangs and violence changed in the post-Ferguson era? This book explores this question, drawing on participant observation field notes and in-depth interviews with officers, offenders, practitioners, and community members in a Southern American state. As demands for police reform have once again come into focus following George Floyd's death, this crucial book informs future policing practice to promote effective crime prevention and gain public trust.

This book explores the manifold actual, possible and probable interconnections between gambling and crime in the context of the increased availability of wagering activities across many regions of the world. It examines the impact of the proliferation and propinquity of land-based betting establishments on crime, the role of organised crime in the provision of both licit and illicit forms of gambling, as well as problem gambling, crime and the administration of criminal justice. It also assesses the links between gambling, sport and corruption and the dimensions of crime that takes place in and around internet gambling sites. A thought-provoking study, this will be of particular interest to scholars in the fields of sociology, criminology and social policy.

The Joy of Stats offers a reader-friendly introduction to applied statistics and quantitative analysis in the social sciences and public policy. Perfect as an undergraduate text or self-study manual, it emphasizes how to understand concepts, interpret algorithms and formulas, analyze data, and answer research questions. This brand new edition offers examples and visualizations using real-life data, a revised discussion of statistical inference, and introductory examples in R and SPSS. The third edition has been extensively reorganized with shorter chapters and closer links between concepts and formulas, while retaining useful pedagogical features including key terms, practice exercises, a math refresher, and playful inserts on "the mathematical imagination." The Joy of Stats also places a strong emphasis on learning how to write and speak clearly about data results. Supported by a companion website with data sets and additional resources, The Joy of Stats is a superb choice for introducing students to applied statistics and for refreshing and reviewing stats as a social scientist, public policy professional, or community activist.

During the 1990's Boston was a world leader in arts, culture, higher education, and medicine. It was also a world leader in organized crime. In this exciting account, former FBI supervisory special agent David Nadolski tells the story of an unlikely alliance between two diametrically opposed people-the con and the FBI agent. While investigating a break-in at the Stone Library in Quincy, MA that houses the personal book collection of John Quincy Adams, the FBI gets a call from prison inmate, Anthony (Tony) Romano, requesting to meet with the case agent on the burglary. Romano provides a helpful tip that leads to the apprehension of the thief and the recovery of four priceless, historically significant books. Recognizing Tony's potential as an informant, Nadolski begins to cultivate a relationship in hopes of recruiting Romano as a criminal informant. Nadolski recruits Romano to play a very dangerous game-infiltrate the Merlino gang, controlled by Carmello Merlino, a career criminal who specialized in bank robberies, armored car robberies, and home invasions. The Merlino gang also became suspects in the largest art theft in history which took place at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston and remains unsolved to this day. Romano, a former armed robber, agrees. With sights set on the Loomis Fargo Armored Car Company money vault, located south of Boston, the Merlino gang gets to work. Little did they know, Romano, at great personal risk, was a wearing a wire and recording their planning sessions. After two years of being joined at the hip and learning to trust each other unconditionally, special agent Nadolski and Romano run a successful criminal investigation and undercover sting operation to catch four dangerous criminals poised to launch one of the biggest armed robberies of the twentieth century.

Organized crime in Mexico has been responsible for a worrying increase in violence in that country since Felipe Calderon assumed the presidency in 2006. The country's main criminal gangs are now a real challenge to the Mexican state. Government policies aimed at combating that threat have not been very successful to date. While it is certainly possible to exaggerate the threat posed by organized crime to the Mexican state, the real problems posed are serious enough. This book considers the issue from a variety of viewpoints. The essential argument is that the organized crime is best combated by institutional reforms directed at strengthening the rule of law and winning over public opinion rather than by a heavy reliance on armed force. Some such reforms have indeed taken place in Mexico, and are discussed in the book.

Psychology of Gang Involvement expands existing knowledge by applying psychological knowledge to gangs, including how gang members think, their mental and emotional well-being, and their perceptions of gang involvement, as well as issues relating to gang prevention and intervention strategies. This book offers readers a clearer understanding of the important role that social psychological processes play in the formation and maintenance of gangs and gang membership. It will enhance readers' understanding of gang members' social cognition, emotional intelligence, well-being, and mental health, as well as how these factors potentially promote and sustain individual gang involvement. Readers will discover also how these important psychological characteristics vary according to an individual's commitment to a gang. Organized in three sections, the first focuses on issues relevant to theoretical perspectives of gang involvement. Chapters include detailed examinations of a gang member's experiences and the implications of these for theoretical development, and considerations of the importance of social and psychological issues such as group processes and levels of commitment to gang membership to, understand and explain involvement in gangs. The second section centers on issues such as adverse childhood experiences and trauma, and examines their links to male and female gang membership as potential risk factors and outcomes of gang involvement. The section concludes by contemplating how the mental health, traumatic experiences, and involvement in violence compares between gang members and other violent men in adulthood. The final section considers current responses to gang membership by evaluating individual and group-based approaches to gang prevention and intervention strategies, and concludes with a theoretical conceptualization of how a strengths-based approach could work to reduce gang involvement. This book will be a useful text for a wide range of readers interested in, or working with gang members, including academics and students, practitioners, youth workers, clinicians, and criminal justice agents.

This book explores the complexities of drugs policy in Britain, contradicting the over simplified representation found in the public sphere. It focuses on developments in Britain since the Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971, covering debates at national level and local experiences set in international and European context, emphasizing the interconnectivity between people and countries in this global age. Several institutions and networks are examined to illustrate how they shape the policy process as vessels for ideas and interests and as spaces for individual action. MacGregor discusses arguments around drug policy reform, in particular the role of politicians, the media and advocacy organizations. Her aim is to encourage a more open and intelligent conversation on drugs policy and to question whether the institutional architecture in place is fit for purpose given the great increase of substances available and the underlying variety of conditions and interests currently competing for attention and resources. The is a must read for all scholars of Politics, Medicine and Social Science interested in the current debate raging around British Drug Policy.

In recent times, international society has countered a myriad of 'outlaw' threats at sea, including piracy, terrorism, the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the threat posed by 'rogue states'. Whilst the US has promoted 'coalitions of the willing' and sought to transform international maritime law in response to these 'outlaws', Japanese governments have developed an innovative maritime security strategy centering on the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). Concerned by Japan's international image as a former imperialist power, Tokyo has relied upon the identity of the JCG as a law enforcement and rescue organization to garner support for its maritime security strategy. Japan's non-military efforts have developed the capacities of states and built institutions in the Southeast Asian region and beyond. The JCG's response to maritime 'outlaws' belies characterizations of Japan as a passive state that does not contribute to international order.

This book provokes fresh ways of thinking about small developing States within the transnational legal order for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation (TAMLO). From the global wars on drugs and terror to journalistic exposes such as the 'Paradise', 'Panama' and 'Pandora' Papers, the Commonwealth Caribbean has been discursively stigmatised as a mythical island paradise of 'rogue' States. Not infrequently, their exercise of regulatory self-determination has been presented as the selling of their economic sovereignty to facilitate shady business deals and illicit finance from high-net-worth individuals, kleptocrats, tax-dodgers, organised crime networks and terrorist financiers. This book challenges conventional wisdom that Commonwealth Caribbean States are among the 'weakest links' within the global ecosystem to counter illicit finance. It achieves this by unmasking latent interests, and problematising coercive extraterritorial regulatory and surveillance practices, along the onshore/offshore and Global North/South axes. Interdisciplinary in its outlook, the book will appeal to policymakers, regulatory and supervisory authorities, academics and students concerned with better understanding legal and development policy issues related to risk-based regulatory governance of illicit finance. The book also provides an interesting exposition of substantive legal and policy issues arising from money laundering related to corruption and politically exposed persons, offshore finance, and offshore Internet gambling services.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is an important actor in the American gun debate. While popular explanations for the group's influence often focus on the NRA's lobbying and campaign donations, it receives lesser attention for the mass mobilization efforts that make these political endeavours possible. On Target explores why the NRA is so influential and how we can understand the group's impact on firearms policy in the United States. The book looks at how the NRA both draws upon and shapes historical meta-narratives regarding the role of firearms in America's national identity and how this is part of a larger effort to expand the community of gun owners. Noah S. Schwartz demonstrates how the NRA portrays a vision of the past through events such as its annual meeting; communications such as American Rifleman magazine and NRA TV; and points of contact including the National Firearms Museum. Based on fieldwork in Indiana and Virginia, including participant observation at NRA events and firearm safety classes, thematic analysis of audio-visual material, and interviews with NRA executives and members, On Target sheds light on the ways in which the NRA tells stories to build and mobilize a politically motivated network of gun owners.

Drawing from an interdisciplinary body of research and data, Women of Piracy employs a criminological lens to explore how women have been involved in, and impacted by, maritime piracy operations from the 16th century to present day piracy off the coast of Somalia. The book challenges and resists popular understandings of women as peripheral to the criminal enterprise of piracy by presenting and analyzing their roles and experiences as victims, perpetrators, and criminal justice actors, showing that women have been, and continue to be, central figures in maritime piracy. Unfolding in three parts, part one sets the context by providing readers with a history of the masculinization of the sea. Part two focuses on the gendered division of labor in piracy operations, discussing how and why the roles and responsibilities associated with this gendered labor have emerged, persisted, evolved, and/or ceased over time, as well as considering which roles and responsibilities appear to be context-specific and which seem to transgress geographical locations. Part three explores how women have (or have not) been brought to justice for their participation in crimes of piracy as well as the roles of women in efforts to combat piracy. The overarching objective is to ignite a broader discussion about the various cultural, social, historical, and economic forces that create opportunities for women to participate in maritime piracy and counter-piracy, why women continue to be invisible figures of piracy, and what implications this has for how we study, police, and bring pirates to justice. The first criminologically-grounded, global study exploring the continuity and evolution of women in maritime piracy, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, gender, feminist studies, international relations, anthropology, history, and political geography. It will also be useful to maritime and law enforcement professionals.

The 'ndrangheta - the Calabrian region of Italy's mafia - is one of wealthiest and most powerful criminal organizations today. It is considered Italy's most powerful mafia; it's not only the main object of concern for anti-mafia units in Italy, but also for joint investigative teams in Europe and beyond. Combining autobiography, travel ethnography, memoir, academic rigour and investigative journalism, this book provides a global outlook on the 'ndrangheta, taking the reader to small villages and locations in Italy and abroad to Australia, Canada, United States and Argentina.

Described by the National Crime Agency as a 'significant threat', county lines involve gangs recruiting vulnerable youth to sell drugs in provincial areas. This phenomenon has impacted local drug markets, increasing criminal activity and violence. Exploring how county lines evolve, Harding reveals extensive criminal exploitation and control in the daily 'grind' to sell drugs. Drawing upon extensive interviews and case studies, this timely book gives voice to users and dealers, providing an in-depth analysis of techniques, relationships and 'trapping'. With county lines now a critical issue for policing and government, this is an invaluable contribution to literature on gangs, youth violence and drugs.

Gangs are multifaceted and varied, so any attempt to understand them cannot be restricted to a singular approach. On Gangs provides a diverse and comprehensive survey of the available theories for understanding this social issue as well as the broad range of responses to it. The authors look at the many influences on gangs' operation, growth, prevention, and enforcement. The authors provide different criminological, psychological, and sociological approaches to gang studies, including interviews with past and current gang members. On Gangs presents the core issues for understanding gangs, including emerging topics like prison gangs, gender and gangs, and international gangs. There is also a focus on policing, legislation, and punishment. Weaving together research and policy findings to address the causes, contexts, and consequences of gangs, the authors address topics including joining, resisting, and leaving gangs, and how gangs operate in communities and institutions. An authoritative and sweeping tour of gang scholarship, On Gangs showcases the critical evidence-based solutions in prevention, enforcement, legislation, and intervention. The authors seek to answer the question: How do we effectively deal with gangs and gang membership?

Psychology of Gang Involvement expands existing knowledge by applying psychological knowledge to gangs, including how gang members think, their mental and emotional well-being, and their perceptions of gang involvement, as well as issues relating to gang prevention and intervention strategies. This book offers readers a clearer understanding of the important role that social psychological processes play in the formation and maintenance of gangs and gang membership. It will enhance readers' understanding of gang members' social cognition, emotional intelligence, well-being, and mental health, as well as how these factors potentially promote and sustain individual gang involvement. Readers will discover also how these important psychological characteristics vary according to an individual's commitment to a gang. Organized in three sections, the first focuses on issues relevant to theoretical perspectives of gang involvement. Chapters include detailed examinations of a gang member's experiences and the implications of these for theoretical development, and considerations of the importance of social and psychological issues such as group processes and levels of commitment to gang membership to, understand and explain involvement in gangs. The second section centers on issues such as adverse childhood experiences and trauma, and examines their links to male and female gang membership as potential risk factors and outcomes of gang involvement. The section concludes by contemplating how the mental health, traumatic experiences, and involvement in violence compares between gang members and other violent men in adulthood. The final section considers current responses to gang membership by evaluating individual and group-based approaches to gang prevention and intervention strategies, and concludes with a theoretical conceptualization of how a strengths-based approach could work to reduce gang involvement. This book will be a useful text for a wide range of readers interested in, or working with gang members, including academics and students, practitioners, youth workers, clinicians, and criminal justice agents.

Through analysis of data held by the National Crime Agency on organised crime groups, and in-depth analysis of qualitative interviews with convicted fraudsters and enforcement professionals, this detailed study fills a significant gap in the contemporary literature on organised crime groups involved in fraud. Throughout the chapters, the perspective of convicted offenders and those involved in its policing are juxtaposed to show the ease of committing fraud from the perspective of offenders on the one hand, and the investigative challenges experienced by law enforcement officers on the other. May and Bhardwa's insights shed light on offender motivations, routes into fraud and organised crime, and the nature and shape of organised crime groups and their operations. Alongside the offender perspective the law enforcement interviews provide a unique interpretation of the procedural and legislative weaknesses that appear to allow this type of offender to make considerable financial gain. The key recommendations based on empirical findings will greatly benefit those interested in understanding the links between fraud and organised crime in the UK and those seeking to improve enforcement efforts.

The Joy of Stats offers a reader-friendly introduction to applied statistics and quantitative analysis in the social sciences and public policy. Perfect as an undergraduate text or self-study manual, it emphasizes how to understand concepts, interpret algorithms and formulas, analyze data, and answer research questions. This brand new edition offers examples and visualizations using real-life data, a revised discussion of statistical inference, and introductory examples in R and SPSS. The third edition has been extensively reorganized with shorter chapters and closer links between concepts and formulas, while retaining useful pedagogical features including key terms, practice exercises, a math refresher, and playful inserts on "the mathematical imagination." The Joy of Stats also places a strong emphasis on learning how to write and speak clearly about data results. Supported by a companion website with data sets and additional resources, The Joy of Stats is a superb choice for introducing students to applied statistics and for refreshing and reviewing stats as a social scientist, public policy professional, or community activist.

Understanding Green Card Marriage Fraud explores personal accounts of participation in Green Card marriage fraud (GCMF), also known as 'cash-for-vows', by legal and illegal immigrants, U.S. citizens, and marriage fraud brokers. This book reveals the various roles played by the marriage fraud brokers and others who aid, abet, or otherwise act as accessories to GCMF. Additional details provide the reasons why people commit GCMF and the methods they use in order to deceive immigration officials. Today, Green Card marriage fraud has acquired new importance due to world upheavals and the plight of refugees. The division in American public opinion has become political football and has led to various changes in immigration policy, often depending on the occupant of the White House. The study of Green Card marriage fraud can serve as a microcosm of the federal government's involvement in crime control. The author puts Green Card marriage fraud in the context of current immigration policies, suggesting necessary policy reforms since current rules and procedures are ineffective in detecting such fraudulent marriages. In unraveling the mystique surrounding GCMF, the methods of crime control and migration control converge revealing the 'crimmigration phenomenon' with GCMF falling in the middle of this nexus.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio, this gripping true story of the origins of the Mafia in America follows the brilliant Italian-born detective who gave his life to stop it. Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand. The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand's lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the "Italian Sherlock Holmes," he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective, and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand's activities spread far beyond New York's borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country's anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino's quest to root out the source of the Black Hand's power would take him all the way to Sicily--but at a terrible cost. Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Hand is fast-paced narrative history at its very best.

Organised Crime and Law Enforcement: A Network Perspective examines organised crime and law enforcement through the conceptual lens of networks. The book takes stock of the many ways in which network theories and concepts, including social network analysis, can apply to studying both organised crime and law enforcement responses to organised crime. It is the first attempt to bring these diverse network perspectives and distinct fields of research together. The book is organised into two parts. The first part uses network perspectives to advance our understanding of the interconnected social structure of organised criminal groups, to expose their strengths and vulnerabilities, and to illuminate factors that enable such groups to undertake complex criminal activities. The second part uses a network lens to examine the challenges that organised criminal groups present for a wide range of law enforcement agencies, and the utility of network theories and concepts in understanding and informing their responses to organised crime. Written in a clear and direct style, the book will appeal to scholars and practitioners of criminology, sociology, law enforcement, and all those interested in learning more about theories of organised crime and its relationship with law enforcement.

This edited book addresses the issues of gun trafficking and gun violence across different regions of the world, including the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. It seeks to identify global key trends on gun trafficking and related violence and discuss different enforcement measures. Each chapter is written by teams of distinguished academics and/or experienced practitioners to include practitioner insights and policy proposals on issues related to gun violence and gun trafficking. Chapters offer an overview of violence and recent gun control debates in the regions, enumerate challenges, provide lessons learnt, and recommend policy solutions. An overview of the global small arms trade is provided at the beginning alongside a comparative analysis of common challenges and significant differences across the regions. This book speaks to those in Criminology, International Relations, Public Policy, International Security, Public health and Law, and to civil society organizations, think tanks, research centers, policy analysts and policy makers involved in gun control debates.

This initiating monograph provides the first thorough examination of the concept of white-collar crime online. Applying an offender-based perspective which considers the central role of convenience, it seeks to inform, improve and develop the current literature on cybercrime, whilst paying particular attention to its founding category within criminology. It argues that white-collar crime has receded from criminological perspectives on cybercrime in recent years and that a detailed, rich re-assessment of white-collar crime in contemporary digital societies is needed. Following a theoretical introduction, the book develops to discuss, inter alia, implications for corporate reputation, the various organizational roles utilized in mitigating external and internal threats, the unique considerations involved in law enforcement efforts, and likely future directions within the field. White-Collar Crime Online recognises the strong lineage and correlation that exists between the study of white-collar crime and cybercrime. Using convenience theory within a comparative analysis which includes case-studies, the book explores both European and American paradigms, perspectives and models to determine where white-collar crime exists within the contemporary workplace and how this might relate to the ongoing discourse on cybercrime. In doing so it revaluates criminological theory within the context of changing patterns of business, the workplace, social rules, systems of governance, decision making, social ordering and control. White-Collar Crime Online will speak to criminologists, sociologists and professionals; including those interested in cyber-security, economics, technology and computer science.