This study aims to demonstrate that persons convicted and serving their sentence in a penal institution in Hungary are afforded the opportunity to exercise and live out their religion. The realization of this right is supported by an assortment of instruments and institutional arrangements; among these, the role of a prison chaplain being of particular and noteworthy significance. Overall, these mechanisms may contribute, not only to the effective enjoyment of freedom of religion and the practical opportunity of religious observance, but also to successful reintegration—namely, enabling a convicted person to re-enter and participate in the general community as a full member of society, and to be free from any stigma or undue labelling because of their past.
This article deals with the Brazilian penal system, which is seeing on the one hand attempts at ‘modernisation’ through the development of forensic technologies for genetic identification of prisoners, and on the other hand, the persistence of ‘archaic’ correctional institutions. Based on an ethnographic survey, this study analyses prison demographics in relation to the role played by the Brazilian DNA database, which both fails to exonerate convicts and is itself fostered by mass incarceration. It also focuses on the day-to-day procedures for collecting biological material from prisoners, which are often based on discretionary, arbitrary, and even illegal practices, thus establishing links between the permanent threat of prison violence and new genetic identification technologies. Through the sociological allegory of the ‘penal platypus’, it lays the groundwork for a reflection on the re-territorialisation of genetic profiling as it is taking place in Brazil.
Illicit trade hubs pose a significant challenge to global economies, undermining legitimate markets and fueling a range of criminal activities. Despite growing scholarly attention to illicit trade, limited research has examined the underlying conditions that enable illicit trade activities to agglomerate in particular hubs. This article reviews major analytical approaches relevant to understanding illicit trade agglomeration, drawing on insights from criminology, political economy, and economic geography. It argues that illicit trade agglomeration is driven by the interaction of three interconnected dimensions: political and institutional vulnerabilities, socioeconomic conditions, and infrastructure-related enabling environments. The interaction between these dimensions forms an ecosystem that facilitates illicit trade agglomeration and contributes to the emergence and persistence of illicit trade hubs. By conceptualizing illicit trade hubs as multidimensional ecosystems rather than isolated criminal hotspots, the review contributes to interdisciplinary debates on transnational crime, governance, and the spatial concentration of illicit economies.
Adolescents often engage in a variety of risk-taking behaviors, such as substance use and delinquency, and these behaviors can result in a multitude of possible consequences. In particular, adolescents’ perception of their capacity to function in specific adult roles, self-efficacy, is developed during the adolescent years. This study uses a nationally representative sample of high school seniors to examine how risk-taking behaviors may influence various forms of self-efficacy, and also how the social contexts of adolescents may impact self-efficacy, as well. Adolescents are shown to maintain relatively high levels of self-efficacy, indicating confidence in their ability to perform in adult roles. Alcohol use and delinquent behaviors are both shown to be salient predictors of self-efficacy, and peer factors are also revealed to have meaningful associations with self-efficacy. The findings and implications of this study are discussed within the framework of ecological systems theory.
Theorising the law of confidence in a heuristic method clearly indicates that the violence is based on immediate pleasure for misdemeanour and results in severe pain for the victim. Historically speaking, pain and pleasure are the two sides of a single coin. Design of criminality, as proved in the writing of Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher of legal history, that morality plays a tremendous role, in which detachment of morality from the individual encourages harm to others, and vice versa, attachment of morality moulds the individual to encourage pleasure. The functionalistic approach of crime is argued for societal necessity. According to E. Durkheim, crime or violence is the social fact by which a society is functional and also proves its existence. Other socio-legal processing institutions, such as the court, police, prison, and prosecution, have historically interlinked and co-exist as a functional unit of the whole society. Enemies of social coherence represent themselves in a dramatised way and try to improve their existence by inflicting pain on others through their violent modus operandi. The present research paper provides multiple theoretical explanations with regard to the historical writing about violence. The paper also talks about the guilty mind of offenders and justice delivery services in the past. The future perspective of violence and how to practice the penalty for changing the pace of violence.
Criminology has evolved considerably from its classical and positivist foundations to address the complexities of contemporary society. This paper examines the transformation of criminological thought, highlighting the shift from traditional explanations of crime toward interdisciplinary approaches that incorporate technological, social, environmental, and cultural dimensions. Particular attention is given to emerging fields such as cybercrime studies, bio-criminology, feminist criminology, and green criminology, which broaden the scope of conventional criminological inquiry. The study analyses how globalization, digital technologies, and changing social structures have reshaped patterns of criminal behavior and challenged existing theoretical frameworks. It further explores the implications of these developments for crime prevention, criminal justice policy, and future criminological research. By synthesizing contemporary perspectives, the paper argues that criminology must continuously adapt to emerging forms of crime and evolving societal conditions. The analysis contributes to ongoing debates on the relevance of modern criminological theories in understanding and responding to twenty-first-century criminality.
This article examines how bureaucratic residence regimes shape the integration experiences of Syrian refugee women in Spain, with Germany used as a contextual reference rather than as a fully matched empirical case. Moving beyond dominant integration indicators such as employment, education, and language acquisition, the study argues that legal status and administrative accessibility are constitutive dimensions of integration. The article draws on twenty-six semi-structured interviews with Syrian women residing in Spain and combines these data with an interpretive comparison of the policy and administrative frameworks that structure refugee reception and integration in Spain and Germany. The findings show that residence status is not merely a formal legal category but a lived condition that affects planning, mobility, access to institutions, and emotional security. Interviewees associated bureaucratic complexity with uncertainty, delay, and unequal treatment, and a large majority linked perceived discrimination to bureaucratic settings in Germany. At the same time, interviewees described Spain as relatively more facilitating in terms of residence stability, especially because many had obtained five-year asylum residence permits or had progressed to permanent residence or nationality. The article also highlights the gendered and cultural dimensions of integration, showing how administrative procedures intersect with caregiving responsibilities, language barriers, and differing understandings of family, emotion, and social relations. The study contributes to sociology by conceptualizing bureaucracy as a central mechanism in the production of integration, inequality, and institutional trust. It concludes that integration policy must be understood not only as a matter of social inclusion programming but also as a question of legal architecture and bureaucratic design.
This study explores the relationship between mental health disorders and criminal behavior, with particular emphasis on the challenges faced by the criminal justice system in managing individuals with psychiatric conditions. Using secondary data derived from peer-reviewed literature, government publications, institutional reports, and case studies, the research examines the prevalence of mental illness among incarcerated individuals, probationers, and offenders under community supervision. The findings reveal that mental health disorders are significantly over represented within correctional populations and are frequently associated with substance abuse, social disadvantage, repeated offending, and poor rehabilitation outcomes. The study further identifies major systemic and institutional barriers, including inadequate mental health training among law enforcement personnel, shortages of qualified mental health professionals, overcrowded correctional facilities, insufficient rehabilitation resources, and delays in psychiatric assessment and treatment. Existing interventions such as mental health courts, crisis intervention teams, counseling services, and community-based rehabilitation programs have shown positive outcomes in reducing recidivism and improving offender reintegration; however, their accessibility and implementation remain inconsistent across jurisdictions. The study concludes that strengthening mental health care within the criminal justice system requires comprehensive policy reforms, improved inter-agency coordination, specialized training for criminal justice personnel, and expanded access to evidence-based and community-centered treatment programs. Addressing these challenges is essential for enhancing rehabilitation outcomes, reducing recidivism, and promoting long-term public safety.
This article introduces the concept of teratocracy to analyze contemporary forms of political power marked by the erosion of symbolic limits and the normalization of excess. Epistemologically, it aligns with the tradition of the criminological imagination articulated by Jock Young, reconnecting criminology and sociology through C. Wright Mills’ critique of abstracted empiricism. From a criminological perspective, it also draws on recent developments in zemiology and social harm approaches, shifting the analytical focus from crime to the production, normalization, and denial of harm. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the analysis examines processes of symbolic collapse and their implications for authority, responsibility, legitimacy, and social harm. Teratocracy is conceptualized not as governance without law, but as a mode of power organized around unbounded enjoyment, which reshapes moral boundaries and weakens mechanisms of accountability.
Within Mocombe’s theories of phenomenological structuralism and consciousness field theory, this article outlines the emergence of the process of urbanization and urbanism as a way of life in the capitalist world-system. The paper connects, causally, the emergence of the latter with the formation of the former two, i.e., urbanization and urbanism, in the West.
This article employs a literature-based methodology, utilising green criminology literature and case examples to examine global warming through the framework of green criminology to assess whether contributions to global warming can be considered a ‘crime against nature’ due to their extensive environmental harm. Such environmental degradation aligns with the concept of ‘ecocide’, which criminalises acts that contribute to extensive damage or loss to the Earth’s ecosystems. The analysis identifies states and corporations as principal perpetrators, highlighting how fossil fuel industries contribute to global warming through environmentally detrimental practices and climate misinformation campaigns. Simultaneously, the actions of the state, such as obstructing climate change policies and appointing industry-affiliated personnel to key regulatory positions, exacerbate the climate crisis. While individual consumer behaviours are also contributory, these actions are largely constrained by the systems that are heavily influenced by state-corporate interests. Reframing global warming as a crime against nature highlights the urgent need for legal accountability and systemic reform to address the climate crisis. Recognition of ‘ecocide’ by the International Criminal Court would enable corporate and state actors to be held accountable for their harmful contribution to global warming.
Purpose: Recent research has explored the collateral effects of incarceration on families. This study extends this research by exploring the psychological and emotional effects of visitation on family members of people incarcerated. Design: Data come from in-depth interviews with 35 participants who experienced an immediate family member’s incarceration. Transcripts of these interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings: Results of a thematic content analysis show complex harms families suffer before, during, and after visitation and identify their sources. Findings further show how families became accustomed to a custodial environment and gradually draw on informal peer support networks developed over repeated visits to prison to mitigate the negative effects of visitation. Conclusions: Policy interventions should focus on enhancing connections between incarcerated persons and their families. Policies should also prioritize respect, privacy, and meaningful engagement during visitation. Additionally, standardizing and improving the communication of rules that visitors must follow, the processes they must traverse, and the correctional officers who manage both would mitigate the psychological and emotional suffering of family members. Finally, family reunification programs should begin during incarceration to prepare individuals to engage with their families in healthy ways prior to their release and return home.
The Post Office Scandal is recognised as one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Using a conceptual review grounded in Zemiological theory this article explores the scandal, arguing that traditional frameworks of criminology fail to capture the full scope of corporate crime. The article begins by tracing the origins of the scandal to the flawed implementation of the Horizon IT system, examining how institutional failures by Fujitsu, the Post Office and the UK Government enabled two decades of systemic injustice. It then applies the theory of Zemiology to challenge dominant constructions of crime, highlighting how the pursuit of profit and poor corporate governance permitted a range of ontological harms to sub-postmasters. The role that inadequate safeguarding in private prosecutions played in the scandal is then considered, drawing comparison to the practices of the RSPCA. Lastly, the article considers the enduring legacy of the scandal and questions whether institutional trust can be rebuilt. The article concludes that whilst reparations and reforms have been made, the Post Office Scandal has caused irreparable damage to the integrity of trusted institutions.
Purpose: Diversity and representation are important for organizational growth and sustainability, particularly in policing, where women are highly underrepresented. Although attitudinal research in policing is extensive, little has been done to assess factors that influence citizens’ perceptions of women in policing. This study, therefore, investigates the effects of media and film representation of women in policing on students' perceptions of the female police officer. Design/Methodology: Using a cross-sectional design, the study obtained data from 152 university students enrolled in one of the major research institutions in a southern state of the U.S. during the 2023-2024 academic year. Findings: Using a multivariate analytical approach, the study did not support the hypothesis that negative portrayals of policewomen in media significantly influence students’ perceptions. Originality: The findings of the study provide information that could be useful for improving citizens' attitudes toward women in policing and enhancing the police-citizens relationship. The manuscript offers an original contribution to the study of policing, especially as it relates to factors that influence perceptions of police officers.
Cyber forensic reporting creates a complete and evidence-based record. Appropriate cyber forensic reporting includes the investigation process with compliance and legal evidence, analysis, findings, and actionable recommendations for legal admissibility. In healthcare, cyber forensic reporting helps improve compliance with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and facilitates the detection of vulnerabilities. This paper deals with cyber forensic reporting, which includes its benefits, elements, and process; expert witnesses; and ethical considerations. Cyber forensic reporting in healthcare is introduced. Expert witnesses in healthcare cyber forensic reporting are significant. There is a need for the right experts, including experts with specialized experience and knowledge in both healthcare and digital forensics.
This article develops the concept of cyber-mediated organized crime to capture structural transformations driven by digital infrastructures, especially cryptocurrencies. Integrating functionalist theory (AGIL), Elias’s figurational sociology, and trust theory, it reconstructs how criminal formations adapt by substituting social embeddedness with cryptographic mechanisms. Empirical domains—ransomware, darknet markets, blockchain laundering—reveal how digital actors fulfill core functions of protection, coordination, and trust under pseudonymity and decentralization. Rather than replicating traditional hierarchies, these formations emerge as adaptive social systems shaped by functional differentiation and technological affordances. Their systemic resilience, despite evolving law enforcement strategies, underscores new modes of illicit governance and contestation.
Corruption remains one of Ukraine's most pressing challenges, undermining the rule of law, hindering economic development, and eroding public trust in state institutions. In the contemporary digital transformation era, generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems present new opportunities for combating corruption through automated solutions for financial flow analysis, anomaly detection, and corruption risk assessment. However, deploying such technological systems raises significant legal, ethical, and technical concerns. This article analyses the potential and challenges of applying generative AI systems in Ukraine's anti-corruption policy. Through comparative analysis of international experience, the study identifies effective methods for implementing AI in Ukraine's law enforcement and governance practices, considering the country's legislative framework and political context. The research examines risks associated with AI implementation, including algorithmic manipulation, cybersecurity threats, data protection concerns, and ethical challenges. The authors propose recommendations for adapting AI technologies to Ukraine's anti-corruption efforts, including developing regulatory frameworks, introducing algorithmic accountability, implementing ethical AI standards, and strengthening international cooperation. The findings demonstrate that, with proper regulation and oversight, generative AI can enhance government transparency and reinforce the rule of law in anti-corruption efforts.
The emergence of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies has transformed digital ecosystems, introducing opportunities for innovation and efficiency alongside profound ethical challenges. This paper explores key ethical considerations in cryptocurrency and blockchain, including the decentralization of financial systems, the balance between privacy and transparency, the use of blockchain for surveillance, and the socio-economic impacts on vulnerable populations. The authors delve into the contrasting emphasis on ethical considerations for financial solutions deployed in developed and developing countries. The borderless nature of blockchain and cryptocurrencies enables decentralised international transactions while simultaneously introducing specific challenges regarding the definition of applicable law and other jurisdictional legal matters. Through a combination of literature analysis and illustrative case studies, the authors examine the complex ethical dilemmas that accompany these technologies in combination with their actual and perceived links to crime. The findings aim to provide actionable insights for policymakers, industry leaders, and researchers, fostering the responsible and equitable adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies.
This paper examines how blockchain technology and the Metaverse can address persistent challenges in corporate compliance, with a focus on mitigating criminogenic asymmetries—such as regulatory arbitrage and opacity in cross-border transactions—through decentralized, transparent solutions. By contrasting the U.S. and Italian legal frameworks, we highlight the limitations of retrospective compliance evaluations and propose blockchain-enabled innovations, including immutable audit trails, smart contracts for automated enforcement, and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to decentralize governance and embed compliance into protocol design. The Metaverse offers a simulated environment for stress-testing compliance protocols against emerging risks, while criminological theories (e.g., global anomie, legal-illegal interfaces) contextualize regulatory gaps in digital economies. We argue that DAOs, as digital-native entities, could revolutionize compliance by replacing hierarchical oversight with algorithmic governance, though challenges like jurisdictional fragmentation and identity verification persist. The study underscores the need for adaptive regulatory frameworks to harness these technologies while balancing transparency, accountability, and privacy.
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have revolutionized the financial sector, offering decentralized, secure, and efficient transaction mechanisms. However, these innovations have also introduced new challenges, particularly in the realm of financial crimes such as money laundering, illicit trade, and fraud. This paper explores the dual-use nature of cryptocurrencies, examining their potential for both financial innovation and criminal exploitation, with over $20 billion in illicit transactions recorded in 2023 (Chainalysis, 2023). By reviewing case studies, regulatory responses, and technological solutions, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the risks and opportunities presented by cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Current regulatory frameworks, such as the EU’s MiCA Regulation (2023) and FATF recommendations and guidelines, have significantly influenced cryptocurrency adoption by balancing innovation with risk mitigation. The paper concludes with actionable recommendations for enhancing regulatory frameworks, fostering international cooperation, leveraging AI and other technological advancements, and creating educational initiatives to mitigate financial crimes in the digital age.
