Drug Business and Crime

This chapter studies illegal drugs, that have created the most profitable of all illicit markets. It, analyzes this industry within the broader framework of the book, which examines the effects these markets have on crime and how states have responded. It argues that the dramatic profit drugs produce has diluted the consolidation of strong deterrence from states. By examining the business aspects of trafficking, the structural organization of the illegal drug industry, and the enforcement capacities of state agencies, this chapter explains why large or small organizations rise, under what circumstances violence can erupt, and how the type of crime equilibrium that results affects states and their capacities. The conditions that elicit the emergence of lethal violence are especially emphasized, as are the ways in which different equilibria are established. Finally, the chapter studies the indirect effect of US drug policies on crime in the region.

Business · Consolidation (business) · Criminology · Deterrence theory · Drug trafficking · Economics · Enforcement · Law and economics · Law enforcement · Market economy · Neoclassical economics · Organised crime · Political science · Profit (economics) · Sociology · Accounting · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law