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What did people buy on Silk Road?
Last month (29 May 2015) the founder of Silk Road, the online black market, was given a life sentence.
But why was the site so popular? The short answer is that it made the purchase of illegal drugs triaghtforward and secure.
According to prosecutors, the site generated about $214 million in sales between early 2011 and late 2013. In late 2011 and 2012, while the site was still active, Carnegie Mellon’s Nicolas Christin gathered eight months of data that shows the 20 most popular categories purchased on Silk Road.
Just how many people do US police shoot dead?
The invaluable Statista website recently published the damning infographic below showing that, allowing for the difference in population, you are 100 times more likely to be shot dead by a police officer in the US than the UK.
The European Drug Report 2015
Earlier this month the EMCDDA published its annual European Drugs Report. My experience is that these reports get more useful every year. In addition to the opportunity to see how UK drug use both resembles and differs from patterns of use in different parts of the continent, the report also gives a very useful heads-up on trends in how countries respond to the issue of drugs. This year’s report focuses in particular on: Drug market dynamics – global influences and local differences; Trends in drug use and Developments in health and social responses
Ombudsman says too many vulnerable prisoners are segregated
The number of prison suicides and incidents of self-harm has risen sharply recently. Despite the best intentions of the Ombudsman, I fear it is reasonable to expect the figures to get worse and for more human lives to be needlessly lost as the Ministry of Justice embarks on another round of cuts.
10 things I learnt from the 2015 Global Drug Survey
The Global Drug Survey becomes more valuable every year; this year over 100,000 people completed the survey. The survey is very different from research such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales because it is typically completed by regular, mainly recreational, drug users. The findings make fascinating reading and I recommend that you find time for a browse.
Hate crime in Europe
Following the recent depressing inspection report that found British criminal justice agencies are doing very little to tackle disability hate crime, I thought it might be interesting to look more generally at the prevalence of hate crime within the European Union. As you can see, even with the acknowledged under-reporting of hate crimes, the figures are extremely worrying.
Employ Russell
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