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Open research questions in Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

65 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 2,561 Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The prevalence of criminally acquired assets is significantly felt globally. Despite the fact that the exact value of looting is difficult to determine with accuracy, the research findings have revealed that there are some estimates. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] has estimated that between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion is lost each year to various illegal activities.9 It is further estimated that corrupt public officials in developing and transition countries loot as much as $40 billion each year, concealing these funds overseas where they are extremely difficult to recover.10 This figure is equivalent to the annual GDP of the world’s 12 poorest countries, where 240 million people live.11 In Nigeria alone, $420 billion has been stolen from state coffers since independence. In fact, criminals always ensure that they conceal their profits from crime. Lord Steyn notes in one of the UK’s leading asset recovery cases, namely R. v. Rezvi,12 that: “It is a notorious fact that professional and habitual criminals frequently take steps to conceal their profits from crime. Effective but fair powers of confiscating the proceeds of crime are therefore essential.” Similarly, Lord Hope states on behalf of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of McIntosh v. Lord Advocate13 that: “The essence of drug trafficking is dealing or trading in drugs. People engage in this 10 See Brun, J.P., Gray, R., Scott, C. and Stephenson, K.M. (2011) Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, World Bank, UNODC. 11 Greenberg, T.S., Samuel, L.M., Grant, W. and Gray, L. (2009) Stolen Asset Recovery: A Good Practices Guide for Non-Conviction Based Asset Forfeiture, Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., p.7. 12 [2003]1 AC 1099, 1146. 13 [2001] Cr. App. R. 490 at 509-510.

    Enforcement of the Law on Criminally Acquired Asset Recovery in Tanzania: A Critical Analysis of Barriers Encountered · 2026 · DOI

  • However, Vanuatu’s ability to effectively identify, track, monitor and prosecute ML/TF cases is limited by a shortage of skilled professionals, including forensic investigators, litigation experts, computer engineers and lawyers.

    Globalization, Financial Crime and the Expansion of Southern Criminology: Confronting the Challenges of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Vanuatu · 2026 · DOI

  • • Legal Frameworks: Codify the exchangeability of virtual goods under national laws. Apply anti-money laundering (AML) regulations on virtual asset exchanges exceeding the defined trade thresholds. • Platform Accountability: Mandate KYC verifications for high-value trades. Mandate reporting suspicious trades to the financial intelligence units. • Regional Cooperation: Develop legislative frameworks for the Western Balkans on the oversight of cross-border virtual markets, aligned with the EU’s Digital Services Act • AI & Monitoring: Invest in ethical AI solutions for detecting in-game fraud. Ensure transparent governance structures with human oversight. • Public Education: Design national education campaigns on the risks associated with digital assets. Include digital economy literacy in the national education curriculum. Contact: [email protected] [email protected] This brief is based on research conducted in 2025 from COST Action CA21133 – GLITSS (Globalization, Illicit Trade, Sustainability and Security), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

    Illicit Trade Risks in Online Gaming: Evidence from Albania and North Macedonia · 2026 · DOI

  • Given this gap in the literature, the current study utilized a sample of 287 firearm products across 20 Dark Web vendors operating in both crypto markets and shops to identify the range and pricing model of illicit weapons.

    An assessment of the state of firearm sales on the Dark Web · 2022 · DOI

  • Research limitations/implications The research findings are limited to specific forms of crime (illicit drug trade, economic crime, fraud, scams, theft, smuggling of and trafficking in human beings) in the WB6 and based on findings from four interviews and four consultations, together with available secondary data.

    Organised crime in Western Balkans Six at the onset of coronavirus · 2020 · DOI

  • Yet despite the widespread impact of these laws, researchers continue to ignore a seemingly fundamental research question: Why do some states, but not others, enact harsher drug laws? To partly address this gap in the literature I locate the social, political, and economic factors responsible for changes in the severity of U.

    Beyond the Federal Drug War: A Panel Study of State-Level Powder and Crack Cocaine Laws, 1977–2010 · 2018 · DOI

  • To help fill this gap in the literature, the authors offer an ethnographic investigation of a maximum security prison conducted over an 18-month period using participatory action research.

    Consumption Restriction in a Total Control Institution: Participatory Action Research in a Maximum Security Prison · 2015 · DOI

  • 1 Although much academic research has since been published on the issue of organised crime, including a number of critical accounts of the concept itself 2 as well as some comprehensive theoretical and empirical studies 3 , the impact of the new organised crime agenda in non-Western states has remained under-researched.

    Fighting organised crime as a security threat: the lessons learnt from the case of Bulgaria · 2012

  • This article proposes to fill this gap in the literature by fitting a Cox proportional hazard model to ‘time to failure’ data in a sample of 112 incarcerated male inmates who were active as drug dealers in the 3 years preceding their incarceration.

    Is small beautiful? The link between risks and size in illegal drug markets · 2011 · DOI

  • While the means and the classical methods of probation under the Criminal Procedure Code were insufficient for detection, the investigation and the combating of the illicit drug trafficking, the introduction into the Law143/2000, amended through the Law no.

    Cauze de nepedepsire sau reducere a pedepsei in cazul traficului de droguri [Impunity or reduction of punishment causes in drugs traffic instance] · 2009

  • Why have so many countries with so little in common adopted the same policy so rapidly? This extensive diffusion is particularly puzzling given the lack of evidence that AML policies actually work.

    Power and Discourse in Policy Diffusion: Anti-Money Laundering in Developing States · 2008 · DOI

  • Between 1973 and 1978, 11 states reduced criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of the drug, but the reform movement was fragile, brief, and limited to a few states.

    Dissonance and Contradictions in the Origins of Marihuana Decriminalization · 1994 · DOI

  • Üyesi Nurten ÖZTÜRK In addition to how treatment and rehabilitation practices will be carried out, the situation of a drug user who enters prison should be examined.

    THE OFFENSE OF USING NARCOTICS AND PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES AND ITS EXECUTION IN TURKISH CRIMINAL LAW · 2026 · DOI

  • Despite limited network analyses on the interrelationship between arms and drug trafficking in the region, existing literature suggests their interconnection remains to be empirically tested.

    The confluence of crime: mapping the nexus between arms and drug trafficking in the Caribbean · 2026 · DOI

  • The results obtained during the study constitute a substantial theoretical basis and can be used for further study of the problematic issues of soft drugs’ authorisation at the state level in Ukraine or abroad.

    Advantages and Disadvantages of Soft Drugs Legalisation at State Level · 2025 · DOI

  • Ports have been considered key settings for the adaptation of cocaine smuggling to policing, but few studies have analysed their mutual adaptations, focussing more on European ports of destination than on South American ports of origin.

    A dive ahead: the adaptive dimensions between cocaine smuggling and policing in major Brazilian ports · 2025 · DOI

  • While some research on organized crime by Chinese triads has been published in recent years, the concept of triad territory is still under-researched.

    Chinese triads and the notion of territory · 2024 · DOI

  • Despite the wide reach of anti-money laundering legislation worldwide and increasing media attention, fostered by journalistic leaks such as Panama Papers, empirical knowledge on how criminals launder their illicit proceeds is still scarce.

    Cleaning mafia cash: An empirical analysis of the money laundering behaviour of 2800 Italian criminals · 2024 · DOI

  • Using a plagiarism detection software, we find limited evidence of exact matches between provincial legislation, but a cosine score approach reveals significant similarities across provinces.

    Measuring Policy Diffusion in Federal Systems: The Case of Legalizing Cannabis in Canada under Time Constraints · 2023 · DOI

  • Notwithstanding growing scientific interest and increasing number of policies aiming at preventing and punishing organized crime, little is known about the specific processes that lead to recruitment into organized crime.

    Organized crime groups: A systematic review of individual‐level risk factors related to recruitment · 2022 · DOI

  • Using data from two online drug markets, I find mixed evidence that reputation and authentication are associated with transaction value, whereas results are consistent for social ties.

    Building a case for trust: reputation, institutional regulation and social ties in online drug markets · 2022 · DOI

  • An increasing number of studies have revealed various aspects of these cryptomarkets; however, whether drugs play a major role for competing cryptomarkets to be the market leader, has not been addressed.

    Are Illicit Drugs a Driving Force for Cryptomarket Leadership? · 2022 · DOI

  • The current study attempted to address this gap in the literature through a qualitative crime script analysis of counterfeit currency vendors operating on both the Open and Dark Web to understand the ways vendors advertise, actualize, and exit these transactions.

    Assessing the Practices of Online Counterfeit Currency Vendors · 2022 · DOI

  • However, the exact relationship between legal origin and legal substance has been disputed in the literature and not fully explored with nuanced legal coding.

    Do Legal Origins Predict Legal Substance? · 2021 · DOI

  • In reference to originality, the paper adds to the scarce research on the fight against global illicit trade and empirically explores the role that culture plays in driving the attitudes towards illicit trade and the political will to fight the crime.

    Illicit Trade and Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions · 2020 · DOI

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65 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 2,561 Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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