Globalisation & Crime

Emergence of Global Crime

• Globalisation: Increasing transnational social, political, and economic activities, detached from specific countries.

• Interconnection: The local and global are becoming more interconnected.

• Neo-liberal Economic Policies: Fewer governmental controls over business and finance facilitate crime.

• Growing Global Inequalities: The wealth gap between the richest and poorest continues to widen.

• Technological Advancements: New communications technologies increase opportunities for committing crimes.

• Consumerism: The spread of consumer culture contributes to the rise of crime.

Aspects of Globalisation Linked to Crime:

• Illegal Trade: Includes weapons and nuclear materials.

• Illegal Drug Trade: Estimated at $322 billion per year (2007). In the UK, about half of all acquisitive crimes are drug-related, as people steal to fund their drug habits.

• Human Trafficking: Smuggling people for various purposes including forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Growth of Global Crimes

• Money Laundering: Criminal networks launder income through complex financial transactions in deregulated markets.

• Cyber Crime: Involves internet-based fraud, extreme pornography, terrorist recruitment, hacking, and identity theft.

Glocal Connections:

• Local crimes often have global links, i.e., drug deals in the UK can involve drugs from countries like Colombia, and online child pornography can originate from Southeast Asia.

Types of Criminal Networks:

1. Established Mafias: Organised around family and ethnicity (e.g., Italian-American Mafia, Chinese triads).

2. Newer Groups: Emerging post-Cold War, particularly in Eastern Europe.

Misha Glenny's Concept (2009): Describes criminal groups as 'McMafia', comparing them to legal TNCs (Transnational Corporations) in their operational methods.

Human Trafficking:

• Traffickers utilise various methods to smuggle people across borders, often leading to conditions of semi-slavery. Women and children are disproportionately affected, trafficked for organ removal, prostitution, and forced labor.

Corporate Crimes and TNCs:

• Power Relations: TNCs exploit relative power imbalances in developing nations to commit corporate crimes.

• Legal Protection: TNCs often shield themselves through subsidiary companies; when prosecuted, only the subsidiary faces legal action.

• Examples: Companies like Nike and The Gap claim ignorance about child labor in their supply chains.

• Marxist Perspective: Corporate crimes are often treated less seriously than other crimes, with rare prosecutions and minimal penalties.

Crimes Against the Environment

• Green Crimes: Environmental crimes impact climate and public health and include pollution, illegal waste disposal, and habitat destruction.

• Victimisation: Poor and minority populations are severely affected by these crimes, reinforcing existing social divisions.

Long-lasting Effects of Environmental Crimes:

• Environmental crimes can have cumulative and long-lasting effects, with Giddens (2001) discussing ‘future discounting’ as a concept where immediate issues are prioritised over future threats.

Law Enforcement Challenges:

• Reluctance to Prosecute: Environmental crimes often avoid serious penalties; fines are common rather than criminal prosecutions.

• Global Regulations: Variation in enforcement and definitions of environmental crimes complicates the legal landscape.

• Lynch and Stretsky (2003) argue for a broader definition of environmental crime encompassing all harmful human actions, not just illegal acts.

Theories of Global Crime

• Marxist View: Global crime reinforces the power of the ruling class, with laws serving to maintain capitalist inequality.

• Feminist View: Global crime serves patriarchal interests, illustrated by violence against women often remaining underreported and unprosecuted.

Policing Global Crime

• Increasing global crime has led to state cooperation, exemplified by Interpol's work. This involves sharing technologies and intelligence.

• Cyber Crime Types:

  • Advanced Cybercrime: Sophisticated attacks on hardware/software.

  • Cyber-enabled Crime: Traditional crimes adopting new methods (e.g., internet fraud).

  • Examples: Phishing, terrorism targeting government websites, and child exploitation online.

Challenges in Policing Cybercrime:

• Cross-national nature complicates enforcement, with differing laws and definitions making accountability difficult.

• Dark Web Issues: The internet's unregulated nature facilitates criminal activity by allowing anonymity and lack of control for law enforcement.