Intersections Of Crime And Terror

During the last ten years an increasing number of government and media reports, scholarly books and journal articles, and other publications have focused our attention on the expanded range of interactions between international organized crime and terrorist networks. A majority of these interactions have been in the form of temporary organizational alliances (or customer-supplier relationships) surrounding a specific type of transaction or resource exchange, like document fraud or smuggling humans, drugs or weapons across a particular border. The environment in which terrorists and criminals operate is also a central theme of this literature. These research trends suggest the salience of this book which addresses how organized criminal and terrorist networks collaborate, share knowledge and learn from each other in ways that expand their operational capabilities. The book contains broad conceptual pieces, historical analyses, and case studies that highlight different facets of the intersection between crime and terrorism. These chapters collectively help us to identify and appreciate a variety of dynamics at the individual, organizational, and contextual levels. These dynamics, in turn, inform a deeper understanding of the security threat posted by terrorists and criminal networks and how to respond more effectively. This book was published as a special issue of Terrorism and Political Violence.

During the last ten years an increasing number of government and media reports, scholarly books and journal articles, and other publications have focused our attention on the expanded range of interactions between international organized crime and terrorist networks. A majority of these interactions have been in the form of temporary organizational alliances (or customer-supplier relationships) surrounding a specific type of transaction or resource exchange, like document fraud or smuggling humans, drugs or weapons across a particular border. The environment in which terrorists and criminals operate is also a central theme of this literature. These research trends suggest the salience of this book which addresses how organized criminal and terrorist networks collaborate, share knowledge and learn from each other in ways that expand their operational capabilities. The book contains broad conceptual pieces, historical analyses, and case studies that highlight different facets of the intersection between crime and terrorism. These chapters collectively help us to identify and appreciate a variety of dynamics at the individual, organizational, and contextual levels. These dynamics, in turn, inform a deeper understanding of the security threat posted by terrorists and criminal networks and how to respond more effectively. This book was published as a special issue of Terrorism and Political Violence.

Terrorism and crime are two areas of knowledge that have traditionally been looked at independently. In this timely and original text, two of the leading authors in the field provide a clear and thorough look at terrorism from a criminological perspective. Integrating the latest research, the book explores the motives of criminals and terrorists, the causes of crime and terrorism and the impact of the law and the legal system. Central to this exploration, the authors examine the nexus between criminal and terrorist organizations, and the commonalities and differences between them and what this means for public policy and safety and security within states. Cross-cultural and international in perspective, this is a fresh and original text that will appeal to undergraduates, academics, and researchers in criminology, politics, international relations, sociology, communication and cultural studies. Compact Criminology is an exciting series that invigorates and challenges the international field of criminology. Books in the series are short, authoritative, innovative assessments of emerging issues in criminology and criminal justice – offering critical, accessible introductions to important topics. They take a global rather than a narrowly national approach. Eminently readable and first-rate in quality, each book is written by a leading specialist. Compact Criminology provides a new type of tool for teaching, learning and research, one that is flexible and light on its feet. The series addresses fundamental needs in the growing and increasingly differentiated field of criminology.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.

This book examines the ‘war on terror’ and radicalization from an ontological, non-state centric perspective. Since 9/11, criminology has developed in its study of terrorism, utilising alternative non-state centric frameworks to uncover and make visible state-initiated harm. Although progress has been achieved, criminology has continued to privilege the state, thereby failing to uncover forms of state crime and how such crimes facilitate radicalization and terrorism. Ahmed aims to rectify this gap by demonstrating how crimes of the state have contributed to the existence of Islamist-inspired terrorism and the emergence of global Jihadist organisations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The ‘War on Terror’ abandons the dominant socially-constructed discourse and application of the ‘war on terror’ and instead favours a grounded approach whereby actors, actions and consequences are analysed according to the risk they represent. Ahmed achieves this grounded approach through situating state practices in international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Through documenting the intersectionality of these practices with radicalization in the emergence of global Jihadist organisations, the book demonstrates how state crimes contribute to terrorism. Although the book sits at the intersections of critical criminology, state crime, international/transnational crime, it is relevant to all disciplines that are concerned with state crime, terrorism and radicalization.

Terrorism and crime are two areas of knowledge that have traditionally been looked at independently. In this timely and original text, two of the leading authors in the field provide a clear and thorough look at terrorism from a criminological perspective. Integrating the latest research, the book explores the motives of criminals and terrorists, the causes of crime and terrorism and the impact of the law and the legal system. Central to this exploration, the authors examine the nexus between criminal and terrorist organizations, and the commonalities and differences between them and what this means for public policy and safety and security within states. Cross-cultural and international in perspective, this is a fresh and original text that will appeal to undergraduates, academics, and researchers in criminology, politics, international relations, sociology, communication and cultural studies. Compact Criminology is an exciting series that invigorates and challenges the international field of criminology. Books in the series are short, authoritative, innovative assessments of emerging issues in criminology and criminal justice – offering critical, accessible introductions to important topics. They take a global rather than a narrowly national approach. Eminently readable and first-rate in quality, each book is written by a leading specialist. Compact Criminology provides a new type of tool for teaching, learning and research, one that is flexible and light on its feet. The series addresses fundamental needs in the growing and increasingly differentiated field of criminology.

Counterterrorism experts and policy makers have warned of the peril posed by the links between violent extremism and organized crime, especially the relationship between drug trafficking and terrorism funding. Yet Central Asia, the site of extensive opium trafficking, sees low levels of terrorist violence. Webs of Corruption is an innovative study demonstrating that terrorist and criminal activity intersect more narrowly than is widely believed—and that the state plays the pivotal role in shaping those interconnections. Mariya Y. Omelicheva and Lawrence P. Markowitz analyze the linkages between the drug trade and terrorism financing in Central Asia, finding that state security services shape the nexus of trafficking and terrorism. While organized crime and terrorism do intersect in parts of the region, profit-driven criminal organizations and politically motivated violent groups come together based on the nature of state involvement. Governments in high-trafficking regions are drawn into illicit economies and forge relationships with a range of nonstate violent actors, such as insurgents, erstwhile regime opponents, and transnational groups. Omelicheva and Markowitz contend that these relationships can mitigate terrorism—by redirecting these actors toward other forms of violence. Offering a groundbreaking combination of quantitative, qualitative, and geographic information systems methods to map trafficking/terrorism connections on the ground, Webs of Corruption provides a meticulously researched, counterintuitive perspective on a potent regional security problem.

The nexus between terrorism and organised crime consists of a strategic alliance between two non-state actors who are able to exploit illegal markets, threaten the security of individuals, and influence policy-making on a global level. Recent Europol reports have pointed towards the importance of studying the links between organised crime and terrorist groups, and have underlined that the nature and extent of these connections have seldom been addressed from an academic perspective. Considering the danger that both organised crime and terrorism currently pose to the world, the collusion between these two phenomena is of urgent contemporary interest. Basing itself on geographical case-studies, this book contributes to the existing literature in three ways: by enriching the empirical knowledge on the nature of the crime-terror nexus and its evolution; by exploring the impact of the nexus within different economic, political and societal contexts; and by expanding on its theoretical conceptualization. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Crime.