Michael Jerome Wolff
Biographic Data
| ID | 822718 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Jerome Wolff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael Jerome |
| FAMILY NAME | Wolff |
| SIGNATURE | WOLFF M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Washington University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9274-3503 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1968 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Organizational form and fatalities in Michoacán's vigilante movement, 2012-2015
On the basis of quantitative and interview data on an armed vigilante movement in the Mexican state of Michoacán, we demonstrate that the variation in violence among different types of armed groups is partly a function of their intra-organizational dynamics. We show that patron-sponsored groups were significantly more likely to engage in armed combat, to kill and to die within and beyond the boundaries of their respective communities, than were t…
Insurgent Vigilantism and Drug War in Mexico
The proliferation of armed, anti-crime self-defence groups ( autodefensas) in Mexico since 2013 has sparked renewed scholarly interest in vigilantism and the politics of collective violence more generally. Whilst most of this recent scholarship attempts to explain where and why such groups emerge in the first place, very little attention has been paid to the micro-foundations of vigilante organisation and behaviour. Drawing on ethnographic resear…
Sharing Authority
Over the last decade, Community Policing (CP) secured a central place in Brazilian public security policy, challenging traditional policing modalities known more for their lethal violence than their efficacy. But as the CP model moved from wealthy societies to the Brazilian favela (urban slum), it faced far greater challenges. Tasked with displacing the deeply rooted authority of drug gangs, it sought to extend state authority territorially, as w…
Violence and criminal order
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, suffered an explosion of criminal violence between 2008 and 2012 that cost the lives of more than ten thousand people, earning it notoriety as the world’s “murder capital.” Just a few years later, however, levels of violence had dropped back to pre-2008 levels, decreasing by more than 85 percent. Existing political, economic, and sociological theories provide compelling narratives about the origins of Mexico’s drug-related …
Policing and the logics of violence
Two recent and highly ambitious public security initiatives in Brazil have claimed responsibility for dramatic reductions in homicides, while much of the rest of Latin America continues to suffer increasing violence. Boasting such unparalleled successes, the pacifying police units (UPPs) in Rio de Janeiro and the Pacto pela Vida (Pact for Life) in Pernambuco have been lauded as promising exportable models of public security for other violence-rid…
Building Criminal Authority
Why do drug gangs develop sophisticated authority functions in some places and not in others? Comparing two Brazilian cities, Rio de Janeiro and Recife, this article argues that territorially embedded informal authority structures from earlier times, coupled with sporadic and extremely violent policing, encouraged drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro to develop authoritative functions and residents to acquiesce to them. In Recife, by contrast, drug gangs…
Prison. The Penal Institutions of Britain
Building Criminal Authority
Why do drug gangs develop sophisticated authority functions in some places and not in others? Comparing two Brazilian cities, Rio de Janeiro and Recife, this article argues that territorially embedded informal authority structures from earlier times, coupled with sporadic and extremely violent policing, encouraged drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro to develop authoritative functions and residents to acquiesce to them. In Recife, by contrast, drug gangs…
Insurgent Vigilantism and Drug War in Mexico
The proliferation of armed, anti-crime self-defence groups ( autodefensas) in Mexico since 2013 has sparked renewed scholarly interest in vigilantism and the politics of collective violence more generally. Whilst most of this recent scholarship attempts to explain where and why such groups emerge in the first place, very little attention has been paid to the micro-foundations of vigilante organisation and behaviour. Drawing on ethnographic resear…
Policing and the logics of violence
Two recent and highly ambitious public security initiatives in Brazil have claimed responsibility for dramatic reductions in homicides, while much of the rest of Latin America continues to suffer increasing violence. Boasting such unparalleled successes, the pacifying police units (UPPs) in Rio de Janeiro and the Pacto pela Vida (Pact for Life) in Pernambuco have been lauded as promising exportable models of public security for other violence-rid…
Violence and criminal order
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, suffered an explosion of criminal violence between 2008 and 2012 that cost the lives of more than ten thousand people, earning it notoriety as the world’s “murder capital.” Just a few years later, however, levels of violence had dropped back to pre-2008 levels, decreasing by more than 85 percent. Existing political, economic, and sociological theories provide compelling narratives about the origins of Mexico’s drug-related …
Sharing Authority
Over the last decade, Community Policing (CP) secured a central place in Brazilian public security policy, challenging traditional policing modalities known more for their lethal violence than their efficacy. But as the CP model moved from wealthy societies to the Brazilian favela (urban slum), it faced far greater challenges. Tasked with displacing the deeply rooted authority of drug gangs, it sought to extend state authority territorially, as w…
Prison. The Penal Institutions of Britain
Policing and the logics of violence
Two recent and highly ambitious public security initiatives in Brazil have claimed responsibility for dramatic reductions in homicides, while much of the rest of Latin America continues to suffer increasing violence. Boasting such unparalleled successes, the pacifying police units (UPPs) in Rio de Janeiro and the Pacto pela Vida (Pact for Life) in Pernambuco have been lauded as promising exportable models of public security for other violence-rid…
Building Criminal Authority
Why do drug gangs develop sophisticated authority functions in some places and not in others? Comparing two Brazilian cities, Rio de Janeiro and Recife, this article argues that territorially embedded informal authority structures from earlier times, coupled with sporadic and extremely violent policing, encouraged drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro to develop authoritative functions and residents to acquiesce to them. In Recife, by contrast, drug gangs…
Violence and criminal order
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, suffered an explosion of criminal violence between 2008 and 2012 that cost the lives of more than ten thousand people, earning it notoriety as the world’s “murder capital.” Just a few years later, however, levels of violence had dropped back to pre-2008 levels, decreasing by more than 85 percent. Existing political, economic, and sociological theories provide compelling narratives about the origins of Mexico’s drug-related …
Sharing Authority
Over the last decade, Community Policing (CP) secured a central place in Brazilian public security policy, challenging traditional policing modalities known more for their lethal violence than their efficacy. But as the CP model moved from wealthy societies to the Brazilian favela (urban slum), it faced far greater challenges. Tasked with displacing the deeply rooted authority of drug gangs, it sought to extend state authority territorially, as w…
Insurgent Vigilantism and Drug War in Mexico
The proliferation of armed, anti-crime self-defence groups ( autodefensas) in Mexico since 2013 has sparked renewed scholarly interest in vigilantism and the politics of collective violence more generally. Whilst most of this recent scholarship attempts to explain where and why such groups emerge in the first place, very little attention has been paid to the micro-foundations of vigilante organisation and behaviour. Drawing on ethnographic resear…
Organizational form and fatalities in Michoacán's vigilante movement, 2012-2015
On the basis of quantitative and interview data on an armed vigilante movement in the Mexican state of Michoacán, we demonstrate that the variation in violence among different types of armed groups is partly a function of their intra-organizational dynamics. We show that patron-sponsored groups were significantly more likely to engage in armed combat, to kill and to die within and beyond the boundaries of their respective communities, than were t…
Political science (7 works) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance (6 works) · Criminology (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (4 works) · Politics (3 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (2 works) · Geography (2 works)