Meta-Analysis of Organized Crime Mobility

• In Event: Organized Crime and Criminal Mobility

Abstract

Transnational organized crime groups are often presumed to be hierarchically structured organizations with the ability to strategically deploy members to various geographical areas. This meta-analysis examines how organized crime mobility is described in scholarly literature, which push and pull factors are used to explain the migration of organized crime groups, and where Albanian organized crime fits within this literature. This article is based on an extensive and systematic literature review as well as in-depth interviews with organized crime offenders and law enforcement officials. From a theoretical perspective, it points out the importance of social networks in understanding criminal mobility and to the need for inclusive and flexible explanations of human nature and social problems that although more difficult to empirically test, are more accurate and less sensational.

Authors

• Pamela Ruiz, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Jana Arsovska, John Jay College of Criminal Justice