By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; etc

Facial recognition technology is increasingly used for identity verification and identification, from aiding law enforcement investigations to identifying potential security threats at large venues. However, advances in this technology have outpaced laws and regulations, raising significant concerns related to equity, privacy, and civil liberties.

This report explores the current capabilities, future possibilities, and necessary governance for facial recognition technology. Facial Recognition Technology discusses legal, societal, and ethical implications of the technology, and recommends ways that federal agencies and others developing and deploying the technology can mitigate potential harms and enact more comprehensive safeguards.

Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2024.

By Jon E. Zibbell , Arnie Aldridge, Megan Grabenauer , David Heller , Sarah Duhart Clarke, , DeMia Pressley, Hope Smiley McDonald

Summary Background The overdose epidemic in the United States (US) continues to generate unprecedented levels of mortality. There is urgent need for a national data system capable of yielding high-quality, timely, and actionable information on existing and emerging drugs. Public health researchers have started using law enforcement forensic laboratory data to obtain surveillance information on illicit drugs. This study is the first to use drug reports from the entire US to examine correlations between a changing drug supply and increasing opioid-involved overdose deaths (OOD) on a national scale. Methods This study is observational and investigates associations between law enforcement drug reports and OOD for the US from 2014 to 2019. OOD data are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System restricted-use multiple cause of death files. The US Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) contains forensic laboratory–tested drug exhibit information for the entire US (NFLIS-Drug). Counts of forensic laboratory reports and OOD were aggregated for each state by month, quarter, and year. A two-way fixed effects model was used to estimate contemporaneous and lagged associations. Findings Between 2014 and 2019 in the US, 249,522 OOD were reported, with the annual number nearly doubling from 28,723 to 50,179. OOD involving illicitly manufactured fentanyls (IMF) also increased substantially during this period, from 19.4% to 72.9%. In addition, 3,817,438 forensic laboratory reports in the US that were reported to NFLIS-Drug contained an opioid, stimulant, or benzodiazepine. Reports of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds (FFRC) had the strongest association with OOD. Each additional FFRC exhibit was associated with a 2.97% (95% CI: 1.7%, 4.1%) increase in OOD per 100,000 persons per quarter. Interpretation Adding to the emerging consensus, protracted growth in IMF supply was more strongly associated with OOD than all other illicit drugs reported to NFLIS-Drug over the study time period. Findings demonstrate NFLIS-Drug data usefulness for research that require proxy indicators for the illicit drugs supply. A concerted effort between public health and public safety to make NFLIS-Drug more timely could strengthen its utility as a national, public health, drug surveillance system.

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas. Volume 25, September 2023, 100569

By John Coyne and Teagan Westendorf

THis report helps develop an understanding of the quantum of profits being made and where in the value chain they occur. Australians spent approximately A$5.8 billion on methamphetamine and A$470 million on heroin in FY 2019.

Approximately A$1,216,806,017 was paid to international wholesalers overseas for the amphetamine and heroin that was smuggled into Australia in that year. The profit that remained in Australia’s economy was about A$5,012,150,000. Those funds are undermining Australia’s public health and distorting our economy daily, and ultimately funding drug cartels and traffickers in Southeast Asia.

One key takeaway from the figures presented in this report is that the Australian drug trade is large and growing. Despite the best efforts of law enforcement agencies, methamphetamine and heroin use has been increasing by up to 17% year on year. Falling prices in Southeast Asia are likely to keep pushing that number up, while drug prices and purity in Australia remain relatively stable.

Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2021. 40p.

By María Andrea Araya Carvajal; Patricia Soley Alfaro and Jennifer González Zamora

Over the past decade, youth gangs have come to constitute a serious problem for public security in Central America. The situation has generated increasing levels of fear among the general population and has become a theme of great concern also within government circles. This has been the case in particular for the countries located in the region’s northern triangle – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. However, also Nicaragua and Costa Rica have, to some extent, experienced a similar development concerning the growth of violent and criminal youth gangs. While the existence of criminal youth gangs is not at all new in Central America, the systematic use of violence and the brutality shown by the new type of gangs is no doubt unprecedented – something which today is embodied in the very concept of the maras. Although it would be incorrect to make the maras the main culprits for the rapid increase of violence during recent times in Central America, they clearly do represent a major and very real problem which deserves greater attention in order to improve both the security situation for the citizens and future prospects for the region’s youth. History as well as social sciences show that youth delinquency is primarily a group phenomenon refl ecting complex social and economic situations. Consequently, for the design and carrying out of effective and successful action programs profound, specifi c and updated knowledge is required. It is in this context that the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) – with support also from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) – decided to fi nance a regional and multi-disciplinary study on the maras and other violent youth gangs, an applied study with a solid empirical base and characterized by a contextual approach focusing not only on the gangs but bringing into the picture also the neighbours, the local community and the police. The objective of the present publication – which constitutes a condensed version of the study carried out by a team of researchers from the company Demoscopía S.A. – is to facilitate a more comprehensive as well as constructive and action-oriented public discussion, concerning both the need to immediately address the current situation and to develop policies and measures for prevention.

San José, Costa Rica, DEMOSCOPÍA S.A; Stockholm Sweden: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, 2008. 166p.

By InSight!Crime and the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa

In a new report based on extensive field research, InSight Crime and the Asociacion para una Sociedad mas Justa have traced how Honduras’ two largest gangs, the MS13 and the Barrio 18, are evolving, and how their current modus operandi has resulted in staggering levels of violence and extortion.

Washington, DC: InSight Crime, 2018. 43p.

By Irving Spergel, David Curry, Ron Chance, Candice Kane, Ruth Ross ,Alba Alexander, Edwina Simmons, and Sandra Oh

This summary integrates the findings of seven data- collection and research phases conducted in the initial assessment of the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program. Due to methodological problems, the scope and seriousness of the youth gang problem are not reliably known. Law enforcement and media reports, however, suggest that criminal youth gangs are active in nearly every State as well as in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. The close relationship of gangs, violence, and a significant crime problem are most evident when the criminal records of youth gang members are compared with those of youths who are not in gangs. Youth gang membership is associated with significantly higher levels of delinquency and index crimes. This report considers the characteristics of gang structure, the social contexts in which gangs emerge, emerging and chronic gang problems, and strategic responses. The five basic strategies that have emerged in addressing youth gangs are neighborhood mobilization, social intervention, provision for social and economic opportunities, gang suppression and incarceration, and an organizational development strategy. A discussion of institutional responses focuses on the police, prosecution, the judiciary, probation/parole, corrections, schools, community organizations, and employment. Policies and procedures, as well as promising approaches, are also summarized. Common elements associated with reducing the youth gang problem for significant time periods include clear recognition of a youth gang problem, proactive leadership by representatives of significant criminal justice and community-based agencies, mobilization of both formal and informal community networks, and a focus on community activities that contribute to positive youth development.

Washington, DC: U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1994. 36p.

By Jessica M. Vaughan and Jon D. Feere

A new Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder finds that immigration law enforcement has been highly effective in fighting gang activity around the country. Local law enforcement agencies that shun involvement with immigration law enforcement are missing an opportunity to protect their communities, according to the authors. Since 2005, ICE has arrested more than 8,000 immigrant gangsters from more than 700 different gangs under an initiative known as Operation Community Shield.

The Backgrounder, “Taking Back the Streets: ICE and Local Law Enforcement Target Immigrant Gangs,” by Jessica M. Vaughan and Jon D. Feere, was funded by the Department of Justice and describes the unique public safety problems posed by immigrant gangs. The authors present previously unpublished statistics on gang arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), describe how immigration law enforcement authorities are used to combat gang activity, and offer policy recommendations to improve federal-local cooperation, and without damaging relations with immigrant communities.

Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies, 2008. 32p.

By Texas Department of Public Safety, Criminal Intelligence Service

The perpetual growth of gangs and active recruitment within the state, compounded by the continual influx of criminal illegal aliens crossing the Texas-Mexico border, threatens the security of not only Texans, but also all US citizens. Furthermore, the established alliances between Texas prison gangs and various drug trafficking organizations pose a significant threat to the state of Texas and the nation. Gangs now have access to a larger supply of narcotics, which will undoubtedly increase their influence over and presence in the drug trade, as well as increase the level of gang-related violence associated with illegal narcotics trafficking. Illegal alien smuggling has also become profitable for Texas prison gangs and other street gangs, and potentially may pose a major threat to national security. Multi-agency collaboration and networking—supplemented with modern technology, analytical resources, and gang intervention and prevention programs—will be critical in the ongoing efforts to curtail the violence associated with the numerous gangs now thriving in Texas.

Austin, TX: Texas Department of Public Safety, Criminal Intelligence Service, 2007. 45p.

By U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Corrections,

Prison disturbances range from minor incidents that disrupt institution routine to major disturbances that involve a large proportion of inmates and threaten security and safety. Realizing that proactive management strategies and informed readiness can reduce the potential damage of prison disturbances, many departments of corrections are seriously addressing the need both to prevent and to plan for managing such disturbances. Administrators are also looking for better ways to avert the potentially violent activities and serious problems caused by prison gangs and organized groups. In response to the need for improved, current information on how corrections departments might prepare themselves to deal with the problems of both gangs and disturbances, the NIC Prisons Division and the NIC National Academy of Corrections sponsored special issue seminars entitled "Management Strategies in Disturbances and with Gangs/Disruptive Groups" in Boulder, Colorado, and in Baltimore, Maryland. Participants in each seminar included prison administrators and central office managers responsible for institution security < The seminar not only emphasized management principles directly related to controlling gangs/disruptive groups and preventing disturbances, but also identified specific techniques for responding to disturbances if they do occur. The seminar staff is listed in the Appendix

Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, 1992. 54p.