As spaces where local politics meet global market forces, freeports are becoming sites where new ... more As spaces where local politics meet global market forces, freeports are becoming sites where new political logics are developing. Alexandra Hall discusses this process and looks at the potential political consequences.
Drawing on original qualitative data this article analyses fluid and shifting notions of symbolic... more Drawing on original qualitative data this article analyses fluid and shifting notions of symbolic capital within the Pakistani diaspora in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. Focusing on the South Asian concept of izzat (honour/prestige) it is argued that the field of local symbolic prestige is adapting to the macro context laid down by consumer culture as its mechanisms permeate the structural, cultural and everyday lives of this transnational community. This is partially and differentially influencing forms of cultural and symbolic capital accumulation in the community, as evidenced by subtle and varied changes in the appropriation and exchange of izzat. Izzat is a phenomenon which has been centrally embedded within Pakistani cultures and societies for centuries. Our key argument is that the context and nature of izzat among the Pakistani transnational community studied are being significantly shaped and altered by the role of consumer culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, but that this simultaneously maps onto existing hierarchies and social differentiation within this transnational community, as well as contemporary discourse on and divisions over Muslim identity and piety.
The comparative effects of the compound granular organic fertilizer enriched with mineral compone... more The comparative effects of the compound granular organic fertilizer enriched with mineral components (CGOMF) and azophoska on the content of essential nutrients in the soil and the yield and oil content of sunflower seeds grown on ordinary chernozem in the southeastern region of the Central Chernozem Zone were studied.
Spatially designated economic zones render countries vulnerable to crime and harm, while simultan... more Spatially designated economic zones render countries vulnerable to crime and harm, while simultaneously diffusing and escalating these problems across the globe. Yet criminological analysis of special economic zones (SEZs) and similar areas remains limited. This article analyses the kinds of criminality and harm attached to such fiscal and commodity enclaves. Our analysis begins with the history of SEZs. We then offer a typology of related harms: 1. illicit trade; 2. the protection of wealth holdings; and 3. environmental harm. Our closing theoretical discussion suggests how the expansion of economic strategies involving SEZs is generative of new and complex forms of harm and crime embedded in the spatial architecture of the global economy.
Purpose Internet use has changed the mechanics of drug dealing. Although this has spurred some in... more Purpose Internet use has changed the mechanics of drug dealing. Although this has spurred some initial academic interest in how markets and their users have been changing, the issue is still under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the organisation of the distribution of prescription drugs and other illegal drugs overlap in these online markets by analysing data gathered from observation of the Swedish Facebook drug market and its participants. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered during three months of digital ethnography conducted among Swedish Facebook posters supplemented by 25 interviews with sellers (20) and buyers (5). Screenshots and interview data were coded by carrying out an NVivo-based content analysis. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics of drug types, co-occurrence with other drugs, group size and the demographic characteristics of sellers. Additionally, the interviewees’ descriptions of the marketplace and their drug deali...
Counterfeit goods fraud is stated to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the world. Acade... more Counterfeit goods fraud is stated to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the world. Academic work examining the flows of counterfeit goods is beginning to build momentum. However, work analysing the financial mechanisms that enable the trade has been less forthcoming. This is despite the fact that over the last two decades official and media discourses have paid increasing attention to 'organised crime' finances in general. Based on an exploratory study that brought together academic researchers and law enforcement practitioners from the UK's National Trading Standards, the aim of the current article is to offer an account of the financial management in the counterfeit goods trade. Focusing on tangible goods, the article addresses the ways in which capital is secured to allow counterfeiting businesses to be initiated and sustained, how entrepreneurs and customers settle payments, and how profits from the business are spent and invested. The study covers the UK in the broader context of what is a distinctly transnational trade.
This paper provides an introduction to the articles and report excerpts included in the special i... more This paper provides an introduction to the articles and report excerpts included in the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on ‘Counterfeiting’. The aim of this special issue is to add to the relatively sparse literature currently available that addresses this expansive and complex criminological phenomenon. In particular, the special issue draws together empirical research findings and theoretical accounts on the organization of the counterfeit trade across a broad spectrum of goods, and highlights a number of issues associated with researching counterfeiting.
The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial as... more The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial aspects of organised crime. The analysis explores topics such as the sources and mechanisms for financing organised crime, settlement of payments, access to financing in critical moments, costs of business and the management of profits. Drawing on the results of the analysis, the report also suggests possible new approaches to tackling organised crime. The report has been produced with the joint efforts of the Center for the Study of Democracy, the University of Trento and Teesside University and in close collaboration with the State Agency National Security in Bulgaria, the State Police in Latvia and the French National Institute for Advanced Studies in Security and Justice.
You can check this and other editions of HED Matters here: https://humanenhancementdrugs.com/hed-... more You can check this and other editions of HED Matters here: https://humanenhancementdrugs.com/hed-matters/
Ethnography has a long and vibrant history in criminology. Whilst it may not be the most widespre... more Ethnography has a long and vibrant history in criminology. Whilst it may not be the most widespread methodology in the discipline, the immersive cultural lens offered by the ethnographic approach has produced some of the twentieth century's most illuminating and memorable in-depth accounts of crime and crime control. Ethnography was initially established by anthropologists to explore cultural groups by observing and engaging with them in their local environments over an extended period of time. However, ethnography must now confront the multi-sited, digital and mobile nature of social, cultural and economic life. To come to terms with this shift the ethnographer must now look beyond the traditional local research site to global, transnational and virtual spaces. As a result, the use of digital ethnography, which is basically traditional ethnographic methods modified to interact with online communities and environments, has steadily increased in anthropology and the social sciences.
Hall, A. & Antonopoulos, GA. (forthcoming) ‘The (Online) Supply of Lifestyle Medicines: A Crimino... more Hall, A. & Antonopoulos, GA. (forthcoming) ‘The (Online) Supply of Lifestyle Medicines: A Criminological Study’, in Van de Ven, K, Mulrooney, K. & McVeigh, J. (eds.) Human Enhancement Drugs. London: Routledge.
It is widely argued that the trade in illicit pharmaceutical drugs is a growing and underestimated criminological phenomenon, especially in the context of the ever-expanding market reach presented by the Internet. However, this extensive and ultimately life-threatening online market is under-researched by criminologists. Drawing on the results of an innovative interdisciplinary project exploring the online trade in illicit medicines, this chapter focuses on the supply of illicit lifestyle medicines – or enhancement drugs – in the United Kingdom. The aim is to offer an empirically-grounded social scientific analysis of the nature and dynamics of the trade. The discussion covers the online sites marketing and advertising illicit lifestyle drugs, the channels and networks of production and distribution, and the illicit suppliers and their social organisation. As the argument unfolds the analysis centres on the rise of the Internet as one factor working in conjunction with the non-digital in a dynamic way, along with a variety of interacting transnational structures and processes, to enable the supply of illicit lifestyle drugs in the UK.
Pre-production copy of Hall, A. (2019) ‘Writing Up and Presenting Criminological Research’, in Da... more Pre-production copy of Hall, A. (2019) ‘Writing Up and Presenting Criminological Research’, in Davies, P. and Francis, P. Doing Criminological Research (Third Edition). London: Sage Publications.
Forthcoming chapter for the edited collection Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisu... more Forthcoming chapter for the edited collection Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisure and Harm.
Full reference: Hall, A. (forthcoming) ‘Lifestyle Drugs and Late Capitalism: A Topography of Harm, in Smith, O. & Raymen, T. (eds.) Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisure and Harm. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
It has been widely suggested that the global market in counterfeit, falsified and illegally trade... more It has been widely suggested that the global market in counterfeit, falsified and illegally traded medicines has expanded at a tremendous rate in recent years, offering lucrative opportunities for criminal entrepreneurs with little legal risk. However, with a few exceptions, there has been little criminological research conducted on the trade’s actors and organisation. Of the few studies that are available, most position the supply of these products in the context of ‘transnational organised crime’, often presupposing the overwhelming presence of large-scale, hierarchical structures in the trade. This article, based on two extensive research projects in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, offers an account of the illicit supply of medicines in two European jurisdictions. The research outlines the nature and dynamics of the trade including the roles played by each national context as nodes in the global supply chain. The focus then shifts to the modus operandi, actors, online trade and social organisation in both countries. In contradistinction to the ‘transnational organised crime’ narrative, the empirical data outlined in this paper demonstrates that actors and networks involved in the trade are highly flexible and complex structures that straddle the categories of licit and illicit, online and offline, and global and local. This suggests that operations supplying illicit medicines vary largely in terms of size, reach, organisation and legality.
Anabolic-androgenic steroids are performance and image enhancing drugs (PIED) that can improve en... more Anabolic-androgenic steroids are performance and image enhancing drugs (PIED) that can improve endurance and athletic performance, reduce body fat and stimulate muscle growth. The use of steroids has been studied extensively in the medical and psychological literature, as well as in the sociology of sport, health and masculinity. From the late 2000s, the worldwide trade in steroids increased significantly. However, trafficking in steroids remains a largely under researched criminological phenomenon with a few notable exceptions. Currently in the UK there are only small and fragmented pieces of information available relating to steroids trafficking in autobiographical accounts of professional criminals. Drawing on original empirical data, the purpose of this article is to provide an account of the social organization of the steroids trafficking business in the UK. The trade in steroids is decentralized, highly flexible with no hierarchies, and open to anyone willing to either order the merchandise online or travel to producing countries and obtain steroids in bulk from legitimate manufacturers. The patterns of trafficking of this specific type of substance are patently conditioned by its embeddedness in the gym/bodybuilding scene and this greatly affects relations between actors in the business. In the steroids market, one typically encounters a multitude of individuals likely to drift between legality and illegality, online and offline, use and supply.
This article offers detailed preliminary data and analysis that focuses specifically on the struc... more This article offers detailed preliminary data and analysis that focuses specifically on the structures, actors and, most importantly, financial management of the UK cocaine market. Over a five month period we gained access and conducted in-depth interviews with four active criminal entrepreneurs involved in powder cocaine supply in the UK . Bearing in mind they were active in the market at the time of interview, and were accessed via the first author’s personal network without any connection to an institutional setting, the research provides valuable in-depth accounts that shed light on some of the financial aspects of the cocaine market in ways that might have been more difficult to capture if the entrepreneurs had been accessed via the criminal justice system (e.g. Matrix Knowledge Group, 2007) or drug treatment facilities (e.g. Moyle and Coomber, 2015). Furthermore, alongside a review of relevant literature and open sources, in-depth interviews were undertaken with a range of experts with knowledge of the cocaine market to offer richer empirical evidence and analysis. These experts included law enforcement agents from the Police, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK Border Force and the National Crime Agency (NCA), as well as independent academics/researchers who have researched the cocaine market in the UK and internationally.
Over the last two decades official and media discourses have paid increasing attention to the pro... more Over the last two decades official and media discourses have paid increasing attention to the proceeds of ‘organized crime’. However, although there is a relatively sound understanding of finance-related issues in the drug markets, not much is known about other illegal markets. Drawing on a diverse set of original empirical data, including interviews with active criminal entrepreneurs involved in the trade, this article provides an account of the financial management of the illicit tobacco business in the United Kingdom. The study has two main objectives. First, to increase knowledge on the financial management of ‘organized crime’ by using the illegal tobacco trade in the United Kingdom as a case study and second, to further knowledge of the trade’s social organization. The findings suggest a critical departure from the discourses on ‘organized crime’ and crime money.
It is estimated that the ‘fake’ medicine trade has increased by 90 per cent since 2005. This expa... more It is estimated that the ‘fake’ medicine trade has increased by 90 per cent since 2005. This expansion has been particularly apparent in the context of the facilitating role played by the Internet. However, despite resultant criminal profits and social harms, the illegal online trade of medicines has received little scholarly attention, and research and preventative action remain largely ineffective. The aims of the present chapter are two-fold. At the empirical level, this chapter is an original attempt to provide an account of the tactics and methods illegal entrepreneurs employ in order to, on the one hand, market illicit medicines online and, on the other hand, avoid being detected by law enforcements agencies and health regulatory authorities. At the analytical level, we aim to locate the illegal entrepreneurs’ tactics in the wider mutating criminal landscape, which is influenced by various social and economic changes.
As spaces where local politics meet global market forces, freeports are becoming sites where new ... more As spaces where local politics meet global market forces, freeports are becoming sites where new political logics are developing. Alexandra Hall discusses this process and looks at the potential political consequences.
Drawing on original qualitative data this article analyses fluid and shifting notions of symbolic... more Drawing on original qualitative data this article analyses fluid and shifting notions of symbolic capital within the Pakistani diaspora in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. Focusing on the South Asian concept of izzat (honour/prestige) it is argued that the field of local symbolic prestige is adapting to the macro context laid down by consumer culture as its mechanisms permeate the structural, cultural and everyday lives of this transnational community. This is partially and differentially influencing forms of cultural and symbolic capital accumulation in the community, as evidenced by subtle and varied changes in the appropriation and exchange of izzat. Izzat is a phenomenon which has been centrally embedded within Pakistani cultures and societies for centuries. Our key argument is that the context and nature of izzat among the Pakistani transnational community studied are being significantly shaped and altered by the role of consumer culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, but that this simultaneously maps onto existing hierarchies and social differentiation within this transnational community, as well as contemporary discourse on and divisions over Muslim identity and piety.
The comparative effects of the compound granular organic fertilizer enriched with mineral compone... more The comparative effects of the compound granular organic fertilizer enriched with mineral components (CGOMF) and azophoska on the content of essential nutrients in the soil and the yield and oil content of sunflower seeds grown on ordinary chernozem in the southeastern region of the Central Chernozem Zone were studied.
Spatially designated economic zones render countries vulnerable to crime and harm, while simultan... more Spatially designated economic zones render countries vulnerable to crime and harm, while simultaneously diffusing and escalating these problems across the globe. Yet criminological analysis of special economic zones (SEZs) and similar areas remains limited. This article analyses the kinds of criminality and harm attached to such fiscal and commodity enclaves. Our analysis begins with the history of SEZs. We then offer a typology of related harms: 1. illicit trade; 2. the protection of wealth holdings; and 3. environmental harm. Our closing theoretical discussion suggests how the expansion of economic strategies involving SEZs is generative of new and complex forms of harm and crime embedded in the spatial architecture of the global economy.
Purpose Internet use has changed the mechanics of drug dealing. Although this has spurred some in... more Purpose Internet use has changed the mechanics of drug dealing. Although this has spurred some initial academic interest in how markets and their users have been changing, the issue is still under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the organisation of the distribution of prescription drugs and other illegal drugs overlap in these online markets by analysing data gathered from observation of the Swedish Facebook drug market and its participants. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered during three months of digital ethnography conducted among Swedish Facebook posters supplemented by 25 interviews with sellers (20) and buyers (5). Screenshots and interview data were coded by carrying out an NVivo-based content analysis. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics of drug types, co-occurrence with other drugs, group size and the demographic characteristics of sellers. Additionally, the interviewees’ descriptions of the marketplace and their drug deali...
Counterfeit goods fraud is stated to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the world. Acade... more Counterfeit goods fraud is stated to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the world. Academic work examining the flows of counterfeit goods is beginning to build momentum. However, work analysing the financial mechanisms that enable the trade has been less forthcoming. This is despite the fact that over the last two decades official and media discourses have paid increasing attention to 'organised crime' finances in general. Based on an exploratory study that brought together academic researchers and law enforcement practitioners from the UK's National Trading Standards, the aim of the current article is to offer an account of the financial management in the counterfeit goods trade. Focusing on tangible goods, the article addresses the ways in which capital is secured to allow counterfeiting businesses to be initiated and sustained, how entrepreneurs and customers settle payments, and how profits from the business are spent and invested. The study covers the UK in the broader context of what is a distinctly transnational trade.
This paper provides an introduction to the articles and report excerpts included in the special i... more This paper provides an introduction to the articles and report excerpts included in the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on ‘Counterfeiting’. The aim of this special issue is to add to the relatively sparse literature currently available that addresses this expansive and complex criminological phenomenon. In particular, the special issue draws together empirical research findings and theoretical accounts on the organization of the counterfeit trade across a broad spectrum of goods, and highlights a number of issues associated with researching counterfeiting.
The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial as... more The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial aspects of organised crime. The analysis explores topics such as the sources and mechanisms for financing organised crime, settlement of payments, access to financing in critical moments, costs of business and the management of profits. Drawing on the results of the analysis, the report also suggests possible new approaches to tackling organised crime. The report has been produced with the joint efforts of the Center for the Study of Democracy, the University of Trento and Teesside University and in close collaboration with the State Agency National Security in Bulgaria, the State Police in Latvia and the French National Institute for Advanced Studies in Security and Justice.
You can check this and other editions of HED Matters here: https://humanenhancementdrugs.com/hed-... more You can check this and other editions of HED Matters here: https://humanenhancementdrugs.com/hed-matters/
Ethnography has a long and vibrant history in criminology. Whilst it may not be the most widespre... more Ethnography has a long and vibrant history in criminology. Whilst it may not be the most widespread methodology in the discipline, the immersive cultural lens offered by the ethnographic approach has produced some of the twentieth century's most illuminating and memorable in-depth accounts of crime and crime control. Ethnography was initially established by anthropologists to explore cultural groups by observing and engaging with them in their local environments over an extended period of time. However, ethnography must now confront the multi-sited, digital and mobile nature of social, cultural and economic life. To come to terms with this shift the ethnographer must now look beyond the traditional local research site to global, transnational and virtual spaces. As a result, the use of digital ethnography, which is basically traditional ethnographic methods modified to interact with online communities and environments, has steadily increased in anthropology and the social sciences.
Hall, A. & Antonopoulos, GA. (forthcoming) ‘The (Online) Supply of Lifestyle Medicines: A Crimino... more Hall, A. & Antonopoulos, GA. (forthcoming) ‘The (Online) Supply of Lifestyle Medicines: A Criminological Study’, in Van de Ven, K, Mulrooney, K. & McVeigh, J. (eds.) Human Enhancement Drugs. London: Routledge.
It is widely argued that the trade in illicit pharmaceutical drugs is a growing and underestimated criminological phenomenon, especially in the context of the ever-expanding market reach presented by the Internet. However, this extensive and ultimately life-threatening online market is under-researched by criminologists. Drawing on the results of an innovative interdisciplinary project exploring the online trade in illicit medicines, this chapter focuses on the supply of illicit lifestyle medicines – or enhancement drugs – in the United Kingdom. The aim is to offer an empirically-grounded social scientific analysis of the nature and dynamics of the trade. The discussion covers the online sites marketing and advertising illicit lifestyle drugs, the channels and networks of production and distribution, and the illicit suppliers and their social organisation. As the argument unfolds the analysis centres on the rise of the Internet as one factor working in conjunction with the non-digital in a dynamic way, along with a variety of interacting transnational structures and processes, to enable the supply of illicit lifestyle drugs in the UK.
Pre-production copy of Hall, A. (2019) ‘Writing Up and Presenting Criminological Research’, in Da... more Pre-production copy of Hall, A. (2019) ‘Writing Up and Presenting Criminological Research’, in Davies, P. and Francis, P. Doing Criminological Research (Third Edition). London: Sage Publications.
Forthcoming chapter for the edited collection Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisu... more Forthcoming chapter for the edited collection Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisure and Harm.
Full reference: Hall, A. (forthcoming) ‘Lifestyle Drugs and Late Capitalism: A Topography of Harm, in Smith, O. & Raymen, T. (eds.) Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisure and Harm. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
It has been widely suggested that the global market in counterfeit, falsified and illegally trade... more It has been widely suggested that the global market in counterfeit, falsified and illegally traded medicines has expanded at a tremendous rate in recent years, offering lucrative opportunities for criminal entrepreneurs with little legal risk. However, with a few exceptions, there has been little criminological research conducted on the trade’s actors and organisation. Of the few studies that are available, most position the supply of these products in the context of ‘transnational organised crime’, often presupposing the overwhelming presence of large-scale, hierarchical structures in the trade. This article, based on two extensive research projects in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, offers an account of the illicit supply of medicines in two European jurisdictions. The research outlines the nature and dynamics of the trade including the roles played by each national context as nodes in the global supply chain. The focus then shifts to the modus operandi, actors, online trade and social organisation in both countries. In contradistinction to the ‘transnational organised crime’ narrative, the empirical data outlined in this paper demonstrates that actors and networks involved in the trade are highly flexible and complex structures that straddle the categories of licit and illicit, online and offline, and global and local. This suggests that operations supplying illicit medicines vary largely in terms of size, reach, organisation and legality.
Anabolic-androgenic steroids are performance and image enhancing drugs (PIED) that can improve en... more Anabolic-androgenic steroids are performance and image enhancing drugs (PIED) that can improve endurance and athletic performance, reduce body fat and stimulate muscle growth. The use of steroids has been studied extensively in the medical and psychological literature, as well as in the sociology of sport, health and masculinity. From the late 2000s, the worldwide trade in steroids increased significantly. However, trafficking in steroids remains a largely under researched criminological phenomenon with a few notable exceptions. Currently in the UK there are only small and fragmented pieces of information available relating to steroids trafficking in autobiographical accounts of professional criminals. Drawing on original empirical data, the purpose of this article is to provide an account of the social organization of the steroids trafficking business in the UK. The trade in steroids is decentralized, highly flexible with no hierarchies, and open to anyone willing to either order the merchandise online or travel to producing countries and obtain steroids in bulk from legitimate manufacturers. The patterns of trafficking of this specific type of substance are patently conditioned by its embeddedness in the gym/bodybuilding scene and this greatly affects relations between actors in the business. In the steroids market, one typically encounters a multitude of individuals likely to drift between legality and illegality, online and offline, use and supply.
This article offers detailed preliminary data and analysis that focuses specifically on the struc... more This article offers detailed preliminary data and analysis that focuses specifically on the structures, actors and, most importantly, financial management of the UK cocaine market. Over a five month period we gained access and conducted in-depth interviews with four active criminal entrepreneurs involved in powder cocaine supply in the UK . Bearing in mind they were active in the market at the time of interview, and were accessed via the first author’s personal network without any connection to an institutional setting, the research provides valuable in-depth accounts that shed light on some of the financial aspects of the cocaine market in ways that might have been more difficult to capture if the entrepreneurs had been accessed via the criminal justice system (e.g. Matrix Knowledge Group, 2007) or drug treatment facilities (e.g. Moyle and Coomber, 2015). Furthermore, alongside a review of relevant literature and open sources, in-depth interviews were undertaken with a range of experts with knowledge of the cocaine market to offer richer empirical evidence and analysis. These experts included law enforcement agents from the Police, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK Border Force and the National Crime Agency (NCA), as well as independent academics/researchers who have researched the cocaine market in the UK and internationally.
Over the last two decades official and media discourses have paid increasing attention to the pro... more Over the last two decades official and media discourses have paid increasing attention to the proceeds of ‘organized crime’. However, although there is a relatively sound understanding of finance-related issues in the drug markets, not much is known about other illegal markets. Drawing on a diverse set of original empirical data, including interviews with active criminal entrepreneurs involved in the trade, this article provides an account of the financial management of the illicit tobacco business in the United Kingdom. The study has two main objectives. First, to increase knowledge on the financial management of ‘organized crime’ by using the illegal tobacco trade in the United Kingdom as a case study and second, to further knowledge of the trade’s social organization. The findings suggest a critical departure from the discourses on ‘organized crime’ and crime money.
It is estimated that the ‘fake’ medicine trade has increased by 90 per cent since 2005. This expa... more It is estimated that the ‘fake’ medicine trade has increased by 90 per cent since 2005. This expansion has been particularly apparent in the context of the facilitating role played by the Internet. However, despite resultant criminal profits and social harms, the illegal online trade of medicines has received little scholarly attention, and research and preventative action remain largely ineffective. The aims of the present chapter are two-fold. At the empirical level, this chapter is an original attempt to provide an account of the tactics and methods illegal entrepreneurs employ in order to, on the one hand, market illicit medicines online and, on the other hand, avoid being detected by law enforcements agencies and health regulatory authorities. At the analytical level, we aim to locate the illegal entrepreneurs’ tactics in the wider mutating criminal landscape, which is influenced by various social and economic changes.
The trade in counterfeit goods is growing and is increasingly linked to transnational organised c... more The trade in counterfeit goods is growing and is increasingly linked to transnational organised crime. But little is known about the financial mechanisms that lie behind this trade. This is the first account of the financial management of the counterfeiting business. Written by experts in a wide range of fields, it examines the financial and business structures in relation to the illicit trade in counterfeit products. Based on interviews with active criminal entrepreneurs in the UK and abroad and other data, the authors explore ‘organised crime’ and mutating criminal markets, digital technologies and their criminological and sociological implications, and cultural values and practices. This book will make a significant contribution to our understanding of these timely issues.
The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial as... more The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial aspects of organised crime. The analysis explores topics such as the sources and mechanisms for financing organised crime, settlement of payments, access to financing in critical moments, costs of business and the management of profits. Drawing on the results of the analysis, the report also suggests possible new approaches to tackling organised crime. The report has been produced with the joint efforts of the Center for the Study of Democracy, the University of Trento and Teesside University and in close collaboration with the State Agency National Security in Bulgaria, the State Police in Latvia and the French National Institute for Advanced Studies in Security and Justice.
Interpol IRACM -The International Institute of Research against Counterfeit Medicines LegitScript... more Interpol IRACM -The International Institute of Research against Counterfeit Medicines LegitScript 02 eCRIME RESEARCH REPORTS eCrime Research Reports No. 02 FAKECARE Developing expertise against the online trade of fake medicines by producing and disseminating knowledge, counterstrategies and tools across the EU Andrea Di Nicola (scientific coordinator) Elisa Martini (project manager) Gabriele Baratto (vice project manager)
This book provides a timely criminological investigation into the rapidly growing sale of fake me... more This book provides a timely criminological investigation into the rapidly growing sale of fake medicines online. Some estimates suggest that the fake medicine trade has now overtaken marijuana and prostitution as the world's largest market for criminal traffickers. This increase has been particularly apparent in the context of various evolutionary phases in information and communications technologies, and the Internet now acts as the main avenue through which this criminal market is expanding. Thus far – despite growing concern and media attention – this extensive, extremely profitable, and ultimately life-threatening online market is yet to be fully explored. Drawing on the authors' own criminological investigation of both the supply and demand sides in the United Kingdom, this study offers the first in-depth and empirically-grounded analysis of the online trade in illicit medicines. Founded on rigorous research, and bolstering a rich area for debate, this book will be of particular interest for scholars of criminology, drugs and technology studies.
Uploads
Papers by Alexandra Hall
It is widely argued that the trade in illicit pharmaceutical drugs is a growing and underestimated criminological phenomenon, especially in the context of the ever-expanding market reach presented by the Internet. However, this extensive and ultimately life-threatening online market is under-researched by criminologists. Drawing on the results of an innovative interdisciplinary project exploring the online trade in illicit medicines, this chapter focuses on the supply of illicit lifestyle medicines – or enhancement drugs – in the United Kingdom. The aim is to offer an empirically-grounded social scientific analysis of the nature and dynamics of the trade. The discussion covers the online sites marketing and advertising illicit lifestyle drugs, the channels and networks of production and distribution, and the illicit suppliers and their social organisation. As the argument unfolds the analysis centres on the rise of the Internet as one factor working in conjunction with the non-digital in a dynamic way, along with a variety of interacting transnational structures and processes, to enable the supply of illicit lifestyle drugs in the UK.
Full reference: Hall, A. (forthcoming) ‘Lifestyle Drugs and Late Capitalism: A Topography of Harm, in Smith, O. & Raymen, T. (eds.) Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisure and Harm. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
It is widely argued that the trade in illicit pharmaceutical drugs is a growing and underestimated criminological phenomenon, especially in the context of the ever-expanding market reach presented by the Internet. However, this extensive and ultimately life-threatening online market is under-researched by criminologists. Drawing on the results of an innovative interdisciplinary project exploring the online trade in illicit medicines, this chapter focuses on the supply of illicit lifestyle medicines – or enhancement drugs – in the United Kingdom. The aim is to offer an empirically-grounded social scientific analysis of the nature and dynamics of the trade. The discussion covers the online sites marketing and advertising illicit lifestyle drugs, the channels and networks of production and distribution, and the illicit suppliers and their social organisation. As the argument unfolds the analysis centres on the rise of the Internet as one factor working in conjunction with the non-digital in a dynamic way, along with a variety of interacting transnational structures and processes, to enable the supply of illicit lifestyle drugs in the UK.
Full reference: Hall, A. (forthcoming) ‘Lifestyle Drugs and Late Capitalism: A Topography of Harm, in Smith, O. & Raymen, T. (eds.) Deviant Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Leisure and Harm. London: Palgrave Macmillan.