Journal of Economic Criminology最新文献

{"title":"Interconnected challenges: Examining the nexus of environmental crime and money laundering in the context of energy transition","authors":"Zeynab Malakouti ,&nbsp;Mohammad Hazrati","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100151","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100151","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental crime, ranked as the fourth-largest criminal enterprise after drug trafficking, counterfeiting, and human trafficking, encompasses illegal activities such as mineral extraction, land clearance, and waste trafficking. These crimes are closely linked to financial crimes due to their lucrative nature and minimal risks. Climate change accelerates the need for energy transitions which, in turn, could lead to a rise in environmental crimes such as illegal mining and e-waste trafficking. This paper explores the nexus between environmental crime and money laundering as a type of financial crimes in the context of energy transition, focusing on preventing these illegal activities to enable a just transition to a net-zero energy system. Using a case study approach cantered on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, known for mineral wealth and e-waste hub respectively, it examines how recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force, including a risk-based approach,criminalisation, and suspicious transaction reports, can guide efforts to prevent environmental crimes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143705308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How frontline states tackle sanctions against Russia: Implementation and enforcement dynamics in Poland and the Baltics","authors":"Katarzyna J. McNaughton ,&nbsp;Marcin Łukowski","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100130","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100130","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, reshaped the EU’s security landscape, prompting sanctions aimed at weakening Russia’s war capabilities. These sanctions also redefined the roles of public authorities and the private sector, introducing new challenges in a shifting geopolitical context.</div><div>Public authorities, including financial intelligence units, customs, state security agencies, law-enforcement agencies, etc., must identify, prevent, and investigate sanctions evasion and circumvention. This requires robust legal frameworks, adequate resources, and expertise in sanctions evasion typologies. Similarly, businesses and financial institutions operate in legal ambiguity, often asking, <em>“Who am I dealing with in this transaction?”,</em> as they navigate complex compliance requirements.</div><div>Both the public and private sectors need a strong framework for domestic and cross-border sharing of financial intelligence, trade data, and knowledge of sanctions evasion typologies, as well as insight into the corporate structures of sanctioned entities. However, the EU's decentralized approach of independently designed national enforcement models may hamper cooperation and cross-border financial intelligence sharing.</div><div>This paper examines how Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia that are post-Warsaw Pact EU countries bordering Russia, implement and enforce those sanctions. It explores who \"does what\" and whether national authorities are adapting their <em>modi operandi</em> to enforce sanctions effectively.</div><div>The findings reveal distinct national approaches. Latvia’s FIU became Europe’s first sanctions authority, integrating intelligence and enforcement functions. Estonia’s FIU plays a significant role but shares responsibilities with other agencies. Lithuania’s FIU adopts a collaborative model, leveraging a public-private partnership with the Center of Excellence in Anti-Money Laundering. Poland has a fragmented enforcement structure and regulatory framework but is unique in implementing its own autonomous sanctions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100130"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of FinTech and control of corruption on environmental sustainability","authors":"Muhammad Naeem Shahid ,&nbsp;Zareen Zahid ,&nbsp;Falak Sher ,&nbsp;Muhammad Ishtiaq","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100162","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100162","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current study inspects the effect of Institutional Quality and FinTech on environmental sustainability in the “Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)” scenario. The study employs data on six aspects of institutional quality and carbon emissions “from 82 countries from 2017 to 2024. The study observes that carbon emissions can be reduced by controlling corruption and enhancing regulatory quality in the EKC framework. However, FinTech reduces environmental quality. The causality test reveals unidirectional causality of FinTech, Growth and industrialization for ecological sustainability (CO₂ emission), while all other variables have bidirectional causality. The findings suggest that a fair institutional quality framework is essential for environmental protection, and all countries should promote the consumption of green and clean energy behind the mining of FinTech activities to enhance climate quality by reducing carbon emissions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143854991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Illegal grain market in Ukraine: Harvesting war opportunities","authors":"Tetiana Melnychuk","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100160","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100160","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Based on empirical evidence, this research: highlights the timeline of changes in Ukrainian agricultural sector since the onset of the full-scale war in 2022 and the maritime blockade affecting exports; examines the relevant transformation of the illegal grain market amid these extraordinary turbulent circumstances; describes the key components of the heterogeneous illegal grain market, which includes the export of \"black\" grain through the grain corridor and trade in grain as a looted commodity from the occupied territories; identifies the role of organized crime and corruption in illegal transactions of wartime, considering the pre-existing models of the shadow economy functioning. The findings of this research may serve as a theoretical and methodological framework for studying scenarios of illicit economies in the context of armed conflicts and other systemic crises at both national and transnational levels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100160"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143844769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Criminal participation in the legal economy during a health crisis: A screening of the Italian economy during 2020 and 2021","authors":"Giovanni Nicolazzo","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100155","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100155","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates patterns of suspicious participation into the legal economy during the coronavirus pandemic (2020-2021), with a focus on the Italian context. Moving beyond traditional reliance on law enforcement or judicial data, it applies a proxy-based methodology to identify red-flags in company ownership structures that may signal potential criminal influence. By comparing incorporations and ownership changes before and during the pandemic, the study highlights shifts in the frequency and distribution of selected suspicious features. As an initial academic application of screening techniques, the study offers a practical framework for monitoring emerging trends in the criminal involvement within the legal economy and lays the groundwork for further methodological refinement in this field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143747328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do stronger Anti Money Laundering (AML) measures reduce crime? An empirical study on corruption, bribery, and environmental crime","authors":"Agung Andiojaya","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100157","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100157","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The objective of anti-money laundering (AML) programs is to disrupt the financial infrastructure of criminal organizations, thereby seizing illicit assets and curbing the expansion of these criminal activities. This paper assesses the effectiveness of AML programs in curbing three distinct forms of criminal activity: corruption, bribery, and environmental crime. The analysis encompasses a representative sample of 192 countries. These crimes were selected due to their significant socio-economic impacts and their strong dependence on illicit financial flows. This study employs multivariate multiple regression analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to assess the influence of money laundering risk on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), bribery risk, and environmental crime. The results indicate that rigorous AML measures significantly mitigate the risks associated with these crimes, substantiating the hypothesis that efficacious AML programs can deter criminals by limiting access to illicit funds. This research addresses a gap by quantitatively assessing AML effectiveness across diverse criminal activities, contributing to the broader discourse on financial crime prevention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100157"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143739444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficacy of country legal frameworks and international guidelines in curtailing money laundering and terrorist financing activities in grey list countries: Case studies of Kenya and Uganda","authors":"Catherine Tuhirirwe ,&nbsp;Richard Alexander","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100153","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100153","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper analyses the legal frameworks in Kenya and Uganda, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines to ascertain if they are effective in minimising money laundering activities and keeping the countries off of FATF’s grey list. The study implements the Two-Pillar methodology that assesses prevention and enforcement. Through the analysis of the AML regimes, risk-based approaches, the Mutual Evaluation (ME) reports and follow up reports, this study finds that the current Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) are less effective in both countries due to reasons such as non-compliance, legislative failures, and lack of/ poor national risk assessments. This finding is congruent with existing literature on the subject. It also finds that Uganda has an edge over Kenya regarding implementation of MLRs. More so, Kenya shows slower progress in working towards the identified deficiencies, partly due to the higher innovation diffusion, especially with virtual assets. Also, countries that remain in the FATF follow-up process for prolonged periods are deemed weak with regards to AML and terrorist financing enforcement frameworks, and this increases their chances of getting FATF grey-listed. Additionally, low levels of compliance and effectiveness of MLRs can bring about negative consequences such as derisking, greylisting, increased costs of borrowing, and reduced development assistance inflows. Therefore, less developed countries that are at risk of being added to the FATF grey list are advised to improve their MLRs to meet international standards, minimise corruption, fraud, tax crimes, and counterfeiting of goods, thereby enhancing their compliance and effectiveness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100153"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143714622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Mapping the trends of Financial Statement Fraud detection research from the historical roots and seminal work” [J. Econ. Criminol. 6 (2024) 1–24]","authors":"Beemamol M.,&nbsp;B. Charumathi","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100143","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100143","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100143"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Implementation of the risk-based approach in CDD and its impact on the financial inclusion of Nigerian and Pakistani students","authors":"Emilia Aguele","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100163","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100163","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents exploratory research assessing the impact of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures on international students from Nigeria and Pakistan’s financial inclusion in the UK. It explores the concept of de-risking, which could limit access for students from nations grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and whether recent grey-listing has posed additional challenges for these students compared to their non-listed status. Emerging trends suggest that while some students experience delays in accessing a bank account, others do not. Nigerian students during the listing period exhibited patterns suggesting they may be restricted in accessing international transfers. The patterns also suggest that enhanced due diligence was utilised in both periods for all participants who opened their accounts in person, which could indicate a trend toward over-compliance. It explores the implementation of the risk-based approach to AML/CFT measures by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and financial institutions using Matland’s theory on experimental and symbolic implementation. It finds that the implementation is characterised by a high level of ambiguity and conflict between actors, shaping how resolutions are developed and policy outcomes. It argues that there is a need for a balanced strategy that ensures compliance without compromising the financial inclusion of legitimate customers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100163"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143916829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cybercrime in criminology; A systematic review of criminological theories, methods, and concepts","authors":"Gift Onwuadiamu","doi":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100136","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100136","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the incidences of traditional crime rates have begun to decline, there has been a surge and shift in the kinds of criminal activities perpetuated by individuals. The recent shift in criminal activities includes organized crime, white-collar crime, and cybercrime.The increased use and access to digital space have influenced the prevalence of cyber-criminal behavior over time. This issue has led scholars in allied fields such as computer science, psychology, law, and economics, to understand the prevalence, causes, and impact of cybercrime. In the last decades, the field of criminology has used its concepts and theories to explain the issues of cybercrime. This study uses the PRISMA systematic review model to examine criminological studies in cybercrime,identifying approaches in conceptualization, operationalization, use of data and analysis, and the application of this subject, etc. This systematic review will advance the growing field of cybercrime and will help the criminological scholarship in understanding the gaps that exist and help policymakers keep up with development and implement evidence-based solutions in tackling cybercrime.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Criminology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100136"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143609987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}