Posted on 05 Apr 2023

The International Association for the Study of Organized Crime is dedicated to advancing the study of organized crime and illegal enterprise. We are a network of academics, professionals and students, whose focus lies in these fields.

We are currently run by the Secretariat of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime in close partnership with our Steering Committee.

Huge congratulations to the winners and honourable mentions of our IASOC annual prizes from 2011 to the present! 

IASOC Book Awards

The award recognizes the best monograph or edited book on the broadly defined area of organized crime.

  • 2011: Carlo Morselli. (2010). Inside Criminal Networks. New York: Springer.
  • 2012: Federico Varese. (2011). Mafias on the Move: How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • 2013: Dick Hobbs. (2013). Lush Life: Constructing Organized Crime in the UK. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2014: David Skarbek. (2014). The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2015: Jana Arsovska. (2015). Decoding Albanian Organized Crime: Culture Politics, and Globalization. Oakland, California: University of California Press.
  • 2016: Klaus von Lampe. (2016) Organized Crime: Analyzing Illegal Activities, Criminal Structures, and Extra-legal Governance. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE
  • 2017: Lauren McCarthy. (2015) Trafficking Justice: How Russian Police Enforce New Laws, from Crime to Courtroom. Ithica: Cornell University Press.
  • 2018: Angélica Durán Martínez. (2018). The Politics of Drug Violence: Criminals, Cops and Politicians in Colombia and Mexico. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2019: Awet Twelde Weldemichal, Pirates in Somalia: Violence and Development in the Horn of Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • 2019 Honorable Mention: Benjamin Lessing, Making Peace in Drug Wars Crackdowns and Cartels in Latin America. Cambridge Cambridge University Press.
  • 2020: Rolando Ochoa, Intimate Crimes, Kidnapping, Gangs, and Trust in Mexico City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2021: Seán Columb, Trading Life: Organ Trafficking, Illicit Networks, and Exploitation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • 2021 Honorable Mention: Yuliya Zabyelina and Daan van Uhm (Eds.), Illegal Mining: Organized Crime, Corruption, and Ecocide in a Resource-Scarce World.
  • 2022 (tie): David Skarbek, Puzzle of the Prison Order: Why Life Behind Bars Varies around the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2022 (tie): Eduardo Moncada, Resisting Extortion, Cambridge: Victims, Criminals, and States in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

IASOC Best Doctoral (PhD) Thesis/Dissertation

The award recognizes doctoral theses or dissertations defended successfully within three years before the year of the award.

  • 2013: M. Vere van Koppen. Pathways into organized crime. Criminal opportunities and adult onset offending
  • 2014: no award
  • 2015: Mike Salinas-Edwards. Men at Work: An Ethnography of Drug Markets and Youth Transitions in Times of Austerity
  • 2016: Chris Smith: The Shifting Structure of Chicago’s Organized Crime Network and the Women it Left Behind
  • 2017: Elke Van Hellemont, The Gang Game: The Myth and Seduction of Gangs
  • 2018: Sharon Kwok, Triad Society in Hong Kong: The Hierarchical Approach and Criminals’ Collaborations
  • 2019: no award
  • 2020: Eva Stambol, External Projection of Internation Security
  • 2020 Honorable Mention: Mark Berry, Organised Crime in Red City
  • 2021: Andrew Miller, The Information Game
  • 2021 Honorable Mention: Cecilia Meneghini, A life-course approach to co-offending in organized crime
  • 2022: Vipin Vijay Nair, Exploring the Coping Mechanisms of the Vulnerable and Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Participatory action research in rehabilitation and protective homes in India

IASOC Distinguished Scholar

The award recognizes a scholar who has made significant advances in the study of organized crime throughout their career.

  • 2011: James Jacobs
  • 2012: Louise Shelley
  • 2013: Michael Levi
  • 2014: Dwight C. Smith, Jr.
  • 2015: Peter Reuter
  • 2016: Letizia Paoli
  • 2017: Jay Albanese
  • 2018: Scott Decker
  • 2019: Carlo Morselli
  • 2020: no award
  • 2021: no award
  • 2022: Philip Reichel

IASOC Founder’s Award

  • Patrick Ryan, 1995
  • Paul Clare, 1996
  • Richard Ward, 2002

IASOC ‘s mission is to advance the study of organized crime and illicit enterprise. Sign up to our mailing list to receive regular updates on IASOC’s activities.