Reflecting on Variably Legal Markets and Forging a New Programme of Research

The final chapter of the collection pursues a threefold aim. Firstly, it recaps the arguments backing the new conceptual perspective of variably legal markets, positing that this perspective offers a novel, much-needed lens for unpacking the complex, dynamic, and contested legal status of markets whose exchanges are neither completely legal nor illegal. Secondly, it proposes six reflections on what we have learned from the comparative analyses of the case studies presented in the previous chapters. Thirdly, the chapter discusses the implications of the new perspective for policy and criminology, calling for a shift in the empirical, evaluative, and normative questions to be tackled by criminologists and other policy analysts, and arguing that such a shift can enhance criminology's policy and public relevance and benefit its theoretical debate.