NCJ Number
175737
Date Published
1998
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The aim of this study was to examine variables that might mediate the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in child witnesses to domestic violence.
Abstract
it is estimated that up to 80 percent of the heroin coming into Canada goes through British Columbia. Jim Fisher, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Asian Organized Crime Coordinator, says that "If it's heroin, it's Asian." More specifically, it is Asian and highly organized. Asian crime groups, primarily Triad societies from Hong Kong, Vietnamese gangs, and, to some extent, Taiwanese, control heroin importation into Canada because the majority of opium (heroin's source plant) is grown in the Golden Triangle (Laos, Burma, and Thailand). In addition to profiling the current activities of Canada's Asian organized criminal societies, this article provides a brief history of Asian Triad societies, which have existed for more than 300 years. The most active Triad societies in Canada are Kung Lok, 14 K, Wo Hop To, Sun Yee On, and Wo Shing Wo. Triads generally do not have the kind of strictly disciplined organizational structure that other criminal groups have. Decisionmaking regarding criminal operations is decentralized, with many members undertaking criminal activities without approval from other Triad members. The fluidity of the organizational structure makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify gang leaders and attack the gang as an organizational entity. The most that can be done generally is to investigate particular crimes that may have been committed by individual Triad members.