Criminal Justice in Serbia: The Effectiveness of Addressing Drug Trafficking

Abstract

Drug trafficking criminal groups operate as loosely-organized networks, interrelated through diverse transnational networks, successfully circumventing law enforcement efforts. Given the impact of the social context on the emergence of criminal networks, social network analysis is deployed an innovative manner to map the network of Serbian institutions designed to address drug trafficking groups and identify potential barriers to their effectiveness. Initial findings indicate the existence of various structural holes at the level of legislation and implementation, with high potential to provide smooth functioning of illicit networks. The study utilizes elite interviewing in a sample of 50 state officials and civil society representatives to explore the effectiveness of state actions and the influence of a particular social context in this process. Mapping of the institutions and positioning their competencies within the network may have the capacity to indicate specific obstacles which can significantly hamper the efforts of the institutions and efficient multiagency and regional cooperation.