The Author reviews Michele Goodwin’s book Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts, published by Cambridge University Press, 2006. The book discusses the shortage of cadaveric organs available for transplantation. It argues that the shortage disproportionately impacts racial...

Mexico is currently one of the most important hotspots of criminal activity with effects in the Western Hemisphere. In this criminal dynamic, the Sinaloa Cartel, The Gulf Cartel, “La Familia Michoacana”, “The Knights Templar” and “Los Zetas” are some of the most relevant criminal...

This book challenges the quasi-consensus that Latin American countries dominate global homicide rankings mainly due to the illegal nature of drug production and trafficking. Building on US scholarship that looks at the role of social exclusion and discriminatory policing in drug violence, the...

Some theories predict that profits facilitate peace in illegal markets, while others predict that profits fuel violence. I provide empirical evidence from drug trafficking in Venezuela. Using an original data set, I compare lethal violence trends in counties near a major trafficking route to...