This contribution will present the observational method, whose main goal is the in-depth analysis of the criminal situation concerning both the dynamics that are triggered within the relationship – therefore interpreting them through the eyes of the individuals involved – and the dynamics faced by those who observe the relationship from the outside and then have to represent or judge it. The method is the result of the encounter between two approaches, narrative criminology and visual criminology, from which it borrows the concepts of narrative and image. Narrative, in this case, means the stories produced by individuals, who describe the events through their point of observation, and the arguments produced by criminologists and operators based on the perspective they adopted in observing the story; therefore, the narrative plays a central role. The observational method defines the relationship metaphorically as if it were a room within which the protagonists act and perceive themselves according to where they are placed and what they see subjectively. Those who observe the room from the outside will describe it as if it were a photograph. Here the concept of image borrowed from visual criminology returns. Starting with the first activities that are carried out talking about criminal acts (fact-crimes) and then the inspection activities (technical–judicial and psycho-criminological), we will highlight the role of the criminologist and the narrative approach that distinguishes his or her work.

Juju-related child homicide or ritual paedicide (i.e. killing children for ritual or occult purposes) has been the subject of many media reports in Africa. The present study explores the evolution, magnitude, motivations and primary features of ritual paedicide, and identifies the socio-cultural, religious and economic contexts of this crime in contemporary Ghana. An in-depth analysis of ritual homicide cases/reports publicized in three local Ghanaian media outlets between 2013 and 2020 was carried out to realize this aim. Semi-structured interviews involving 20 participants were then conducted to gain additional insights into key aspects of the results of the media content analysis. The data demonstrate that juju-involved murders are widespread in Ghana, and the worst victims are children of low socio-economic backgrounds in rural communities. Poor parental supervision is a significant risk factor for ritual paedicide. Perpetrators and prime suspects are predominantly young adult males, aged between 20 and 39 years, unemployed or on a low income. Most perpetrators are motivated by financial gain. The study highlights the need for economic improvement and promoting formal and public education. It also stresses the need to bring juju practitioners under closer scrutiny and criminalize some of their activities.

Since the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights and, above all, since the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights, national criminal law has been constrained. The legal authorities of the Member States must respect a certain number of obligations provided for by the text and interpreted by the European jurisdiction. If this is not the case, the applicants can appeal at the Court of Strasbourg and demand compensation for the violation of their fundamental rights. This is how the European Court, through its many decisions, has enabled a certain harmonization within the Council of Europe, which is now made up of 47 States. France does not escape condemnation. Even if it has sometimes resisted the Court’s injunctions, the latter’s judgments have nonetheless obliged France to contain its incriminations and to limit the restrictions on the rights of persons placed in detention. Freedom of expression is quite a remarkable illustration of the necessary delimitation of incriminations. While the Court accepts that States retain a margin of appreciation, it exercises an attentive and rigorous eye when States reduce the exercise of this freedom. The balance is always difficult to determine, but it must be right. Concerning the rights of detainees, the Court seems more flexible regarding States and hesitates in its positions. However, even if there is a restriction of freedoms, the incarcerated individuals remain citizens. They must therefore be able to exercise a certain number of rights. This is linked to their status as subjects of law.

Indonesia has the largest financial technology (FinTech) industry in Southeast Asia: 167 FinTech companies offer payment, lending, personal finance, crypto and blockchain, crowdfunding, Insurtech and point-of-sale (POS) services. Two entities regulate the FinTech industry: Bank Indonesia and Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK). The Indonesian FinTech ecosystem encompasses savings and investments, money transfer and payments, POS, lending and borrowing, accounting, comparison, financial planning, crowdfunding and cryptocurrency. Money transfer and payments take up the highest percentage, currently at 50%, in all FinTech ecosystems with the most digitally active customers. Peer-to-peer lending dominates the Indonesian market. The FinTech subsectors offer financial management, crowdfunding and insurance services. The abuse of this technology in facilitating terrorist financing, the weaknesses of the laws and policies, and the need for reform and remedies are discussed.

In France, the 2021 Act regarding sexual offences recognized incest as an autonomous offence. Previously, the French Penal Code traditionally prohibited incest as an aggravating circumstance based upon minority or the family relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The problem was that, according to the strict construction principle, the judges had to determine the sexual offence, in turn supporting the aggravating circumstance of incest. To do so, they had to look for the evidence of the lack of consent determined by “violence, constraint, threaten or surprise”. The 2021 Act is the conclusion of several controversial reforms considering this issue.

Radicalization in prison is a well-developed field of research that, particularly in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, has involved academics and practitioners in the attempt to highlight possible push and pull factors and dynamics, as well as useful strategies for preventing and countering extremism inside the facilities. Like every subject of great interest, it has given rise to numerous theories about the possible approaches to radical violence, some even at odds with each other. However, there is almost unanimous agreement that isolation from external society and the inadequate management of the right to profess one’s religious faith within prisons may be elements that increase the risk of intramural radicalization. In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic interfered heavily not only in the lives of people belonging to free society but also – and perhaps even more – in the lives of prisoners, resulting in the total isolation of prison facilities from the outside community. The dramatic efforts to protect public health have effectively eclipsed every other right, including – for prisoners – practising one’s faith with the guidance of authorized religious leaders. The present article explores how and why these anti-virus changes in the management of the Italian penitentiary could have influenced the risk of intramural radicalization.

Enforced disappearance is one of the most horrific crimes of our time. This is a crime that causes excruciating suffering to its victims: the disappeared and their families and relatives. Thousands of people have suffered, and are still suffering, all over the world from enforced disappearances. To combat this scourge, a United Nations Convention was adopted in 2006 and entered into force in 2010. It adopted a definition of enforced disappearance that includes an important element: the direct or indirect involvement of the State Party in the commission of the enforced disappearance. Yet, private entities (commonly referred to as non-State actors) can also commit acts similar to enforced disappearances. However, in the absence of the element of the State Party’s involvement, can we go so far as to qualify the acts perpetrated by non-State actors as enforced disappearances? This question has generated and continues to generate an interesting debate.

In Ghana, the economic costs of violent conflicts (loss of jobs and revenue, drop in gross domestic product, and disruption of production chain) have been well documented. However, there is little scholarly work on such conflicts’ human security costs, a critical element in contemporary security management arrangements. This study examines the costs of violent conflicts from a human security perspective using the farmer–herder conflict in the Agogo community in the Ashanti region of Ghana as a case study. A total of 400 participants were randomly and purposely selected. A χ2 test was employed to determine the association of rape, armed robbery, arson and murder with the farmer–herder conflict. The study found that at a 5% margin of error, the p value for armed robbery was 0.01, rape was 0.01, arson was 0.03 and murder was 0.00, indicating a close association between these variables and the conflict.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown pushed several groups of traders to rely on cryptocurrency as one of the chosen tools for commercial transactions. India is no exception. Because of its notorious misuses by criminal gangs, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) declared cryptocurrency as derecognized. Consequently, the Indian parliament also created a draft bill titled Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019 (the Bill), which not only derecognizes the currency or the use of it for any commercial purposes, it also makes the investors, exchanges and agencies dealing with cryptocurrency criminally liable. Later, the Supreme Court of India in 2020 set aside the above-mentioned RBI guidelines banning cryptocurrency. But this has not nullified or suggested any amendment for the Bill. This article argues that due to this legal confusion, cryptocurrency investors, traders, exchanges and agencies, etc. have become guardian-less victims who may not be eligible to claim basic rights of victims as has been established by the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. In such a legal tangle, it is necessary to analyse the issues from cyber-victimological perspectives for providing functional suggestions for restitution of justice.

Techniques of neutralization have largely been used to explain the triadic relationship between cybercrimes, offenders and victims, while the possible involvement of the offenders’ social networks as accomplices has been ignored. Interviewing parents, a qualitative study of their children’s romance scam involvement was conducted in Nigeria, exploring the parents’ disposition towards their children’s delinquent behaviour. In all, 52 interviews were conducted, and a thematic analysis of the narratives was carried out. Findings indicated that parents’ initial opposition to cybercrimes and support for enforcing laws against perpetrators changed towards accepting their children’s involvement in romance fraud. Parents adopted their children’s neutralization techniques in accepting their deviance. These findings have important implications in understanding the depth of Internet scams and parents’ social expectations in controlling their children’s behaviours.

The meeting between the imperatives of criminal procedure, as legal instruments of the State, and human rights generates a confrontation at one time or another. Procedural formalities tend to protect society from the scourge of crime, while human rights imply respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. However, implementing procedural formalities inevitably prevents the exercise of certain human rights. This article addresses this clash within the context of legal developments in Morocco since the promulgation of the 2011 Constitution. It highlights the extensive transformations in Morocco since 2011, the main objective of which was strengthening human rights and consolidating the rule of law. The most remarkable transformation undoubtedly remains the independence of the judiciary and the complete emancipation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office from the Minister of Justice’s power.

The development of smart cities in South Africa has the potential to enrich quality of life, encourage economic growth and reduce the human ecological footprint. It can advance and elevate service delivery in urban areas by applying various information and communication technologies. However, despite the countless benefits available, smart cities are at risk for major cybersecurity breaches that can produce devastating consequences. Criminological theories provide a foundation for understanding and explaining the criminal activity. Advancements in computer technologies and increased use of electronic devices and the Internet have resulted in crimes committed in cyberspace. As such, criminology scholars have been forced to think differently about how crimes are committed in cyberspace and how theoretical perspectives can be advanced to explain these non-traditional crimes. This article contends that criminological theories can inform cybersecurity risks in smart cities. This paper is based on theoretical findings through a qualitative inquiry, and the data were analysed thematically. The authors illustrate the value of social learning theory, neutralization theory, code of the street theory, space transition theory, actor-network theory and integrated model theory in explaining cybersecurity risks in smart cities.

Violence against women in all its forms is the most shameful violation of human rights. It is a violation that continues to increase over the years despite the existence of international and national laws. Morocco is one of the countries in the world that suffers from this discrimination against women. To deal with this phenomenon, national texts intervene to establish a legal framework that respects the principle of equality between women and men such as the Constitution of 2011, The Family Code (“Moudawana”) of 2004, and the adoption in 2016 of Law No. 27-14 on the fight against human trafficking, etc. In 2018, Law No. 103-13 related to the fight against violence towards women was promulgated. It is a law which constitutes a real legislative innovation in Morocco since it will reduce or even stop a certain number of abuses experienced by women. This is what leads us to ask ourselves, is Law No. 103-13 really going to allow us to abolish the segregation between men and women? And would this law allow us to fight against all kinds of violations against women?

Kibera is the largest informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, and Africa’s largest urban informal settlement. It is a community plagued by poverty and unemployment. In response to the social disorganization common to informal settlements, criminal activity is rampant, particularly in assault and sexual violence cases. Patriarchal beliefs fuel power imbalances which consequently perpetuate violence. Kenyan societies tend to be traditionally patriarchal and characterized by male privilege and female subservience. This article explores the narrative accounts of female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) to overcome patriarchy in Kibera, Kenya. Through a qualitative inquiry, 32 female victims of IPV were interviewed, and the data obtained were thematically analysed. The findings established that patriarchy is sustained in Kibera through control, dominance and violence. Additionally, salient partakers in advancing patriarchy are family structures and authorities. Moreover, strategies to dismantle patriarchy and IPV are proposed through these narrative accounts.

Lenore Walker introduced the concept of battered woman syndrome in the 1970s, which helps explain the psychological state of battered women and why such women face a slow-burn reaction. This article helps explain why battered woman syndrome must be included under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It is further proposed that the present exception of a grave and sudden provocation be retained, and a new exception of sustained provocation be created under the Indian Penal Code. The inclusion of sustained provocation would help the cause of battered women. The article concludes with a proposal for creating a new exception under §300 of the Indian Penal Code.

The criminological dimension of crime generally does not arouse great enthusiasm from researchers in Arab countries, unlike Anglo-Saxon- or French-speaking countries. Admittedly, Western criminology is more advanced, but it is more interested in common crimes than in mass crimes such as crimes against humanity, genocide, human trafficking or terrorism. However, the rare existing studies reveal the emergence of a criminology of massive human rights violations and expose some particularities of this criminal phenomenon. These include the often transnational nature of the crimes, the geographical, socio-economic and political disparity of criminals, the high number of victims, and more. The relationship between criminal law, criminology and human rights should be examined to determine the complementarity of the law and the empirical criminal sciences in crime prevention.

The Indian Constitution, being the lengthiest constitution in the world, seeks to accord the “right to silence” the status of a fundamental right, a particularly high threshold from which little to no derogation is permissible. This constitutional guarantee has also been given a statutory backing, wherein the silence of an accused cannot be used to draw an adverse inference against him. As a country which hails itself as a champion of personal liberty, it is disheartening to see that the reality of the situation is disappointing. The draconian pre-Constitution jurisprudence is still followed by most judgements, and often the silence of an accused is used as a “missing link” on the part of the prosecution to establish an accused’s guilt. This occurs either due to the correct provisions not being brought before the notice of the courts, or due to the courts adjudicating in derogation of statutory provisions and settled case laws. In this paper, the authors seek to establish the correct position of the law by taking into account its evolution in Indian and other jurisdictions, and then establish how India continues to fail to give effect to this right, by empirically analysing several judgements of the Supreme Court of India.

India’s parliament has passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act of 2022 following a lengthy debate. Legislation is being introduced to rescind the 1920 Identification of Prisoners Act, which permitted the use of identification and investigative methods on detainees. The 2022 Act’s expanded definition of measurements includes iris and retina scans, behavioural traits like handwriting, fingerprint imprints and palm impressions (and their analysis), and physical and biological samples. When reporting measurements, the phrase “and their analysis” implies that profiles can be generated from a variety of sources of information. The Act stipulates that measurements are to be preserved in digital or electronic form for 75 years. This article intends to assess the Act’s potential misuse and possible violation of fundamental rights such as the right to equality and privacy of those covered by the Act. Additionally, the author wishes to provide a concise explanation of the Act and numerous other related issues.