Transnational Crime
Encyclopedia
Transnational organized crime (TOC or transnational crime) is organized crime
coordinated across national borders.
Transnational organized crime is widely opposed on the basis of a number of negative effects. It can undermine democracy
, disrupt free market
s, drain national assets, and inhibit the development of stable societies. In doing so, it has been argued, national and international criminal groups threaten the security of all nations.
Although the organisation Interpol
exists to coordinate intelligence efforts between national law enforcement agencies, it is not an international police force, and indeed no such international law enforcement body with universal jurisdiction exists. Law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
are employed by nation-states to counteract international organised crime. Serious international crime, such as crimes against humanity, may be investigated by the International Criminal Court
, but it does not have the power to take suspects into custody, instead relying on the support of law enforcement and military force in relevant countries.
According to Louise I. Shelley, Director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption (TraCCC) Center
at George Mason University
,
The United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
has already been adopted to fight against transnational organized crime, with the recognition of UN Member States that this is a serious and growing problem that can only be solved through close international cooperation since November 2000. The Ad Hoc
Committee established by the United Nations General Assembly
is to deal with this problem by taking a series of measures against transnational organized crime. These include the creation of domestic criminal offences to combat the problem, and the adoption of new, sweeping frameworks for mutual legal assistance, extradition, law-enforcement cooperation and technical assistance and training.
Transnational Organized Crime is one of "The Ten Threats
" warned by the High Level Threat Panel
of the United Nations
.
Critical perspectives on TOC begin by noting that the terminology surrounding it emerged at the end of the Cold War during which time a febrile and tentative ‘new world order’ gave rise to a new security discourse largely predicated on combating TOC. According to James Sheptycki, Professor of Criminology at York University, Toronto Canada, the “seemingly technical language [about transnational organized crime] is infused with a rich set of connotative meanings”(Sheptycki, 2007, p. 5). http://www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/sociology/article_view?article_id=soco_articles_bpl022 He maintains that “these connotative meanings are encapsulated in the reports of international policing and security agencies, which give pride of place to an exotic collection of ethnically based criminal organizations: Jamaican Yardies, Chinese
Triads, Japanese
Yakuza
, the Russian
Mafiya, Albanians
, Iranians
, Nigerians, Syrians
, and Colombia
ns.” (ibid. p. 5). “Such stereotypes” he suggests, “represent the globally criminalized ‘other’ that threatens a just and true world order” (ibid. p. 5). Thus TOC is, he argues, “a one-dimensional caricature based on a set of stereotypical folk devils and the mainstream media – as part of the ‘deviance-defining elite’ – [have] largely colluded” in its propagation (ibid. p. 4).
As officially defined, the array of ‘usual suspects’ (Gill 2000) were largely restricted to drug runners, human smugglers, online pedophiles, and terrorists. Conspicuously absent from mainstream discourses about transnational crime were crimes like gun-running (Edwards and Sheptycki, 2009) crimes against the environment (Beirne and South, 2007), corporate crime, white-collar crime, corruption and other systemic crimes of the powerful endemic in the global system (Beare, 2003; Green and Ward, 2004; Sheptycki and Wardak 2004) . Standard forms of TOC discourse preclude an understanding of these phenomena as pathological symptoms of a world-system dominated by ‘seigneurial states’ (Goldsmith and Sheptycki, 2007). Critical perspectives on TOC argue that, since conventional TOC-talk is deficient, the policy responses are ineffective or detrimental (Edwards and Gill, 2003).
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
coordinated across national borders.
Transnational organized crime is widely opposed on the basis of a number of negative effects. It can undermine democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, disrupt free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
s, drain national assets, and inhibit the development of stable societies. In doing so, it has been argued, national and international criminal groups threaten the security of all nations.
Although the organisation Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
exists to coordinate intelligence efforts between national law enforcement agencies, it is not an international police force, and indeed no such international law enforcement body with universal jurisdiction exists. Law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
are employed by nation-states to counteract international organised crime. Serious international crime, such as crimes against humanity, may be investigated by the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
, but it does not have the power to take suspects into custody, instead relying on the support of law enforcement and military force in relevant countries.
According to Louise I. Shelley, Director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption (TraCCC) Center
Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center
Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center is the first center in the United States devoted to understanding the links among terrorism, transnational crime and corruption, and to teach, research, train and help formulate policy on these critical issues. TraCCC is a research center within...
at George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
,
- "Transnational crime will be a defining issue of the 21st century for policymakers - as defining as the Cold War was for the 20th century and colonialism was for the 19th. Terrorists and transnational crime groups will proliferate because these crime groups are major beneficiaries of globalization. They take advantage of increased travel, trade, rapid money movements, telecommunications and computer links, and are well positioned for growth."http://www.american.edu/traccc/(This article incorporates text from the U.S. Department of State that is believed to be in the public domainPublic domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.)
The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
The Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is a United Nations-sponsored multilateral treaty against transnational organized crime, adopted in 2000...
has already been adopted to fight against transnational organized crime, with the recognition of UN Member States that this is a serious and growing problem that can only be solved through close international cooperation since November 2000. The Ad Hoc
Ad hoc
Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning "for this". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and not intended to be able to be adapted to other purposes. Compare A priori....
Committee established by the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
is to deal with this problem by taking a series of measures against transnational organized crime. These include the creation of domestic criminal offences to combat the problem, and the adoption of new, sweeping frameworks for mutual legal assistance, extradition, law-enforcement cooperation and technical assistance and training.
Transnational Organized Crime is one of "The Ten Threats
Ten threats
The ten threats identified in 2004 by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations are these:# Poverty# Infectious disease# Environmental degradation# Inter-state war# Civil war# Genocide...
" warned by the High Level Threat Panel
High Level Threat Panel
The High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change of the United Nations, chaired by former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun and including former United States National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and several former heads of government and foreign ministers as members, produced in...
of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Critical Perspectives
Critical perspectives on transnational organize crime begin by arguing that the officially agreed definitions of the problem are both vague and limiting. Critical perspectives foreground the analysis of language used to describe transnational organized crime (TOC) and, by so doing, deconstruct the institutional basis that is its surface of emergence.Deconstructing TOC Talk
From very early on TOC was influentially defined by reference to a continuum: “at one end of the spectrum are those who see organized crime in terms of large hierarchical organizations that are structured rather like transnational corporations. At the other end are those who contend that for the most part organized crime groups tend to be loosely structured, flexible and highly adaptable”(Williams & Savona, 1996, p. 4) This definition appears quite objective. However, the conventional language of TOC establishes an us-versus-them mentality. It sees TOC in terms of a separate ‘criminal class’ that threatens the well-being of ‘legitimate citizens’. Supposedly objective and authoritative definitions of TOC tend to picture transnational organized crime as an outside threat and do not consider the role played by states, corporations, and other powerful actors in the global system in the manufacture of transnational organized crime phenomena.Critical perspectives on TOC begin by noting that the terminology surrounding it emerged at the end of the Cold War during which time a febrile and tentative ‘new world order’ gave rise to a new security discourse largely predicated on combating TOC. According to James Sheptycki, Professor of Criminology at York University, Toronto Canada, the “seemingly technical language [about transnational organized crime] is infused with a rich set of connotative meanings”(Sheptycki, 2007, p. 5). http://www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/sociology/article_view?article_id=soco_articles_bpl022 He maintains that “these connotative meanings are encapsulated in the reports of international policing and security agencies, which give pride of place to an exotic collection of ethnically based criminal organizations: Jamaican Yardies, Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
Triads, Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
, the Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
Mafiya, Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
, Iranians
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Nigerians, Syrians
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
ns.” (ibid. p. 5). “Such stereotypes” he suggests, “represent the globally criminalized ‘other’ that threatens a just and true world order” (ibid. p. 5). Thus TOC is, he argues, “a one-dimensional caricature based on a set of stereotypical folk devils and the mainstream media – as part of the ‘deviance-defining elite’ – [have] largely colluded” in its propagation (ibid. p. 4).
As officially defined, the array of ‘usual suspects’ (Gill 2000) were largely restricted to drug runners, human smugglers, online pedophiles, and terrorists. Conspicuously absent from mainstream discourses about transnational crime were crimes like gun-running (Edwards and Sheptycki, 2009) crimes against the environment (Beirne and South, 2007), corporate crime, white-collar crime, corruption and other systemic crimes of the powerful endemic in the global system (Beare, 2003; Green and Ward, 2004; Sheptycki and Wardak 2004) . Standard forms of TOC discourse preclude an understanding of these phenomena as pathological symptoms of a world-system dominated by ‘seigneurial states’ (Goldsmith and Sheptycki, 2007). Critical perspectives on TOC argue that, since conventional TOC-talk is deficient, the policy responses are ineffective or detrimental (Edwards and Gill, 2003).
External links
- The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols
- Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at George Mason University Home Page
- Database of transnational organized crime activities and profits- Havocscope Black Market
- http://www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/sociology/article_view?article_id=soco_articles_bpl022Transnational Crime and Transnational Policing by James SheptyckiJames SheptyckiJames Sheptycki is a Professor of Criminology at York University, Toronto, Canada. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the London School of Economics in 1991 and was an ESRC post-doctoral research fellow and lecturer in the Centre for Criminology and the Social and Philosophical Study of Law at...
] - "Transnational Crime." Oxford Bibliographies Online: Criminology.