Combating Organised Crime

This work examines the challenges posed by transnational crime and the steps being taken by the international community to meet these challenges. It offers comprehensive analysis of different forms of transnational crime and the various responses that are being developed.

This book uncovers the reality of organised crime, considering what is meant by the term 'organised', and discussing the different forms of activities organised crime engages in, from human trafficking to extortion. Offering a global perspective, from the Mafia to the Yakuza, it considers efforts to combat organised crime today.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Organised crime has become a major problem globally. Its negative impact on economies, societies, politics, human rights and security is profound: fraud, money laundering, drug, arms and human trafficking, and collusion with both law enforcement and terrorists, for example, are all significant issues. Yet specialists disagree not only on the scale and nature of organised crime, but even on its definition. This Advanced Introduction to Organised Crime explores these disagreements, examines the nature and causes of contemporary organised crime, and offers constructive suggestions on how to counter it. Key features include: • Emphasis on the rapidly changing structures of organised crime, its increasingly transnational nature and sophisticated use of the internet • Psycho-social and cultural explanations, as well as system-related ones • Exploration of the latest techniques for measuring organised crime • Detailed analyses of six of the best known transnational organised crime syndicates • A focus on human trafficking to exemplify many of the key points • Examination of the many methods that can be used – not only by states and international organisations, but also by civil society and individuals – to combat organised crime. Accessible and comprehensive, the Advanced Introduction to Organised Crime is an ideal resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying criminology, political science, international relations, law and sociology. Its profound insights are invaluable to practitioners, including law enforcement officers, investigative journalists and criminologists.

This edited volume examines the use of militarised responses to different forms of criminal activity, discussing the outcomes and unintended consequences. Politicians and policymakers frequently use militarised responses to look tough on crime. The deployment of armies, navies, military assets and militarised approaches can send a powerful message, but have produced mixed results. While they generate the perception that governments are actively engaged on issues of concern to the public, and in some cases have resulted in notable successes, on the downside they have frequently also increased the loss of life, exacerbated the humanitarian consequences of a particular crime and entrenched divides between security and state institutions and the criminal proponents, narrowing the possibilities for future negotiated solutions. By focusing on four different areas of criminality – wildlife crime, piracy, migration and drug trafficking – the book allows context and evidence-based conclusions to be drawn on the strategic value and commonality of responses and their outcomes.

Case studies of organized crime show that illegitimate and legitimate environments intermingle. Although these interfaces are a threat to the legitimate world they also offer opportunities for prevention. The message is simple: if criminal organizations are able to easily acquire or access resources, then the number of these resources should be reduced or made more difficult to acquire or access. Therefore this study identifies opportunities that facilitate organized crime and presents measures to prevent them.

This publication contains a number of best practice studies on effective measures to combat organised crime, corruption and money laundering, which have been prepared by the Council of Europe between 1998 and 2003. Topics covered include: witness protection; reversing the burden of proof in confiscating the proceeds of crime; interception of communication and intrusive surveillance; crime analysis; cross-border co-operation; provisions on membership in criminal organisations; co-operation against trafficking in human beings; and preventive legal measures against organised crime. The term Octopus is the name of a technical co-operation programme against corruption and organised crime initiated by the Council of Europe in 1996.

The fight against money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, cyber crime, and the promotion of the enhancement of judicial and police cooperation in criminal matters have been at the core of the G8's actions in this field since the 1990s. This book sheds light on the nature, structure and modus operandi of the G8's specific expertise on transnational organized crime from a sociological approach in order to understand the elaboration, production and diffusion of international norms and standards. It provides a detailed analysis of an under-researched aspect of international politics: the intensification of expert-level exchanges on the international stage over the enhanced cooperation against transnational organized crime that has led to an impressive elaboration of best practices and soft law recommendations. Very few studies have focused on the experts who determine these: who they are, what their socio-professional background is, and the nature and impact of their collective work in the global fight against organized crime.