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Crime in Developing Countries

Edited by Dr. Mangai Natarajan

It could be argued that many of the most serious crime problems are now to be found in developing countries. Yet these problems have received only scant attention from criminologists and crime scientists, most of who work in developed/Westernized nations. Crime scientists have a special role to play in studying these crimes because their work is oriented to solutions and it is this kind of practical help that the developing world most needs. Using crime opportunity theory, this issue examines a selection of these crimes from a crime science perspective. Many of the crimes included are relatively uncommon in the West: maritime piracy, illegal fishing, poaching of endangered animals, sexual harassment of women in public places, gang warfare and homicides and ransom kidnappings. So apart from being of value to developing countries, this issue will help to expand the agenda of crime science.
Collection published: 25 July 2015

  1. During 2012–2013, the homicide rate in El Salvador came down from 69.9 to 42.2 per 100,000 population following a government brokered truce between the leaders of the two major gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio ...

    Authors: Carlos Carcach and Evelyn Artola
    Citation: Crime Science 2016 5:13
  2. Substantial research suggests that a burglary event is a useful predictor of burglaries to the same or nearby properties in the near future. To date, the research that has suggested this predictive quality ha...

    Authors: Spencer Paul Chainey and Braulio Figueiredo Alves da Silva
    Citation: Crime Science 2016 5:1
  3. This study examines whether social disorganization mechanisms that explain clusters of street drug markets in socially disorganized neighborhoods in developed countries can also help explain geographical patt...

    Authors: Elenice Oliveira, Braulio Figueiredo Alves Silva and Marcos Oliveira Prates
    Citation: Crime Science 2015 4:36
  4. Using data from 72 countries, this study focuses on factors that affect illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels’ choice of country to offload their catch, with a specific emphasis on the dif...

    Authors: Nerea Marteache, Julie Viollaz and Gohar A. Petrossian
    Citation: Crime Science 2015 4:32
  5. By any standard, there is a serious problem of crime on the public transport system in El Salvador. Guided by crime opportunity theory, this study undertook a rapid assessment of the problem consisting of a sy...

    Authors: Mangai Natarajan, Ronald Clarke, Carlos Carcach, Carlos Ponce, Margarita Beneke de Sanfeliú, Dolores Escobar Polanco, Mario Chávez and Mauricio Shi
    Citation: Crime Science 2015 4:29
  6. Commonly, established nations are called upon to deal with crime epidemics in developing countries. This is particularly the case when the outside country has a vested interest in doing something about the for...

    Authors: Christopher H. Stubbert, Stephen F. Pires and Rob T. Guerette
    Citation: Crime Science 2015 4:23
  7. This paper examines the spatio-temporal evolution of homicide across the municipalities of El Salvador. It aims at identifying both temporal trends and spatial clusters that may contribute to the formation of ...

    Authors: Carlos Carcach
    Citation: Crime Science 2015 4:20