Contemporary Organised Crime: Challenges and Issues

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Crime and Justice".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Education, Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Crime, Policing and Social Justice, University of the West of Scotland, Ayr KA8 0SX, UK
Interests: criminal activity; drug supply; organised crime

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Guest Editor
School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University, W23 F2H6 Maynooth, Ireland
Interests: gangs; organized crime; illegal enterprise; drug trafficking; prison gangs; Latin American studies; financial crime; cybercrime; crimmigration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Organized crime is a global phenomenon. It impacts economies, business, and the everyday lives of individuals. The seriousness and threat posed by organized crime has grown exponentially in the last few decades and has even allowed organized criminal groups the resources required to challenge legitimate state autonomy.

Organized crime can take many forms, ranging from drug supply to human trafficking to white-collar crime and occurs both in physical and digital domains. Organized crime is often intertwined with legitimate business and state actors, thus making prevention and efforts to dismantle networks complex.

The growing threat of organized crime has brought with it particular challenges and issues. More specifically, how police respond to tackling organized crime, the challenges faced by non-state actors, like private businesses, in online spaces, and how criminal organization has continued to evolve at a global level.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide a platform for theoretical and empirical research studies analyzing and critically discussing the extent and impact of organized crime and form which it may take and how state and non-state actors may respond to protect against and tackle increasingly hybrid forms of organized criminality. Papers from a wide range of disciplines are welcomed, as well as contributions that are cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary.

Dr. Robert Mclean
Dr. R. V. Gundur
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • organized crime
  • drug supply
  • trafficking
  • online crimes
  • fraud
  • money laundering
  • international county lines
  • exploitation
  • victimization

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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