Involvement In Drug Trafficking Research Articles

“Some Do it Out of Necessity, Others Because They Like Money and Others Because They Find it Easy”: Motivations for the Involvement of Women in Drug Trafficking in Peru

ABSTRACT Latin American feminist scholars have constructed valuable analyses on how structural inequalities, feminization of poverty, and patriarchy are the main reasons women get involved in drug trafficking. As the primary material and emotional providers of their families, and to fulfill their gendered responsibilities as reproducers of care, it has been shown that women participate in illegal activities mainly out of economic “necessity.” Nonetheless, this approach may create a homogeneous and passive imaginary of women involved in drug trafficking that is linked to Marianista femininity. The paper contributes to Southern Criminology in the task of constructing localized knowledge from the South. It aims to acknowledge women’s diversity to pursue a more nuanced perspective of women’s motivations and start to contextualize and analyze the concept of “necessity.” The paper analyses 22 interviews of women sentenced for drug trafficking in Peru and proposes six motivations for their involvement: (1) Strengthening autonomy and independence, (2) Pursuit of material-hedonistic fulfillment, (3) Desire for recognition and power, (4) Trust-based involvement, (5) Involvement driven by addiction, and (6) Involvement as unwitting participants due to deception. It concludes that the notion of necessity is influenced by class and territory, shaping women’s motivations and involvement in drug trafficking. Additionally, their motivations are not solely driven by economic needs but also by psychological and affective ones.

Gender-related and non-gender-related female homicide in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 2010 to 2016.

Female homicide is a global phenomenon with a higher prevalence in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Life expectancy in Brazil is compromised by the high risk of death from male and female homicides, a growing social problem. This study aimed to integrate different public datasets and describe the sociodemographic, criminal, and medicolegal characteristics of the homicides of girls and women occurring in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, from 2010 to 2016. The data were obtained from autopsy reports, police reports, and records from crime scenes. During this period, there was a significant increase in overall standardized rates of female homicides (4.98 to 10.85), with a pronounced increase in non-gender-related deaths, especially due to urban violence, such as involvement in drug trafficking and other crimes and robbery resulting in death. Young (15-29 years of age), non-White women were the most affected. Increased female homicide rates due to non-gender-related factors is a new and worrying phenomenon in Brazil. Obtaining specific data on the profile of victims and characteristics of violence is a crucial step in facing the problem and directing public policies.

DIMENSIONS OF CRIME INVOLVING WOMEN IN DRUG TRAFFICKING - LITERATURE REVIEW FROM DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR TO RELAPSE

Objectives. The aim of this study was to review the most important factors influencing women's involvement in drug trafficking. Material and methods. A systematic search of literature was carried out using Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, ProQuest Central, PsychInfo. The inclusion criteria were met by fifty-two studies. In order to facilitate the understanding of the behaviour of women who commit this crime, factor analysis was grouped into social-cultural, personal and psychological factors. Results. The main social and cultural factors considered were the adopted political system, the racial element, the cultural-regional peculiarities, the geographical positioning, the socio-economic status and the sociofamilial environment. The personal factors identified were age, occupation, lifestyle, system of norms and values, and psychological ones referred to indicators of psychological disorders, addictive behavior, the ability to control reactions and the perceived level of self-efficacy. Conclusions. The factors with the highest share of drug trafficking among women were group membership, economic and social status, educational level of parents and friends, prison history and drug use. If in the rural area the main factor that determines women to get involved in drug trafficking is the lack of a job and a low level of education, in the urban area, the influence of the group is significant. Regarding the reasons behind the involvement of women in such criminal acts or in the manifestation of addictive behaviors, these are often compensatory mechanisms, adopted in the absence of effective coping strategies. Keywords: women, drugs, trafficking, addiction, relapse.

RAZVOJ NARKO-TERORIZMA KROZ PRIZMU MORFOGENETSKE TEORIJE – STUDIJA SLUČAJA FARK-A

The subject of this paper is the development of narco-terrorism before and after the Cold War. It is noticed that many terrorist groups have intensified their activities in organized crime, and especially in drug trafficking after the 1990s, one of which was the Colombian insurgent group FARC. In the paper, we will try to prove the hypothesis that criminal activities of terrorist groups rise as their ideological basis become weaker and that it is a rational choice which terrorist groups make to survive. We will try to offer the answer by analyzing the development of FARC, and by using a morphogenetic approach. This theory is based on critical realism and therefore it acknowledges the equal importance to the structure and actors and it allows us to track their interaction through time. That is why we think that it is most suitable for the analysis of complex and dynamic occurrences like narco-terrorism. At the beginning of the paper, we present a literature review with different conceptions of narco-terrorism, after which we highlight the main presumptions and advantages of morphogenetic theory. At the end of the paper, the author will offer her analysis of the development of FARC through a morphogenetic approach and will review the main factors that caused its intensified involvement in drug trafficking from the 1990s, like the decline of ideology in the group and the international arena, but also the fight for survival in the hostile environment of class war in Colombia.

Restructuring Educational Systems and Promoting Social Justice for Young People Involved in Drug Trafficking in Brazil

Abstract. Economic changes in the context of globalization have left adolescents from Latin American contexts with few opportunities to make satisfactory transitions into adulthood. Recent studies indicate that there is a protracted period between the end of schooling and entering into formal working activities. While in this “limbo,” illicit activities, such as drug trafficking may emerge as an alternative for young people to ensure their social participation. This article aims to deepen the understanding of Brazilian youth’s involvement in drug trafficking and its intersection with their schooling, work, and aspirations, connecting with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and 16 as proposed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015 .

Representaciones sociales acerca del narcotráfico en adolescentes de Tamaulipas

El objetivo de este artículo es comprender las representaciones sociales construidas por un grupo de adolescentes del estado de Tamaulipas, acerca del narcotráfico. Se empleó un diseño de estudio de caso intrínseco, y se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas para aproximarse al proceso de construcción de su representación social. Para analizar el contenido temático se utilizó el programa MAXQDA 11. Los resultados muestran que los adolescentes consideran al narcotráfico como una actividad delictiva, que se ha diversificado para incluir otros delitos asociados con la violencia y el daño a los demás. Es un estudio exploratorio y, pese al número reducido de participantes, recupera las voces de los adolescentes inmersos en comunidades donde hay narcotráfico, sin que participen directamente en él, también da cuenta de que la incorporación de los jóvenes en el narcotráfico se limita cuando lo perciben como un delito, y elaboran su identidad en contraposición a él.

Hidden Resilience in the Life of Adolescents with Involvement in Drug Trafficking

Abstract This paper identifies hidden resilience processes among adolescents and young adults who have had involvement in drug trafficking. The participants were 551 adolescents and young people, aged 12-20 years (M = 16.01; SD = 1.548) from both genders, 55.4% of whom were boys. They were recruited from three social service institutions located in the state of São Paulo, which offer services for adolescents with and without a history of involvement in drug trafficking. To assess rates of resilience, the Child and Youth Resilience Measure was employed. Contrary to expectations, adolescents with greater involvement in drug trafficking had higher rates of resilience. This paper challenges the hegemonic conceptualization of resilience and proposes that more studies of hidden resilience need to be conducted.

Drug Trafficking and Community Welfare in Costa Rica

The article explores the intersections of drug trafficking and community welfare in Costa Rica, a national context that is underexplored in literature. I use an immersive qualitative approach drawing from interviews, participant observation, government reports, and media reports to explore why and to what ends a rural frontier community has become enmeshed in the transport of cocaine northward. I find that the key precipitating factors include poverty, state disinterest, and youth facilitation. The implications of this community’s involvement in drug trafficking are mixed. Negatively, drug trafficking increases violence in the community, weakens community youth development, and undercuts legitimate businesses. Conversely, drug traffickers provide social goods and generate employment. Grounded in empirical evidence, the article suggests that a community economic and social development approach holds promise in addressing drug trafficking specifically in Costa Rica and more broadly in Latin America.

DRUG TSAR, DETHRONED

(By Mikhail Fishman. The Moscow Times, May 19, 2016, p. 6. Complete text:) On May 10, an unusual post appeared on Facebook, apparently signed by Viktor Ivanov, the head Russia’s Federal Narcotics Control Service (FNCS): Comrades and fellow soldiers, it began. want to apologize that I couldn’t save our organization. We protected our national interests honestly. Someone somewhere seemed far from happy with the decision to dismantle one the largest government agencies. ... For any former senior-level official to question [Russian] President Vladimir Putin’s logic is, in the context the Russian system, a demonstration significant disloyalty. The post - allegedly written by Ivanov himself - disappeared from Facebook within an hour. The FNCS press office described the publication as a provocation against the service and its head. ... The decision to disband FNCS, along with the Federal Migration Service, was announced on March 30 as part a broader reform, including the creation a new National Guard [see Current Digest, Vol. 68, No. 14, p. 9]. Under the plans, in a little over one week, the agency will be no more, and Ivanov, a longtime associate Putin, will retire. According to various sources in and around the government, Ivanov had been kept in the dark about the plans until the very last minute. ... is a quite unusual way doing business in Putin’s universe, and seems to be a sign serious dissatisfaction somewhere within government. ... Ivanov’s name features prominently in any account Putin’s rise to power. A career KGB officer, he moved to St. Petersburg in the 1990s to take up a role within the city administration. According to some reports, he did this on Putin’s own recommendation. Since then, their careers have dovetailed. When, in the late 1990s, Putin headed the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB, Ivanov was assigned a top position in the service. ... Ivanov always dealt with paperwork, not fieldwork, a former official who knew him at that time recalls. was always the HR manager, he says. ... When Putin was elected president, the manager, albeit with KGB roots, enjoyed a meteoric rise to become presidential deputy chief staff. was a position enormous authority. It placed Ivanov in charge the Kremlin’s HR department, and gave him control over all issues relating to national awards and staffing within the justice system. It was here that he developed a reputation as the Kremlin’s forceful power broker - alongside Igor Sechin, a similarly faithful assistant hailing from Putin’s St. Petersburg days. ... The extent Ivanov’s omnipotence was publicly revealed in court in 2008, when a leading Supreme Arbitration Court judge testified that Ivanov’s staff directly intervened in judicial appointments. is unconstitutional. One Ivanov’s former colleagues agreed that of course this was what was happening - this is how the system works; they were acting in the interests the state, and besides, it has only gotten worse since. ... It was around this time that Ivanov’s rise was checked and his career problems began. He first had a run-in with Dmitry Medvedev, who became president in 2008, and who found it difficult to deal with Putin’s KGB associates. Ivanov was asked to move out the Kremlin, and, in a clear demotion, he was transferred from his top position within the presidential administration to become head of the recently formed FNCS. ... The idea creating a special federal agency for drug control came from another one Putin’s St. Petersburg security associates, Viktor Cherkesov, in 2002. It was largely modeled on the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which was created in the early 1970s to fight drug smuggling. ... The idea creating the new agency came naturally enough. The drug threat had by the early 2000s become very serious, with Russia forming a huge market for opiates coming from Afghanistan and Central Asia. As a former security services official says, the Internal Affairs Ministry was simply unable to deal with the inflows due to its own involvement in drug trafficking. The new agency was given priority resourcing: 40,000 officers, all necessary operational hardware and, more importantly, the authorization to use it. The FNCS wiretapping department gained legendary status. ... Their investigators were given a full forensic set their own and didn’t need to stand in line to get it, explains one former FNCS official. This was quite a big deal. ... Every Russian law-enforcement agency has a natural inclination to look to expand its authority and area control, and the FNCS was no exception. As the years passed, it began to prosecute businesses that had little to do with trafficking but dealt with, for example, industrial drugs or chemicals. They targeted veterinarians, industrial chemical entrepreneurs, and even bakers producing poppyseed muffins.

Financing War or Facilitating Peace? The Impact of Rebel Drug Trafficking on Peace Negotiations in Colombia and Myanmar

ABSTRACTRebel involvement in drug trafficking is broadly found to prolong and intensify civil wars. Being an illicit good with strong demand, high profit margins, limited barriers to entry, and few interdiction opportunities, narcotic drugs disproportionately benefit rebel groups as a source of funding in civil wars. Furthermore, drug trafficking is believed to prolong civil wars by creating war economies that benefit rebel groups, making them reluctant to engage in peace negotiations. However, recent peace agreements suggest that drug trafficking can in some cases be used to “buy off” rebel leaders, whereas other insurgents willingly relinquish this source of funding. This article compares attempts at conflict resolution in Colombia and Myanmar, focusing on the impact drug trafficking by Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and United Wa State Army has on contemporary peace negotiations.

Health professionals and the meaning they apply to women‟s remaining in violent conjugal relationships

The authors aim to investigate the meanings attributed by health professionals working in the Family Health Strategy to women‟s remaining in violent conjugal relationships. The research is based in the method of Grounded Theory. Interviews were held between May and August 2012 with 52 professionals who work in Family Health in a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It is indicated that violence is related to the threats made, to the partner‟s involvement in drug trafficking, to economic and emotional dependence, to the valuing of marriage, to the belief in female submission, and to shame. The professionals indicate the need for strategies in defense of a life free from violence for women: psycho-social support; educational activities regarding the social construction of gender; and articulation of policies based on intersectoriality.

Um estudo sobre os fatores de risco e proteção associados à violência sexual cometida contra adolescentes e jovens adultos

O estudo teve como objetivo identificar fatores de risco/proteção associados à ocorrência de violência sexual cometida contra adolescentes/jovens brasileiros, tanto no âmbito familiar como comunitário. Participaram do estudo 7316 jovens com idades entre 14 e 24 anos (M = 16,19; DP = 1,82), sendo 3335 do sexo masculino. Os participantes provieram do estudo Juventude Brasileira. Do total da amostra, 6,6% dos participantes revelaram serem vítimas de violência sexual no âmbito familiar e 6,0% no comunitário. O apoio familiar surgiu como uma variável de proteção, tanto para a violência na família quanto na comunidade. O ser menina e consumir álcool apareceram como variáveis de risco para ambos os domínios. Além disso, ter um familiar preso e alcoolismo na família foram variáveis identificadas como de risco no âmbito familiar, enquanto o ter passado fome, ter sofrido violência na comunidade e ter envolvimento com o tráfico foram as variáveis de risco associadas à violência sexual na comunidade.

Mulheres no tráfico de drogas: a criminalidade como estratégia de saída da invisibilidade social feminina

From the systemic discursive analysis (Falmagne, 2004) of interviews with two women with a past history of involvement in drug trafficking in slums in Rio de Janeiro, the present work has the goal of understanding the ways in which joining a traditional male criminal activity had represented to participants the possibility to differentiate themselves from women around them. As members of a socially marginalized group (of poor and usually black women), participating in drug trafficking had given these women a power that is often recognized as male property. Analyses show that the power as drug trafficker had been almost always exerted over other women. The distance from “common women” and the consequent approximation to the male world represented by drug trafficking had moved these women away (even if temporarily) from the social invisibility that characterizes women’s lives in urban peripheries. Key words: female criminality, invisibility, gender.

Lei do Abate, guerra às drogas e defesa nacional

O presente artigo analisa o processo de criação e regulamentação da Lei do Abate no Brasil, que autoriza a derrubada em pleno voo de aeronaves civis suspeitas de envolvimento no tráfico de drogas. Investigam-se as relações entre a elaboração da Lei do Abate, a política de guerra às drogas propagada pelos EUA e as preocupações estratégicas dos militares brasileiros acerca da segurança da Região Amazônica. Como parte da contextualização da criação dos programas de interdição aérea baseados no abate de aeronaves, estudam-se as origens e as transformações das políticas antidrogas dos EUA desde a década de 1960 e o modelo de guerra às drogas (War on Drugs). Analisa-se também o processo de discussão parlamentar no Brasil sobre a Lei do Abate e os debates para a sua regulamentação. A pesquisa ocorreu por meio da análise de documentos produzidos pelos governos dos EUA (abertos e sigilosos reclassificados) e do Brasil, da investigação dos anais do Congresso Nacional e do estudo de livros e artigos científicos nacionais e estrangeiros. Verifica-se que os programas que autorizam o abate nascem sob a justificativa do combate ao tráfico, mas se ligam às necessidades militares específicas de Peru e Colômbia. A lei brasileira surge para combater o transporte aéreo ilícito vinculado ao tráfico; contudo, sua origem e os debates posteriores para sua regulamentação submetem-se ao condicionamento dos temores e projetos militares em torno da defesa da soberania sobre a Amazônia brasileira.

Centralidade de gênero no processo de construção da identidade de mulheres envolvidas na rede do tráfico de drogas

The present article aims to discuss the specificities of crimes perpetrated by women, especially the female participation in drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In addition to that, it intends to distinguish female from male criminality. The study is based on reflections made through interviews conducted with eight women presenting a history of involvement in drug trafficking in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Through a systemic discursive approach(1), the analysis investigates the micro and macro elements involved in the process of the construction of the participants' identity. Results show that women's motivations to enter, remain and drop drug trafficking are in great part determined by gender, which along with color and class shapes the roles performed and the places occupied by men and women in society.

Trafficking among youth in conflict with the law in São Paulo, Brazil

Engagement in drug trafficking may place a child or youth at risk for exposure to severe violence, drug abuse, and death. However, little is know about the nature of youth involvement in drug trafficking. The purpose of this study is to describe drug trafficking behaviour of delinquent youth and identify adverse experiences as potential predictors of trafficking. Cross-sectional sample of youth (12-17 years of age) incarcerated in detention facilities for delinquent or criminal acts in São Paulo City, Brazil. Structured face-to-face interviews completed with 325 youth (289 boys, 36 girls). Approximately half of the boys and girls in this sample have had at least some role in drug trafficking prior to incarceration. Though youth who had engaged in drug trafficking activities did not differ on basic socio-demographic variables, they were more likely to have been exposed to a number of adverse experiences. Beyond heavy substance use, no longer attending school, gang involvement, witnessing violence, and easier access to guns, drugs and alcohol remained significantly related to trafficking involvement in the final regression model. Girls experienced a very similar pattern of adverse exposures as boys. Special efforts may be required for rehabilitation of youth who engage in drug trafficking. Potential targets may include keeping or re-engaging delinquent youth in school for longer periods of time and reducing youth exposure to violence in poor urban communities.

Female Drug Smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Gender, Crime, and Empowerment

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 factors 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-à-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.

Drugs and Substances: Views from a Latino Community

The last three decades have seen an increase in the study of licit and illicit substance use and abuse. Very few studies, however, have been conducted to show the views of minority people on what substance abuse really is and how it affects their families and communities, although connections have often been made between crime and minority involvement in drug trafficking, use and abuse. This exploratory study presents an attempt to explore Latino or Hispanic people's perceptions and attitudes regarding the use and abuse of both licit and illicit substances, in a Texas City. Further, it is set up to examine individuals' views on drugs' definitions, their use in their community, and their effects on abusive and violent behavior in the family. The findings indicate that although individuals in this Hispanic community hold views on drugs similar to those in other communities, they nonetheless place most importance on the impact of the use of legal substances (alcohol and tobacco) on problem creation.

Drug trafficking and drug use among urban African-American adolescents: A causal analysis

Objective: To test the hypothesis that involvement in drug trafficking leads to illicit drug use among urban African-American adolescents. Methods: Self-reports of substance use, illicit drug use, and drug trafficking were obtained at baseline and every 6 months for 24 months from 383 African-American early adolescents. Transitions between involvement in drug trafficking and illicit drug use over time were examined. Path analysis was conducted to examine the causal relation between drug trafficking and drug use. Results: Among the 35 youth who were initially involved only in drug trafficking, 22 (67%) subsequently used illicit drugs. Of the 53 youth who were initially involved only in illicit drug use, only 19 (42%) continued using drugs at later waves ( p < 0.05). Path analysis revealed that baseline drug trafficking had a strong effect on subsequent drug trafficking and drug use, whereas baseline drug use did not have an effect on subsequent drug use or drug trafficking. Conclusions: Initiation of drug trafficking by adolescents appears to lead to sustained involvement in drug-related activities, including continued drug trafficking and drug use. By contrast, initiation of drug use does not necessarily lead to continued involvement in drug-related behaviors.

Claims-Making and the Prosecution of Black Defendants in Drug Trafficking Trials: the Influence of Deprivation

The relationship between the prosecution and black 1 people has nowhere received a specific or full notice as far as analysis is concerned. On the basis of detailed observations of drug trafficking trials at a London Crown Court, this paper reveals the prosecution of cases concerning black defendants. In doing so, it demonstrates how drug trafficking cases were socially constructed through the process of claimsmaking, a rhetorical activity that entails the use of language to present and fathom claims effectively in order to persuade. The prosecution described the defendants alleged involvement in drug trafficking as a profit making venture and within the process of claims-making constructed a relationship between drug trafficking and socio-economic deprivation. Subtly, racial imageries of crime and deprivation appeared to be represented in the prosecution discourse as evidence of drug trafficking. It is concluded that the defendants faced a higher likelihood of being officially classed as drug traffickers.