Organised Crime In Northern Ireland

Organised crime in Northern Ireland : Third report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence

Organised crime continues to have a damaging affect on society and on the economy of Northern Ireland. There is a continued involvement of paramilitaries from both loyalist and republican sides who exercise control over communities and instil a fear that leads to the under-reporting of crimes. Excise and tax fraud, intellectual property crime, extortion, drugs, armed robbery, money laundering and illegal dumping have been identified as the major areas of organised criminal activity. There is also evidence that human trafficking is an emerging problem. Because of the nature of the subject, this report, which occupied the Committee for over six months, is based on evidence given in private as well as that given at public hearings.

Organised Crime and the Law presents an overview of the laws and policies adopted to address the phenomenon of organised crime in the United Kingdom and Ireland, assessing the changes to these justice systems, in terms of the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of such criminality. While the notion of organised crime is a contested one, States' legal responses treat it and its constituent offences as unproblematic in a definitional sense. This book advances a systematic doctrinal critique of these domestic criminal laws,laws of evidence and civil processes. Organised Crime and the Law focuses on the tension between due process and crime control, the demands of public protection and risk aversion, and other adaptations. In particular, it identifies parallels and points of divergence between the different jurisdictions in the UK and Ireland, bearing in mind the shared history of subversive threats and counter-terrorism policies. It also examines the extent to which policy transfer is evident in the UK and Ireland in terms of emulating the United States in reacting to organised crime.

Organised crime covers a wide range of activities, including drug trafficking, illegal trafficking of people, and fraud. The existence of a land border does not impede these operations; instead in many cases it is used to their advantage. In response, law enforcement strategies must include a transnational, multi-agency approach. This book critically analyses the extent to which Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been successful in implementing effective action against transnational organised crime. It explores the adoption of key law enforcement strategies and measures in these jurisdictions, and evaluates how regional (EU law) and international (UN Convention) standards have been implemented at the national level. Drawing on interviews with over 90 stakeholders including the Department of Justice Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice and Equality in Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Síochána, Tom Obokata and Brian Payne discuss the factors affecting the effective prevention and suppression of organised crime, particularly in relation to cross-border cooperation. In exploring challenges of transnational crime and cooperation, this book will be of great use to students and researchers in international and transnational criminal law, criminology, and crime prevention.

The Independent Commission On Policing For Northern Ireland, headed by Lord Patten, concluded in its 1999 report 'A new beginning for democratic accountability is key to a new beginning for policing and to involving the community as a whole in the delivery of policing. We recommend that an entirely new Policing Board be created ...'. This book is about the delivery of that 'new beginning for policing' in Northern Ireland, achieved at a time when most commentators considered the Policing Board was itself likely to fragment along traditional community lines. The story of the Policing Board, from its establishment in 2001 through to the reconstitution of the membership in 2009 is in many ways an inspirational one, showing what can be done by politicians and community representatives working together to bring about a fundamentally different way of policing that better meets the needs of the whole community. It offers valuable lessons and contemporary insights for law enforcement officers, accountability 'bodies' and academics world-wide, in key areas, including the need for a police service's composition to reflect the community that it serves; promoting public confidence in policing and policing with the community; upholding human rights in the context of policing civil unrest and terrorism; how to hold a police service to account while providing the support it requires; and dealing with the legacy of inter-communal violence with over 3,500 deaths. Drawing largely on publicly available material, it is an account by two individuals uniquely well-placed to produce an authoritative record: Professor Sir Desmond Rea, the Policing Board's Chairman for its first eight and a half years, and Robin Masefield, the senior civil servant who headed the British Government's team implementing the recommendations of the Independent Commission.

The Routledge Handbook of Irish Criminology is the first edited collection of its kind to bring together the work of leading Irish criminologists in a single volume. While Irish criminology can be characterised as a nascent but dynamic discipline, it has much to offer the Irish and international reader due to the unique historical, cultural, political, social and economic arrangements that exist on the island of Ireland. The Handbook consists of 30 chapters, which offer original, comprehensive and critical reviews of theory, research, policy and practice in a wide range of subject areas. The chapters are divided into four thematic sections: Understanding crime examines specific offence types, including homicide, gangland crime and white-collar crime, and the theoretical perspectives used to explain them. Responding to crime explores criminal justice responses to crime, including crime prevention, restorative justice, approaches to policing and trial as well as post-conviction issues such as imprisonment, community sanctions and rehabilitation. Contexts of crime investigates the social, political and cultural contexts of the policymaking process, including media representations, politics, the role of the victim and the impact of gender. Emerging ideas focuses on innovative ideas that prompt a reconsideration of received wisdom on particular topics, including sexual violence and ethnicity. Charting the key contours of the criminological enterprise on the island of Ireland and placing the Irish material in the context of the wider European and international literature, this book is essential reading for those involved in the study of Irish criminology and international and comparative criminal justice.

In the post-9/11 era, the nexus between organized crime and terrorism has raised much concern and has been widely discussed in both academic and policy circles, but is still largely misunderstood. This critical book contributes innovatively to the debate by distinguishing three types of nexus—interaction, transformation/imitation and similarities—and identifying the promoting factors of each type.