Differentiating criminal networks in the illegal wildlife trade: organized, corporate and disorganized crime

Historically, the poaching of wildlife was portrayed as a small-scale local activity in which only small numbers of wildlife would be smuggled illegally by collectors or opportunists. Nowadays, this image has changed: criminal networks are believed to be highly involved in wildlife trafficking, which has become a significant area of illicit activity. Even though wildlife trafficking has become accepted as a major area of crime and an important topic and criminologists have examined a variety of illegal wildlife markets, research that specifically focusses on the involvement of different criminal networks and their specific nature is lacking. The concept of a ‘criminal network’ or ‘serious organized crime’ is amorphous – getting used interchangeably and describes all crime that is structured rather than solely reflecting crime that fits within normative definitions of ‘organized’ crime. In reality, criminal networks are diverse. As such, we propose categories of criminal networks that are evidenced in the literature and within our own fieldwork: (1) organized crime groups (2) corporate crime groups and (3) disorganized criminal networks. Whereas there are instances when these groups act alone, this article will (also) discuss the overlap and interaction that occurs between our proposed categories and discuss the complicated nature of the involved criminal networks as well as predictions as to the future of these networks

Una mirada al principio de legalidad: A partir de la constitucionalización del derecho penal ecuatoriano

This article analyzes the strictly legalistic nature that might have the application of the principle of legality - as stone lens-in the Ecuadorian legal system, and is based a critical position on the due criminal process, from of the constitutionalization of criminal law as a set of guarantees that places limits on the State's punitive power. It is methodologically, carried out under a qualitative approach. The corpus of the research was formed by the literature review and documentary of the legal bodies which concerned the principle of legality from the constitutionalization of the Ecuadorian criminal law. Method of hermeneutics was used for the analysis of the information and results allowed, among their findings explain that from a look at the principle of legality, and from the constitutionalization of the Ecuadorian criminal law, they can be see what are the functions of criminal, criminal, judicial guarantees and implementation of this principle, independientemente of compliance with their other double warranty, both in political terms as legal, essential function which means that is He is the angular stone where all the analyzed State legal system rests.Este artigo descreve o caráter estritamente legalista que pode ter o princípio da legalidade, como a pedra angular no sistema legal equatoriana é analisado, e uma posição crítica sobre o devido processo penal baseia-se, a partir da constitucionalização do direito penal um conjunto de garantias que estabelece limites para o poder punitivo estatal. O mesmo, metodologicamente, foi realizado sob uma abordagem qualitativa. O corpus da investigação foi constituído pela revisão bibliográfica e documental das propriedades jurídicas que remetem ao princípio da legalidade a partir da constitucionalização do direito penal equatoriano. Para obter informações método de análise da hermenêutica que foram utilizados e cujos resultados levaram, entre seus achados explicam que a partir de um olhar sobre o Estado de direito, e da constitucionalização do direito penal equatoriana, você pode ver o que as funções de Garantias são penal, penal, jurisdicional e de execução deste princípio, independentemente do cumprimento de sua outra dupla função essencial de garantia, tanto nos aspectos políticos e legais, o que significa que é a pedra fundamental sobre a qual se baseia todo o sistema legal estadual. Analisados.En este artículo se analiza el carácter estrictamente legalista que podría tener la aplicación del principio de legalidad –como piedra angular– en el ordenamiento jurídico ecuatoriano, y se fundamenta una posición crítica sobre el debido proceso penal, a partir de la constitucionalización del derecho penal como un conjunto de garantías que pone límites al poder punitivo estatal. El mismo, metodológicamente, se llevó a cabo bajo un enfoque cualitativo. El corpus de la investigación estuvo constituido por la revisión bibliográfica y documental de los estamentos legales que refieren el principio de legalidad a partir de la constitucionalización del derecho penal ecuatoriano. Para el análisis de la información se   utilizó el método de la hermenéutica y cuyos resultados  permitieron, entre sus conclusiones explicar que desde una mirada al principio de legalidad, y a partir de la constitucionalización del derecho penal ecuatoriano, se pueden observar cuáles son las funciones de garantías criminal, penal, jurisdiccional y de ejecución  de dicho principio, independientemente del cumplimiento de su otra doble función esencial de garantía, tanto en el aspecto político como jurídico, lo que significa que se trata de la piedra angular en donde reposa todo el ordenamiento jurídico estatal analizado

Growth and inequality in the Mexican states: Regimes, thresholds, and traps

Using the inter-regional economic inequality index and the gross state product per capita for the Mexican states over the period 1940–2015, we apply regime dynamics and hierarchical cluster analysis for segmenting the sample into regimes of Mexican states with similar performance. Robust econometric models are studied showing the direction of causality between economic inequality and income per capita, and the existence of a U-shaped curve for the interdependence between economic growth vs economic inequality, and threshold levels. We additionally demonstrate the existence of inequality traps. The education literacy rate as a control variable indicates an inverted U-shaped curve