The Rogue from Within: The Denial of Torture in Italian Prisons

In October 2009, Stefano Cucchi was beaten to death by prison guards while in custody. Italian public opinion toward prisons changed because of this event. Civil society organizations rose the level of awareness by showing how routine these abuses have become. This paper discusses the case of prisoners tortured in the prison of Asti, near Turin. Through the use of Stanley Cohen’s categories of denial, it will be shown how force relations inside prison make abuses possible.     

Criminals and service providers: Cross-national dirty economies

This article examines the recent evolution of transnational crime. By focusing on two specific criminal activities, namely the trafficking in human beings and the illicit trafficking in arms, it tries to establish the relationship between conventional criminal organisations and the official economy. It concludes by observing that the illegal services provided by conventional criminals to official economic actors are made increasingly redundant, because the latter tend to set up their own illegal practices which service their activity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Unintended consequences: changes in organised drug supply in the UK

Social and institutional alarm around crime and violence within South-Asian communities in the UK has grown substantially over the last 10 years. Whether based on imagined threats and moral panics or on realistic observation of facts, such alarm focuses on drug use, related property crime, gang violence, and ultimately on new forms of organised criminality emerging among Pakistanis, Indians or Sri Lankans. This paper sets the scene by examining this imaginary or realistic alarm, to then offer an overview of studies around South Asian drug use and crime. Subsequently, it presents a number of organised crime models which have taken shape within the communities under examination. Finally, it looks at more recent developments, namely at the changes in organised drug supply determined by specific law enforcement choices and by the general political climate in which such choices are made. The case discussed in this paper shows how the features of illicit markets and the characteristics of the criminal enterprises operating in them may be the unintended consequences of specific social and institutional responses to social problems.     

An Unusual Case Showing Fatal Rupture of a Gastric Ulcer or Gastromalacia? The Importance/Role of Histology for Differential Diagnosis

Gastromalacia is the acute autolytic erosion of the gastric wall. It generally occurs postmortem, and it appears as a slimy brownish black region of the wall which occurs principally in the gastric fundus. A 59‐year‐old woman died in the Emergency Department following a 2‐day period of mild abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. A forensic autopsy was performed which revealed a rupture of the gastric fundus that had caused leakage of gastric content into the abdominal cavity. There was no macroscopic evidence of peritonitis, and the stomach wall adjacent to the rupture site showed marked thinning. The gross appearance was typical of gastromalacia. In contrast, histological observations revealed the presence of an ulcer at the site of perforation and a severe acute inflammatory reaction indicating a robust reaction with an antemortem rupture.     

Economic Evaluations,Economic Freedom,and Democratic Satisfaction in Africa

This article assesses the relationship between democratic satisfaction and micro and macroeconomic factors in Africa. Studies have shown that economic factors represent a cornerstone of the democratic process. However, research has rarely accounted for the effect of economic freedom on satisfaction with democracy, and its conditional role on the effect of citizens’ economic evaluations, particularly in the context of Africa where democracy is still developing. Using various rounds of the Afrobarometer, the article analyses the link between citizens’ evaluations of the economy and economic freedom with their satisfaction with democracy in 32 African countries between 2002 and 2013. First, the findings show that the openness of the economic context and positive economic evaluations are associated with an increase in democratic satisfaction. Second, economic freedom and economic evaluations appear to have a conditional association with democratic satisfaction. In fact, positive economic evaluations are a less important factor for democratic satisfaction in contexts that have a freer economy.     

Surface-sampling and analysis of TATP by swabbing and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

The method of sample recovery for trace detection and identification of explosives plays a critical role in several criminal investigations. After bombing, there can be difficulties in sending big objects to a laboratory for analysis. Traces can also be searched for on large surfaces, on hands of suspects or on surfaces where the explosive was placed during preparatory phases (e.g. places where an IED was assembled, vehicles used for transportation, etc.).In this work, triacetone triperoxide (TATP) was synthesized from commercial precursors following reported methods. Several portions of about 6 mg of TATP were then spread on different surfaces (e.g. floors, tables, etc.) or used in handling tests. Three different swabbing systems were used: a commercial swab, pre-wetted with propan-2-ol (isopropanol) and water (7:3), dry paper swabs, and cotton swabs wetted with propan-2-ol. Paper and commercial swabs were also used to sample a metal plate, where a small charge of about 4 g of TATP was detonated. Swabs were sealed in small glass jars with screw caps and Parafilm^® M and sent to the laboratory for analysis. Swabs were extracted and analysed several weeks later by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. All the three systems gave positive results, but wetted swabs collected higher amounts of TATP. The developed procedure showed its suitability for use in real cases, allowing TATP detection in several simulations, including a situation in which people wash their hands after handling the explosive.     

A Systemic Approach to Security: Beyond the Tradeoff between Security and Liberty

The concept of security has shifted from territorial integrity to human security and, after 9/11, to pre-emptive security. Based on the massive implementation of surveillance-oriented security technologies (SOSTs), pre-emptive security emphasizes anticipation of threats and risk management. While liberty and security get framed as standing in a trade-off, SOSTs are massively deployed to increase security. Due to the mutually constitutive relationship between SOSTs and pre-emptive security, security gets framed as a function of surveillance, forcing increasingly monitored citizens to exchange liberty for security. In contrast, a systemic approach to security may enable security policies pursuing liberty and security.