Crime
Pandemic has opened prisons across Europe
The prison population fell in almost all European countries last year. Many detainees were released to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and meanwhile the crime rate also declined. The largest drop in prison numbers was in Turkey. However, in certain countries the incarcerated population increased.
Homicide and suicide rates in the EU are falling
Over the last ten years, there were significantly fewer homicides in the EU. Suicide rates have also dropped. While the situation in certain northern countries is less rosy, there were considerably fewer violent deaths per 100,000 people in the South.
Suspicious sports results? Mafia might have fixed them
Organised crime groups make an estimated €120 million of profit a year from betting-related match-fixing in sports events. Not only football matches are fixed, but tennis results are also manipulated more and more. And sports mafia are no longer only corrupting players, but clubs too.
How the pandemic is transforming the illegal drug market
The economic impact of Covid-19 has been immense, influencing all our lives. So far, however, the illegal drug market has not suffered unduly, and in some countries it is booming due to the capacity of criminals to adapt.
European journalists face growing dangers
The latest Press Freedom Index (2020 edition) released by Reporters Without Borders highlights once again the risks journalists face worldwide. Coronavirus is only the latest threat to the profession.
Timber mafia and deforestation in Romania
Virgin forests in Central-Eastern Europe are the last remaining ones on the continent, yet they are being mercilessly torn down. Part of this multi-billion euro industry is a mafia-like system that stretches all the way from Romania to Ukraine. Austrian timber companies are right at the heart of it.
What about the security of security guards?
Security guards in Croatia suffer from harsh working conditions: extremely long work shifts, poor equipment, minimum salary. They are overburned and cannot have a proper private life, but they have little alternatives. Yet security business is flourishing in Europe, and companies make millions of revenues.
753 people have died in terrorist attacks in the EU since 2000
1868. This is the total number of terrorism victims during the last nineteen years, who have either lost their lives in attacks in the European Union, or as European citizens outside the EU's territory. The EU has adopted several directives to combat terrorist acts, but certain member states have yet to transpose them into national law.
Arms in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe (SEESAC)
The SEESAC organization publishes data on the proliferation of light weapons, on armed violence, as well as on regional arms exports.
