Prostitution and the Sex Industry in Kentucky

The provision of sexual services for profit has become a major illicit industry in the hidden economy of Kentucky. Prostitution on the streets, in massage parlors, through escort services, and in bars and strip clubs is common throughout much of the Commonwealth. The evidence shows that criminal organizations ranging from individual entrepreneurships, to small crime networks, to international sex trafficking organizations are active in the provision of illicit sexual services in Kentucky. Thousands of women are employed as sex workers, over one million illicit sexual transactions occur annually, and criminal organizations rake in a minimum of $100,000,000 a year in revenues from the illicit side of the sex industry

The Antecedents of Organized Criminality in Kentucky

This Kentucky Justice & Safety Research Bulletin examines the antecedents of modern-day organized crime in Kentucky. The question to be addressed is whether the genesis of organized crime in a predominately rural, southern state, such as Kentucky, follows well-established patterns of development found in historically analyses of Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and other north-eastern and midwestern locales. This question is addressed by an examination of primary and secondary historical data sources relevant to early forms of organized crime. The research concludes that while Kentucky exhibited strikingly different forms of economic, socal and political organization compared to northeastern and midwestern locales, the genesis of criminal organizations was much the same

Drug Cartels and the International Organization of Drug Trafficking in the 21st Century

This research is a brief overview of the new cartels emerging to dominate today\u27s international traffic in drugs. In terms of geographic reach, economic impact, and imperiousness to law enforcemnt, drug cartels became the dominant form of organized crime in the last two decades of the 20th century. In the 21st century drug cartels have taken advatage of the massive increases in international trade and commerce and have learned from the mistakes of the earlier cartels. The new cartels are more numerous, flexible, chameleonic in their nature, and durable than any we have seen before

Re-examining the Consumption-Wealth Relationship: The Role of Model Uncertainty

This paper discusses the consumption-wealth relationship. Following the recent influential work of Lettau and Ludvigson [e.g. Lettau and Ludvigson (2001), (2004)], we use data on consumption, assets and labor income and a vector error correction framework. Key findings of their work are that consumption does respond to permanent changes in wealth in the expected manner, but that most changes in wealth are transitory and have no effect on consumption. We investigate the robustness of these results to model uncertainty and argue for the use of Bayesian model averaging. We find that there is model uncertainty with regards to the number of cointegrating vectors, the form of deterministic components, lag length and whether the cointegrating residuals affect consumption and income directly. Whether this uncertainty has important empirical implications depends on the researcher's attitude towards the economic theory used by Lettau and Ludvigson. If we work with their model, our findings are very similar to theirs. However, if we work with a broader set of models and let the data speak, we obtain somewhat different results. In the latter case, we find that the exact magnitude of the role of permanent shocks is hard to estimate precisely. Thus, although some support exists for the view that their role is small, we cannot rule out the possibility that they have a substantive role to play.wealth effect; vector error correction model; Bayesian model averaging; cointegration; variance decomposition.

Country Comfort: Vice and Corruption in Rural Settings

This article provides an in-depth examination of rural organized crime. Organized crime studies traditionally have focused on urban criminality; this study discusses its rural form. Types of participants, patterns of criminality, and relationships with political and law enforcement corruption are detailed. Although there are differences between urban and rural organized crime, it tends to exhibit some similarities regardless of setting

Governmental Corruption in Africa: Sierra Leone as a Case Study

This paper examines the definition and context of official corruption in the emerging African nation of Sierra Leone. Historical, legal and sociological studies of the development of Sierra Leone and corruption within that nation are reviewed, as well as the content of official judicial inquiries into administrative corruption. These investigations and studies are supplemented with data from the primary author’s experiences as a prosecutor and judge in Sierra Leone. Predisposing factors which facilitate corruption are identified and a variety of policies aimed at reform are discusse

Organized Crime

Gives students a clear understanding of organized crime from social, political and economic perspectives: what it is, how it has evolved, where it stands, where it is headed, and how societies can respond to it. The authors dispel long-standing myths surrounding organized crime, and consider the phenomenon in all its forms. This logically-organized, highly-readable book promotes learning with extensive pedagogical features, including chapter objectives, critical thinking projects, summaries, key terms, discussion points, and suggested readings. This edition’s extensive new coverage includes updated discussions of drug trafficking and terrorism, as well as organized crime groups from China, Nigeria, Albania, Central America, Japan, and the Tri-Border area

Re-examining the consumption-wealth relationship : the role of model uncertainty

This paper discusses the consumption-wealth relationship. Following the recent influential workof Lettau and Ludvigson [e.g. Lettau and Ludvigson (2001), (2004)], we use data on consumption, assets andlabor income and a vector error correction framework. Key …ndings of their work are that consumption doesrespond to permanent changes in wealth in the expected manner, but that most changes in wealth are transitoryand have no e¤ect on consumption. We investigate the robustness of these results to model uncertainty andargue for the use of Bayesian model averaging. We …nd that there is model uncertainty with regards to thenumber of cointegrating vectors, the form of deterministic components, lag length and whether the cointegratingresiduals a¤ect consumption and income directly. Whether this uncertainty has important empirical implicationsdepends on the researcher's attitude towards the economic theory used by Lettau and Ludvigson. If we workwith their model, our findings are very similar to theirs. However, if we work with a broader set of models andlet the data speak, we obtain somewhat di¤erent results. In the latter case, we …nd that the exact magnitudeof the role of permanent shocks is hard to estimate precisely. Thus, although some support exists for the viewthat their role is small, we cannot rule out the possibility that they have a substantive role to play

The Unintended Consequences of a Ban on the Humane Slaughter (Processing) of Horses in the United States

Federal legislation has been proposed to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be humanely slaughtered (processed) for human consumption, and for other purposes. The intent of the legislation is to enact a ban in the United States on processing horses for human consumption. The legislation does not provide fiscal support that would likely be needed to respond to an ever increasing number of unwanted, neglected, and abused horses. Often times horse neglect and abuse cases originate from a lack of economic resources needed to adequately maintain a horse’s health. While everyone fully supports and is committed to the humane treatment of all horses, there are unintended consequences of banning horse processing. The purpose of this paper is to identify and review the unintended consequences of a ban in the United States on the processing of horses for human consumption: 1. The potential for a large number of abandoned or unwanted horses is substantial. 2. Public animal rescue facilities are currently saturated with unwanted horses. No funding has been allocated to manage a large increase in horses that will likely become the responsibility of these facilities. 3. Cost of maintaining unwanted horses accumulates over time: A conservative estimate of the total cost of caring for unwanted horses, based upon 2005 statistics, is $220 million; Cumulative annual maintenance costs of otherwise processed horses, since the year 2000, would have exceeded more than$513 million in 2005. 4. The export value of horse meat for human consumption was approximately $26 million. A ban on processing would eliminate these annual revenues. 5. The option of rendering equine carcasses is decreasing. Private-land burial and disposal in landfills have a negative impact on the environment. 6. The Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program may be negatively impacted by a ban on horse processing. BLM horses and an increasing number of unwanted horses will be competing for adoption homes. Horse processing facilities offer a humane end-of-life option for approximately 1% of the United States horse population. Tens of thousands of horses could be neglected or abandoned if a processing ban were imposed. The direct economic impact and future unintended–and currently unaccounted for–economic impact of banning horse processing for human consumption are substantial. Proponents have not addressed the inevitable costs of such a ban. Horse owners will realize a direct impact from lower horse sale prices. Local and state governments will be adversely impacted by increased costs of regulation and care of unwanted or neglected horses

Molecular characterization of an adaptive response to alkylating agents in the opportunistic pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus.

An adaptive response to alkylating agents based upon the conformational change of a methylphosphotriester (MPT) DNA repair protein to a transcriptional activator has been demonstrated in a number of bacterial species, but this mechanism appears largely absent from eukaryotes. Here, we demonstrate that the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus elicits an adaptive response to sub-lethal doses of the mono-functional alkylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). We have identified genes that encode MPT and O(6)-alkylguanine DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) DNA repair proteins; deletions of either of these genes abolish the adaptive response and sensitize the organism to MNNG. In vitro DNA repair assays confirm the ability of MPT and AGT to repair methylphosphotriester and O(6)-methylguanine lesions respectively. In eukaryotes, the MPT protein is confined to a select group of fungal species, some of which are major mammalian and plant pathogens. The evolutionary origin of the adaptive response is bacterial and rooted within the Firmicutes phylum. Inter-kingdom horizontal gene transfer between Firmicutes and Ascomycete ancestors introduced the adaptive response into the Fungal kingdom. Our data constitute the first detailed characterization of the molecular mechanism of the adaptive response in a lower eukaryote and has applications for development of novel fungal therapeutics targeting this DNA repair system