Deciphering the Linkages between Organized Crime and Transnational Crime (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Current State of Transnational Organized Crime
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2020
The paper indicates that criminal groups may differ in terms of size, the scope of operations, types of activities, territorial range, relations with authorities and management, internal organization, and the set of means and methods used to promote their criminal activities and to guard against measures taken by the Government and law enforcement bodies. When national, historical, and cultural differences are taken into account, the diversity of criminal organizations becomes even more evident, while prevention and suppression pose even greater challenges for law enforcement agencies, especially in countries where these organizations are active in their illegal activities. The study is aimed at analyzing national-level legislative measures that may be efficient about one type of organized criminal group, but may not be appropriate for other types. To solve the problems formulated, a complex methodology will be required, combining empirical studies of specific facts and a fundamental theoretical understanding of the conceptual foundations of the problem posed. The results of the analysis made it possible to theoretically substantiate the increased social danger of transnational organized criminal groups, which entails the adoption of appropriate legislative measures. Identifying the latency level of transnational crimes will make it possible to assess the efficiency of the existing sets of measures against it, as well as to formulate recommendations on improving the system of legislative measures to prevent the activities of transnational criminal organizations. A gap in the study can be attributed to the insufficient amount of statistical information on the analyzed crime. The novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive analysis of the current state of transnational organized crime
Recent Trends in the Study of Transnational Organized Crime
Fan zui yan jiu (Chinese Criminology Review)
This paper reviews the English language academic literature on transnational organized crime with a special emphasis on publications from the years 2007–2012. It presents an overview of the areas of crime covered, the kinds of data sources used, the specific topics and questions addressed, and a brief summary of findings.
The Routine Nature of Transnational Crime
The Criminal Act, 2015
ABSTRACT If Cohen and Felson (1979) is the only version of routine activity theory that you are familiar with, you are sadly out of date. Marcus Felson and colleagues—perhaps, more suitably referred to as co-conspirators—have been very busy for the last 35 years. Although Cohen and Felson (1979) is important in its own right, theoretical evolution continues to significantly extend the conceptual foundation of this theory, which in turn broadens its scope, changing it from a suggested model of crime analysis and explanation of predatory crime to a general theory of crime events. Though many people continue to apply routine activity theory (RAT) to street crime, by revisiting some of the theoretical developments of recent years, it becomes clear that many of the tenets are easily applied to transnational crime. Why is this important? Well, societal shifts brought on by market globalization and recent technological innovations continue to alter the landscape of crime opportunities. With increasing international travel, internet communication, and cross-border business, comes an attending proliferation in transnational crime. Termed as the glocal crime phenomena, individuals whose routine behavior keeps them within 30 kilometers of their home regularly access portals that instantly link them to any place in the world. The most common example of this global-local intersect is online shopping—an activity that exposes all internet shoppers directly to transnational crime. In this chapter, transnational crime is explained through the lens of the modern incarnation of RAT. Before we begin, it is important to clarify what we mean by transnational crime. Transnational crime is not synonymous with organized crime. Simply stated, crimes are classed as transnational when the incident involves an activity that crosses at least one international border, either in the physical or cyber domain, perhaps both. This term also refers to events that involves co-conspirators or victim/offender pairings, wherein the actors are located in different countries. Thus, it is easy to see why many people confuse the concepts of organized crime and transnational crime; many organized crime groups do engaged in activity that crosses international borders. We use online shopping examples throughout the chapter to encourage this broader understanding of transnational crime. Online shopping, though not necessarily a transnational activity, can expose people to this type of victimization. In this way, online shopping is used to demonstrate the glocal RAT context of crime—meaning the global-local intersection of routine activity that enables transnational crime to occur. We conclude with a discussion of how this framework, a Neo-RAT, can be used to uncover how routine activities serve to interlock legal, marginal, and illicit markets on a global scale. At this point we introduce examples from the international trade in small arms (guns), drug markets and money laundering. This chapter begins with a concise statement that integrates key facets of RAT’s metamorphoses that are of particular relevance to transnational crime. In keeping with conventional explanations of RAT, this conversation defines crime events and discusses the interdependence of the essential ingredients that Felson is famous for describing, before introducing new contributions to the theory. In honor of Felson’s love of imagery, we provide a set of graphics to illustrate related concepts and clarify examples. This section concludes with a statement of the five critical challenges to studying the routine nature of transnational crime: 1) identifying a research focus, 2) obtaining multi-jurisdictional data, 3) capturing change in a dynamic crime ecosystem, 4) modeling interdependence, and 5) uncoupling legal and illicit markets. In an effort to address these challenges, the final section of this chapter provides a few suggestions as to how future research can advance this line of inquiry.
Re-Conceptualizing Transnational Organized Crime: Offenders as Problem Solvers
"This paper presents a conceptual framework for the analysis of transnational organized crime which centers on the practical problems offenders face. The framework breaks down the elusive concept of transnational organized crime to categories that highlight differences in the extent and nature of the transnationality of crime and that identify key logistical challenges to cross-border offenders. Conventional wisdom establishes a close link between transnational organized crime and globalization, as a result of which criminals supposedly are free to roam an increasingly borderless world. This paper argues that such a view is over-simplistic. Political borders continue to divide the globe, and perhaps even more so in the aftermath of 9/11; and legal, cultural and language barriers continue to create additional obstacles for the transnational mobility of offenders. How these obstacles define transnational crime is a matter of the specific nature of criminal activities. This paper presents two classificatory schemes, one distinguishing transnational criminal activities with regard to patterns of cross-border movement, the other distinguishing forms of cross-border mobility. Patterns of cross-border movement vary according to what crosses borders (persons, objects, information) and in what direction (unidirectional, bi-directional, multi-directional). Cross-border mobility, likewise, can take on different forms, for example with regard to awareness space, foraging, operational mobility, and networking. A better understanding of transnational organized crime for analytical and policy purposes cannot be achieved without a more focused examination of crime phenomena within these categories."
Asia Pacific Journal of Advanced Business and Social Studies, 2017
The criminal networks in Latin America are expanding and diversifying their activities. As a result, there is a convergence of threats that were traditionally different to modern-day threats that are explosive and with destabilizing-filled impacts. Criminal violence associated with TOC is the most severe problem facing the nations in Latin America. The increased cases of TOCs in the region have led to insecurity and violence across the region; hence, challenges to residents, public security forces and travelers arise. The factors leading to TOC in the region have been grouped into suitable geostrategic position, poor governance, corruption, poverty and also issues of inequality and social mobility. Corruption has greatly facilitated TOC as organized crime representatives bribe such government officials as police officers and the judges. TOCs impair the social and economic systems in the region, undermining the capacity of the nations to govern, and also creating a non-friendly environment for travelers due to high incidences of kidnapping. TOC in Latin America has extended beyond its traditional strongholds of Colombia and Mexico; hence, there is the need for multinational agencies and governments to cooperate in combating the challenge. However, this paper discusses the causes, effects and challenges of transnational organised crimes (TOCs) from the perspective of Latin America. This paper also glimpses at the security system in Latin American countries and how TOCs affect the security system in this region.
The beginning of the 21st century has been globaly characterized by new forms of international politics, which succeeded in creation of new national states , regional and global ideas and movements based on principles of economy , security , policy , culture , and unification in all the other significant fields of governing a country. Transnational organized crime in contemporary international relations is one of the primal security threats to national, regional and global environment, destabilizing basics in societal, economical, political and thus – natural human values. This so called “ actors without sovereignty” are ideological fighters with material weapons, clasping through the defects and loopholes in national and supra – national security systems.