Unpacking the political-criminal nexus in state-cybercrimes: a macro-level typology

Criminological literature on crime and deviance in cyberspace has boomed in recent years with most studies focusing on computer integrity crimes, computer content crimes and financial cybercrimes, also discussing the opportunity to consider some of these crimes as profit-driven forms of organised crime. The existing literature, however, has not addressed extensively yet the impact of the emergence and proliferation of cyber affordances on forms of state-organized crime – a conceptualization that since the late ‘80 s proved successful in shedding light, among other things, on the relationships among social structures and criminality. Seeking to address this gap, this conceptual contribution focuses on state-cybercrimes, where illegal, harmful or unjust cyber activities are committed for the benefit of a state or its agencies, offering a macro-typology to shed light on how cyber affordances are influencing and transforming the state-crime relations

Chief Academic Officers and the AACC\u27s Leadership Competencies

Chief Academic Officers (CAOs) hold one of the most vital senior leadership positions at community colleges. Typically thought to be the second person in charge, directly under the president, their impact on the community college is crucial. CAOs have historically been considered the next in line to the president, and community college presidents were often CAOs before assuming their first presidency. The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) publishes Leadership Competencies for hopeful and current community college leaders. This study examined the perceptions of community college CAOs regarding the AACC Leadership Competencies for Aspiring Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), or presidents. A survey instrument was distributed to CAOs with AACC member institutions. Demographic information was collected based on the number of years as a CAO, race, gender, and terminal degree status. Data were collected and analyzed by the researcher and guided by the purpose statement and research questions. The researcher accepted 102 surveys from which to collect data for the current study. The study results showed that CAOs are confident with focus areas: organizational culture, institutional leadership, and personal traits and abilities. They are least confident with focus areas: fundraising and relationship cultivating, information and analytics, and institutional infrastructure. CAOs identified the top three competencies that would keep them from pursuing an open presidential position: fundraising, familial impact, and budgeting

Serious, therefore organised? A critique of the emerging "cyber-organised crime" rhetoric in the United Kingdom

This paper, based on discourse analysis of policy documents, departs from a critique of the juxtaposition of the terms "serious" and "organised" in policies against organised crime in the UK. The conceptualisation of organised crime as national security threat supports our hypothesis that a similar critique can be applied to the emerging narrative of cyber-organised crime in the country. We argue that, whereby organised crime has become essentially "serious" as consequence of its characterisation as a national security threat, cyber crime is becoming "organised" in the policy narrative because of its seriousness. The seriousness and organisation of cyber crime justifies its inclusion within the national security agenda, thus accessing the procedural benefits of criminal intelligence assigned to national security threats. The implications associated to the evolution of such narratives in policy-making need to be assessed while policies are still developing

Tweets and quacks: network and content analyses of providers of non-science-based anticancer treatments and their supporters on Twitter

Despite the consensus in the medical discipline that certain treatments lack scientific evidence and are worthless if not potentially dangerous, the promotion and selling of fake cures advertised as safe and effective has long plagued health care systems, praying on vulnerable patients and their loved ones. The web and social media are now playing a fundamental role in the propagation of non-science-based treatments and fraudulent medical claims, and in the rise of false health and lifestyle experts. This study combines criminological and computer science expertise to explore and critically analyze the Twitter presence of providers of non-science-based anticancer treatments and their active supporters in the English-speaking online community to investigate their structural relationships and to analyze the characteristics of the most popular actors. The features of the social network observed indicate that there is not a stable community of promoters and supporters of non-science-based medical treatments in the Twittersphere, suggesting the lack of a defined subculture and the presence of transient collectives rather than identifiable groups. Nonetheless, it is possible to observe dynamic conversational networks clustering around popular actors, tweets, and themes, prompting avenues for further research

Science denial and medical misinformation in pandemic times:a psycho-criminological analysis

This study integrates criminological social learning and psychological explanations of individual factors and mechanisms for science denial to offer an individual-level analysis of ‘alternative lifestyle’ subcultural groups in cyberspace in order to understand the assimilation, success and proliferation of potentially dangerous health-related misinformation. Through a rigorous passive online ethnography of two relevant self-identifying ‘alternative lifestyle’ Italian- and English-speaking online communities observed over the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed the unfolding of online narratives and behavioural intentions of criminological and psychological interest. We identified in our data both individual factors and mechanisms for science denial and clues to social learning, and we showed how they interrelate. Furthermore, by looking at the linguistic and visual resources used to shape how participants think through social learning mechanisms, we identified four main narrative frames: informative; oppositional; empathetic; and agency and spirituality. The findings of this study provide a more comprehensive understanding of the reasons for and mechanisms behind medical misinformation online and suggest ways to mitigate the related harms

Criminal markets and networks in cyberspace

This is an introduction to the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on ‘criminal markets and networks in cyberspace’. All the contributions to this special issue, even if from different standpoints and focuses, help us understand how cyberspace is (re)shaping offenses and offenders

The datafication revolution in criminal justice: An empirical exploration of frames portraying data-driven technologies for crime prevention and control

The proliferation of big data analytics in criminal justice suggests that there are positive frames and imaginaries legitimising them and depicting them as the panacea for efficient crime control. Criminological and criminal justice scholarship has paid insufficient attention to these frames and their accompanying narratives. To address the gap created by the lack of theoretical and empirical insight in this area, this article draws on a study that systematically reviewed and compared multidisciplinary academic abstracts on the data-driven tools now shaping decision-making across several justice systems. Using insights distilled from the study, the article proposes three frames (optimistic, neutral, oppositional) for understanding how the technologies are portrayed. Inherent in the frames are a set of narratives emphasising their ostensible status as vital crime control mechanisms. These narratives obfuscate the harms of data-driven technologies and evince idealistic imaginaries of their capabilities. The narratives are bolstered by unequal structural arrangements, specifically the unevenly distributed digital capital with which some are empowered to participate in technology development for criminal justice application and other forms of penal governance. In unravelling these issues, the article advances current understanding of the dynamics that sustain the depiction of data-driven technologies as prime crime prevention and law enforcement tools

From horticulture to psychonautics: an analysis of online communities discussing and trading plants with psychotropic properties.

This study is a spinoff of the cross-disciplinary project “FloraGuard: Tackling the Illegal Trade in Endangered Plants”, and focuses on the analysis of online forums dedicated to the discussion and the trades of plant species, often highly endangered in nature, that are sought after for their psychotropic properties. The study sheds light on the interesting but overlooked area of the intersection of environmental crimes, illegal online trades, and drug use. Some species of conservation concern have known psychoactive/analgesic properties; as these properties are now openly and broadly discussed in specialised online communities, attention is required both as regards the potential for health-related harms suffered by reckless users, and for environmental-related harms for the species in question

Blurring Boundaries: Negotiating Researchers’ Positionality and Identities in Digital Qualitative Research

This contribution discusses a series of methodological, ethical, and ontological challenges encountered by the authors during a series of recent socio-criminological studies based on digital ethnography and investigating sensitive and emotive issues. Particularly, we will discuss the practical difficulties we encountered in navigating several increasingly blurred boundaries, such as those among: (1) the researchers’ private and public academic/personal selves online; (2) the shifting of the traditional power imbalances between the researcher and research participants; (3) concerns over impartiality in research; and (4) elements of ethnography and autoethnography becoming obfuscated. We consider these dilemmas in the context of the pervasiveness of digital technologies within contemporary social life, such that we as researchers are always simultaneously on and offline, with our studies at risk of becoming all-consuming and encroaching on all areas of our lives. We will see how these blurred boundaries entail an inescapable continuous negotiation of researcher identity and positionality, and some of their practical consequences. We aim to encourage further discussion about these novel challenges faced whilst undertaking online research, and re-examination of the related ethical principles regarding these contexts