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Latin American women play a key role in the international cocaine business as couriers or mules. Beginning from theoretical perspectives that explain the relationship between criminality and gender, we analyze why women without a criminal background become criminals, how they become involved in trafficking, their positions and functions in the criminal organization, and the risks and benefits of their participation. Qualitative fieldwork was carried out based on in-depth interviews with fifty-one female inmates and twenty members of prison staff from nine Spanish prisons. A thematic analysis has been carried out based on this data. The results reveal that the prevalent profile among Latin women traffickers is that of heads of household. There is a relationship between their social and geographical contexts of origin and cocaine trafficking, which determines their criminal behavior. They occupy the most exposed and lowest-paid positions in the criminal structure. We found through their discourses, how they are recruited, how they transport cocaine and the money they obtain. We conclude that cocaine trafficking is a resource that women use to escape situations of exclusion and that allows them to avoid other options, such as prostitution and migration. Despite the risks of trafficking, the economic benefits they obtain from it leads them to commit the crime. Keywords: Latin American women inmates, Mules, Criminal behavior, Drug trafficking, Introduction and Background Women's criminology is an underdeveloped field compared to male criminology (Campbell 2008). Starting in the 1970s and taking place mainly in the 1980s, new approaches on female [...]

OBJECTIVES: Street-involved youth are highly vulnerable to violence. While involvement in income-generating activities within illicit drug scenes is recognized as shaping youths' vulnerability to violence, the relative contributions of different income-generating activities remain understudied. We sought to examine the independent effects of drug dealing and sex work on experiencing violence among street-involved youth. METHODS: Data were derived from a prospective cohort of street-involved youth aged 14-26 who used drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia, between September 2005 and May 2014. Multivariable generalized estimating equations were used to examine the impact of involvement in drug dealing and sex work on experiencing violence. RESULTS: Among 1,152 participants, including 364 (31.6%) women, 740 (64.2%) reported having experienced violence at some point during the study period. In multivariable analysis, involvement in drug dealing but not sex work remained independently associated with experiencing violence among females (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-1.90) and males (AOR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.25- 1.80), while involvement in sex work only was not associated with violence among females (AOR: 1.15; 95% CI: 0.76-1.74) or males (AOR: 1.42; 95% CI: 0.81-2.48). CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that involvement in drug dealing is a major factor associated with experiencing violence among our sample. In addition to conventional interventions, such as addiction treatment, novel approaches are needed to reduce the risk of violence for drug-using youth who are actively engaged in drug dealing. The potential for low-threshold employment and decriminalization of drug use to mitigate violence warrants further study. KEY WORDS: Drug abuse; drug trafficking; sex workers; violence; homeless youth OBJECTIFS : Les jeunes de la rue sont tres vulnerables a la violence. On reconnait que la participation a des activites generatrices de revenus dans le monde de la drogue influence la vulnerabilite des jeunes a la violence, mais la contribution relative de diverses activites generatrices de revenus demeure sous-etudiee. Nous avons voulu examiner les effets independants du trafic de stupefiants et du travail du sexe sur l'experience de la violence chez les jeunes de la rue. METHODE : Nos donnees ont ete obtenues aupres d'une cohorte prospective de jeunes de la rue de 14 a 26 ans consommant de la drogue a Vancouver (Colombie-Britannique) entre septembre 2005 et mai 2014. Des equations d'estimation generalisees multivariees ont servi a examiner l'impact de la participation au trafic de stupefiants et au travail du sexe sur l'experience de la violence. RESULTATS : Sur les 1 152 participants, dont 364 femmes (31,6%), 740 (64,2%) ont declare avoir connu la violence durant la periode de l'etude. Selon l'analyse multivariee, la participation au trafic de stupefiants mais non au travail du sexe restait independamment associee a l'experience de la violence chez les femmes (rapport de cotes ajuste [RCa] : 1,43; intervalle de confiance de 95% [IC] : 1,08-1,90) et les hommes (RCa : 1,50; IC de 95% : 1,25-1,80), tandis que la participation au travail du sexe seulement n'etait associee a la violence ni chez les femmes (RCa : 1,15; IC de 95% : 0,76-1,74), ni chez les hommes (RCa : 1,42; IC de 95% : 0,81-2,48). CONCLUSION : Ces constatations indiquent que la participation au trafic de stupefiants est un important facteur associe a l'experience de la violence dans notre echantillon. En plus d'interventions classiques comme le traitement des toxicomanies, il faudrait des approches novatrices pour reduire le risque de violence chez les jeunes qui consomment de la drogue et qui sont activement impliques dans le trafic des stupefiants. La possibilite que les emplois faiblement qualifies et la decriminalisation de la consommation de drogue attenuent la violence meriterait d'etre etudiee davantage. MOTS CLES : abus de drogue; trafic de stupefiants; travailleuses ou travailleurs du sexe; violence; jeunes sans abri La traduction du resume se trouve a la fin de l'article. Can J Public Health 2016;107(1):e88-e93 doi: 10.17269/CJPH.107.5219, Typically unstably housed, street-involved youth are vulnerable to an array of health-related harms, including violence and the associated adverse health consequences. (1) The number of street-involved youth in Canada has [...]

Mexico has undergone major changes over the past two decades, as its political system shifted from one dominated by a single official party to a highly competitive democracy, and its [...]

A dramatic increase in criminal violence in Mexico since 2007 has resulted in an estimated 60,000–70,000 “additional” homicides, often of an especially brutal form, related to drug trafficking and other organized-crime activities. This violence has been accompanied by a steep increase in rates of kidnapping and extortion and has targeted participants in the narcotics trade as well as government officials, journalists, and civil society activists. Despite the magnitude of the violence and enormous public concern about it, scholarly literature on this topic has been scant. This issue offers some of the most promising analyses conducted thus far on the trends in violence and their causes, focusing largely, though not exclusively, on the role Mexico’s government has played in the business of illegal drugs and the violence that accompanies it. In this introduction, we discuss the challenge of deriving reliable statistics on drug-related violence, its spatial and temporal patterns, prevailing explanations, its relationship to organized crime in general, and differences between this violence and substate political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are some territories ravaged by intense levels of criminal violence while others are relatively peaceful? This research contributes to an understanding of the escalation and diffusion of drug violence in Mexico from 2000 to 2010 by formalizing the interactions between the state and organized criminals and by relying on a large database of event data containing more than 1.6 million observations. Results based on spatial econometrics provide evidence of the spatial diffusion of violence. In congruence with the theoretical expectations, the results show that the disruptive effect of law enforcement is an important catalyst for the intensification of violence between criminal organizations, especially when deployed in areas hosting a high concentration of criminal groups. This relationship holds for a broad menu of violent and nonviolent law enforcement tactics. The analysis also reveals that other broadly held factors (international, geographic, and socioeconomic characteristics) have a modest effect on the dynamics of drug-related violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence is commonly viewed as an inherent attribute of the drug trade. Yet, there is dramatic variation in drug violence within countries afflicted by drug trafficking. This article advances a novel framework that explains how the interaction between two critical variables, the cohesion of the state security apparatus, and the competition in the illegal market determines traffickers’ incentives to employ violence. The analysis introduces a generally overlooked dimension of violence, its visibility. Visibility refers to whether traffickers publicly expose their use of violence or claim responsibility for their attacks. Drawing on fieldwork in five cities in Colombia and Mexico (Cali, Medellin, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, and Tijuana), 175 interviews, and a new data set on drug violence, I argue that violence becomes visible and frequent when trafficking organizations compete and the state security apparatus is fragmented. By contrast, violence becomes less visible and less frequent when the criminal market is monopolized and the state security apparatus is cohesive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently, Rio de Janeiro was one of the most violent cities on the planet. Many of Rio's hundreds of shanty towns were controlled by heavily armed drug gangs taking advantage of the absence of the state. However, since 2008, a policy of pacifying some of the city's most strategically important and violent shanty towns through community policing overseen by so-called 'Unidades Policicias Pacificadoras' (Pacifying Police Units, UPPs) has led to a significant reduction in violence. This article argues that this success is down to the fact that this policy treats the issue of violent crime as Complex Adaptive Systems. As a consequence, it seeks to facilitate a process of self-organization balanced between order, flexibility, rules and freedom. The article will show how Complexity has been applied, what benefits it has brought, what problems remain and what broader lessons can be learned from this experience for public policy-makers elsewhere., Introduction Brazil has the unenviable reputation of being one of the most violent countries in the world. Between 2003 and 2007 more than 240,000 people were murdered in the country, [...]

Transnational organized crime is often manifested by prevalent territorial disputes between rival criminal factions at local levels. Rio de Janeiro--considered one of the most violent of Brazilian cities--has linked lack [...]

THE OPENING CHAPTER OF ULISES CRIOLLO (1935), the first of Mexican intellectual Jose Vasconcelos's autobiographical works, takes place when the author was a child, in the year 1885, in the [...]

"Given the rising tide of violence and the mounting evidence of drug-related corruption at all levels of government, it is probably fair to say that, so far, the cartels have managed to take the lead in a psychological war against the Mexican state."

Women's involvement in drug trafficking in recent years has expanded dramatically. Yet there are few studies of female drug smugglers, the causes of female involvement in smuggling, and the impact of smuggling on women's lives specifically. In this article, I provide in-depth ethnographic interviews and observations of a broad spectrum of female drug smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border. Moving beyond stereotypes, I examine how drug trafficking affects women's relationships with men and their position in society. Economic and cultural factors strongly shape women's involvement in drug smuggling and the effects of smuggling on their lives, but these/actors and effects vary significantly, depending on women's social class position and place within drug organizations. High-level female drug smugglers may be attracted to the power and mystique of drug trafficking and may achieve a relative independence from male dominance. Middle-level women in smuggling organizations obtain less freedom vis-a-vis men but may manipulate gender stereotypes to their advantage in the smuggling world. Low-level mules also perform (or subvert) traditional gender roles as a smuggling strategy, but receive less economic benefit and less power, though in some cases some independence from male domestic control. A fourth category of women do not smuggle drugs but are negatively impacted by the male smugglers with whom they are associated. I argue that drug smuggling frequently leads to female victimization, especially at the lowest and middle levels of drug trafficking organizations. However, it is also, in the case of high-level and some low-level and middle-level smugglers, a vehicle for female empowerment. [Keywords: female drug smugglers, Cartel de Juarez, U.S-Mexico border, victimization, empowerment], Introduction Rosa Maria had never seen marijuana before. She only picked up the package of 'green fibers' from the El Paso motel because her sister said the police were coming [...]

This article draws on ethnographic research and theories of ideology to explore the cultural and rhetorical context of Brazilian proibidao funk, or prohibited rap music, and the usage of this [...]

Illegal drugs threaten the Mexican governance because of the corruption they generate. The Mexican government has been fighting this threat for years in a context of institutional weakness and strong pressures from the United States. The fact that Mexico is a natural supplier of illegal drugs to the biggest market in the world, the United States, puts the Mexican government in a very complex situation with no alternatives other than to continue fighting drugs with very limited institutional and human resources. In this process, Mexico has no margin for maneuver to change the parameters of the war on drugs.

This article examines the impact of illegal drugs on black youths in the inner cities. The author maintains the proliferation of illegal drugs in the inner cities has created war zones in which rival gangs fight for control over the drug market and many black youths die of drug addiction.

Copyright of Desafíos is the property of Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The author examines popular music as a source of social rebellion or reaction against established institutes, and as a tool for unity in a struggle. The article focuses on the Mexican American folk ballads, narcocorridos, a form of popular music with drug trafficking as its main content, which thrive in Los Angeles, California, an area known for music, commercialism, and criminal activity.

Copyright of Revista Mediação is the property of Revista Mediacao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Salud Mental is the property of Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatria Ramon de la Fuente and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The content of the study includes phenomena as traffic and illegal consuming of drugs producing traumatisms no matter the affiliation to a group, race, sex or age. Shock induced can affect draminatically life of even destroy it. Abuse and illegal traffic of drugs are simmilar to a disease destroying society's mental and moral health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the marijuana traffic in Greek villages. It presents the case of village men from Panagitsa, exploring the social, cultural, and political changes in the village since the mid-20th century, to show how marijuana has become part of the local culture. Accordingly, it explores how the marijuana traffic in Greek villages reflect the larger trends in the postmodern global economy.

Copyright of Signo y Pensamiento is the property of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Foro Internacional is the property of El Colegio de Mexico AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Imprisoning so many urban black males is discouraging marriage and the formation of families, thus contributing to moral and social breakdown. Bob Dole remarked in his acceptance speech at the […]

Emilio Gutierrez Soto, a longtime reporter in the small desert town of Ascension, in Mexico's northern border state of Chihuahua, was determined to own the story of the government's military [...]

Presents a speech by the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, discussing the problems posed by the growth of open-air drug market in the city's housing projects. Lessons from the death of Corporal Charles Hill in a crack house that the housing authority was powerless to shut down; Flaws in the country's policy on the presence of a known crack house in public housing; Call for exercise of common sense and judicial responsibility.

The former Soviet bloc countries, occupying the vast Eurasian region stretching from Prague to Vladivostok, make up an increasingly large part of the world's dismal drug panorama. They can no [...]

The practice of journalists and photographers covering the war on drugs in Juarez, Mexico, is described. They face threats to themselves and their families as they cover the daily killings, even as the military has moved in to stop the violence.

The fate of women who dared to expose the truth and the situation in Colombia is discussed.